Csumb: Military Base Conversion as an Opportunity for Sustainable Design

The conversion of military bases around the country creates an imperative to infuse social, economic, and environmental vitality back into the affected region. Fort Ord in Monterey County, a recent casualty of base closures, is being turned into an opportunity for adaptive reuse as it is undergoes the transformation from an army base to a magnet campus for the California State University (CSU) system. The CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) campus visionaries inch,lded sustainability as a priority in. the base cOtlY;filrsion. To achieve this goal, the university hired a team ofsustain!:\1:>le design consultants. This paper reports on the outcomes of the preliminary design an9P!anning p~<\ses. 1. CLIMATE AND CONTEXT The disposition of property at the former Ford Ord military base is approximately 28,000 acres of Coastal Dune, Maritime Chaparral, and Oak Woodland. The CSUMB campus allotment covers 1300 acres (Fig. 1) and includes representative samples of each of these biomes. The climate is coastal temperate, rarely exceeding 21°C (70°F) in the summer or dropping below 6.1 °C (43OF) during winter. The region is characteristically overcast especially during summer mornings. Winds are mild (3.6 mls (8 m.p.h.) average wind speed) with occasional gusts. Annual precipitation is approximately 1000 mm (40 in.) most of which occurs in the winter and spring. Polly Cooper, Architect Ken Haggard, Architect San Luis Obispo Sustainability Group 617 Oakridge Drive San Luis Obispo, California 93405 Fig. 1 Fort Ord L<\nd Area and CSUMB Property The Monterey region is a series of contrasts as it encompasses the agricultural basin of the Salinas River Vajleyas w~ll as the coastal communities of Carmel and Pa~.ificGrQv~Jothe south and Marina to the north. Industries in the region include retail, fisheries, farming, and tourism. The demographics of the tri-county region (Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties) which will be served by the campus, is currently 60% White, 29% Hispanic, 4% Black, and 7% Other. The campus aspires to be a model for education in the 21 st century through its teaching methods and programs. The principal academic areas represented at CSUMB are the Sciences (marine, atmospheric, and environmental), Arts (performing, visual, and creative), Languages, Business, and Education. The university seeks to develop academic programs that respond to the distinct and diverse human populations and geography of the region.