Winner of an Honourable Mention in the 2025 WLA Awards – Built Institutional Landscape Design
Creighton University Health Sciences is key to the revitalization of the historic 1957 Park Central Mall, transforming a treeless, asphalt parking lot into a vibrant hub for education, healthcare, bioscience and innovation wrapped in a native, highly performing landscape.
The landscape concept creates a campus identity representative of the phrase Terra Firma, where nature is a pathway to spirituality. The goal of the high-performance landscape is to provide respite from air and noise pollution, heavy traffic, an abundance of paving and the City’s often overwhelming temperatures for students, faculty and nearby residents – a place to reduce mental stress and refocus. The south courtyard is representative of the striations of Arizona’s landforms carved by water. The mounded areas screen parking while offering a thriving native/desert adapted landscape to immerse occupants in nature. An overstory of Mesquite trees remove pollutants from air and water, soak up carbon dioxide and reduce temperature by up to 24°F with 80% shade coverage. A substantial bioswale is carved into the plaza, capturing surface and roof stormwater and supplementing irrigation. Wide rusted steel bridges connect the flexible medium-sized event space to the intimate, verdant spaces of the courtyard.
Sheltered by the shade network of the building, the north courtyard adjoins the building’s ballroom and social zones. This active courtyard delivers break-out spaces, moveable furniture and game tables punctuated with shade trees. A bioswale along the north boundary routes stormwater through the landscape in front of a natural steel paneled fence. Two water features mask the sound of traffic along Phoenix’s busiest avenue.
The roof deck features excellent views of the city, accommodates outdoor classes and fosters collaboration in and amongst trees in raised planters. A sweeping grand staircase, punctuated with wide landings and shaded seating connects the courtyard to the upper patio. The widest landing doubles as a stage during student events.
This project has brought a critical mass of youth and activity to the Phoenix central core resulting in a vibrant cultural environment, attracting new businesses and enhanced community engagement while increasing resilience and biodiversity, mitigating climate, and nurturing mental health and wellbeing.
Creighton University Health Sciences
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Landscape architect: Colwell Shelor
Architect: RDG/ Butler Design Group
Photography: Caitlin Atkinson