University of Pennsylvania
IN-4: Innovation 4

Completed in the Fall of 2012, Shoemaker Green is an open space project completed as part of Penn Connects 2.0, the second phase of the University master plan Penn Connects. The 2.75 acre gateway provides a pivotal pedestrian connection between the core of Penn's campus to the west and the Paley Bridge and Penn Park along the Schuylkill River to the east, and is surrounded by several historic campus buildings and landmarks such as Franklin Field, the Palestra, Hutchinson Gym, and the 1951 War Memorial. Shoemaker Green is sustainably significant because it is a pilot project for the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). SITES is a joint initiative between the American Society of Landscape Architects, the United States Botanical Garden, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and was created to promote sustainable land development and management practices for sites with and without buildings. Shoemaker Green incorporates many sustainable elements. The site, formerly a grey-field with lots of impervious surfaces (the site used to hold several tennis courts), now has a large lawn of drought-resistant fescue grass and permeable paving paths winding around it. Stormwater falling on site is managed through a large rain garden that retains and filters the water before it is collected in a 20,000-gallon underground cistern and re-used as irrigation for the site's landscape. Permanent benches on site are made of recycled black locust, a native hardwood to the Philadelphia area. Over 100 new trees were planted in the Green, and coupled with the 13 existing mature trees that were saved during construction will help to mitigate the urban heat island effect in this area of Penn's campus. Shoemaker Green is named in honor of Alvin V. Shoemaker, emeritus trustee and former chair of the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees. Andropogon Associates were the landscape architects for this project.

Penn Almanac and News Articles http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v57/n01/shoemaker.html http://www.upenn.edu/spotlights/shoemaker-green-penn-s-newest-public-common Sustainable Sites Initiative Pilot Projects http://www.sustainablesites.org/pilot_projects/