BASE team was very fortunate to be selected to design the grounds around the new classroom and field building complex at the Merritt College school for Landscape Horticulture. The five-acre campus is set in a beautiful site in the East Oakland Hills with breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay, and surrounded by heavily wooded natural areas.

BASE Landscape conducted several workshops and collaborated very closely with Noll & Tam Architects and the Horticulture program students and faculty. The result was a concept plan that aims to preserve the charm and intimate character of the current campus, and advances the many curricular and public learning opportunities the site and program offer. Outdoor classrooms were incorporated into the design, demonstration gardens for food production, medicinal herbs, native planting, firescape, xeriscape, pollinator habitat, and bioretention planting were implemented. A small scale rain water capture system and green roof installation were intended. While the project did not aspire to achieve official LEED or other sustainability certification, many of this principles guided the design and construction.