JOHN MERRITT

Morrisville Center for Design – Morrisville, Upstate New York

This project for the State University of New York, Morrisville Campus was unique in that it was a former dairy barn transformed into an architecture school.  I intended the program for the outdoor spaces to work in concert with the adjacent program spaces in the building.  These outdoor spaces were devoted to entry, assembly, and retreat.  Instead of a singular path leading up to the main entrance of the building, students would "percolate" through a grove of birches.  The adjacent courtyard was meant for post-lecture gatherings or graduation ceremonies.   Since the outdoor spaces South and West of the building were next to the studios and were lower in elevation, they were to be breakout spaces where students could get a reprieve from the studios in which they no doubt spent the vast majority of their academic lives.

Office:  RGR Landscape
Status:  Proposal
Landscape Design:  John Merritt