This project involved the comprehensive renovation and expansion of an existing high school cafeteria, including a new 10,000-square-foot building addition constructed within an adjacent interior courtyard. Working in collaboration with DLA Architects, the design team transformed a previously underutilized outdoor space into a central organizing landscape for the campus.

The 1.05-acre courtyard was reimagined as a flexible outdoor environment that supports student circulation, informal gathering, and visual relief from surrounding academic buildings. The landscape design is anchored by a circular lawn, conceived as a simple, legible focal space that complements the geometry of the new building addition. A curvilinear walking path defines the lawn edge, creating a continuous loop for movement and reinforcing the courtyard’s central form.

Surrounding the lawn, concentric bands of ornamental grasses and perennials introduce texture, seasonal interest, and spatial rhythm while softening the building edges and walkways. Planting was organized in layered rings to enhance visual clarity, durability, and ease of long-term maintenance, while also creating a calm, park-like character appropriate for an educational setting.

The resulting courtyard serves as both a functional outdoor amenity and a defining campus space integrating architecture and landscape into a cohesive environment that supports daily use, student experience, and long-term campus identity.