At the heart of Brown University’s historic campus, Simmons Quad is undergoing a thoughtful and ambitious transformation to enhance accessibility, biodiversity, and community engagement. This revitalization project carefully reimagines a key campus space, balancing long-term sustainability with the evolving needs of students, faculty, staff, and visitors. It focuses on layering in a new informal amphitheater and gathering space, as well as introducing universal accessibility both in and through the quadrangle, ensuring inclusivity for all individuals regardless of mobility needs.
Designed to align with Brown’s Sustainability Strategic Plan, the new Simmons Quad prioritizes climate resilience and ecological health. A diverse and adaptive planting palette introduces native and adapted species, supporting local biodiversity while providing vibrant seasonal interest and enriching the overall aesthetic. Thoughtful grading, permeable surfaces, and enhanced stormwater management techniques help reduce runoff and improve water retention, ensuring the landscape remains highly functional and resilient year-round. Regionally sourced granite minimizes the project’s overall carbon footprint while offering durable, site-specific seating that enhances the everyday user experience.
Beyond its ecological benefits, the revitalized quad fosters a stronger sense of belonging through flexible gathering spaces, outdoor classrooms, and seamlessly integrated seating areas. It is intentionally designed to be a more welcoming, dynamic, and enjoyable everyday space for hanging out, studying, sunning, socializing, and people-watching, as well as a new performance and outdoor classroom venue. The design preserves key historic elements while introducing new, thoughtfully integrated features that enhance the site’s role as a vibrant social and cultural hub. A newly embedded foundation system streamlines event setup, supporting major campus traditions such as Commencement, Convocation, and other large-scale celebrations that bring the community together.
By blending sustainability, accessibility, and cultural continuity, the transformation of Simmons Quad reinforces its identity as a central gathering space for generations to come—one that strengthens community connections while simultaneously adapting to the challenges of a rapidly changing climate and urban environment.
Simmons Quad
Location: Providence, RI
Client: Brown University
Landscape Architect: Stoss
Collaborators: VHB, TYLin Silman Structural Solutions, LAM Partners, Pine & Swallow, Irrigation Consulting, Inc, Consigli Construction, Vanasse Hangen Bustlin;
Images and Text: Stoss