The Landscape Architectural Studio at Davis Partnership provided the site and landscape design services for the Ent Center for the Arts facility on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs North Campus. This site assumes two primary roles in the built environment of the campus: as one of the most significant campus facilities on the North Campus, and as a prominent public venue and community destination.

A significant influence on the landscape concept for this project was that this new arts complex and landscape defines the public edge of the redeveloping North Campus for UCCS, making the visual and experiential quality of the campus exceedingly important to public perception. Other important aspects were that the site needed to be multi-purpose and support daily student activities, as well as accommodate large gatherings for public events. The fluid moves of the building form, combined with the flows of campus circulation and the natural forces and patterns of the region, helped us realize the landscape as the canvas to articulate these many flows. Landform and landscape patterns were created to convey movement, applying these at the right scale to intuitively lead people to the site, to direct them to their destination, and to create inspiring outdoor spaces for gathering, learning and the display and viewing of art.

LEED certification and sustainability were key for this project and low impact design strategies and best practices for the site and landscape were employed. Xeric, low-water plant materials were selected, and bio-swales were integrated into the landscaped parking islands and entry plaza to collect, clean, and convey stormwater run-off. Situated in an ecologically sensitive area, the landform and landscape were stitched into the surrounding environment while preserving and emphasizing important view corridors to nearby geologic features – Austin Bluffs and Pulpit Rock to the north and east, and Pikes Peak to the west.