Building the Campus

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First Trees Take Root in Koret Quad

In a true sign of spring, crews began planting a variety of trees, including flowering cherry trees from Oregon, last week in the Koret Quad at the new UCSF Mission Bay campus.

"The current schedule indicates the green will be ready for the first Frisbee game by Labor Day of this year, although there will be some work remaining along with the artwork installation," says Katy Irwin, associate director, Mission Bay, UCSF Capital Projects & Facilities Management. "It is expected to be fully completed late in September."

The 3.2-acre Koret Quad, which will include more than 500 trees at various stages of maturity and shrubs as well as furnishings by artist Roy McMakin, will serve as an informal landscaped gathering place for the public as well as the campus community when it is finished.

After all trees are planted in the Koret Quad, the campus community will be able to see 402 Canary Island Pines from California, 43 Red Oaks from Oregon, 40 Sycamore London Planes from California, 24 Flowering Cherry trees from Oregon and eight Saucer Magnolias from California, according to Fergus O'Shea of Cambridge Construction Management Inc.

While the recent spring showers have kept the soil moist, all the trees will be watered throughout the year via an irrigation system that will have individual drip lines extending to each tree.

Meanwhile, West Coast artist McMakin, a graduate of the UC San Diego art department who created the furniture for the museum of the Getty center in 1998, is working on a series of benches, chairs and other objects to be located around the perimeter of the green. McMakin is using various materials, such as stone, wood and bronze, to fashion the furniture and other fixtures.

The phase one landscape project is supervised by Lisa Henderson of Facilities Management, who is working with Cambridge CM Inc., architects Peter Walker Partners and contractor Valley Crest.

Source: Lisa Cisneros

Last updated January 28, 2005