CSU Chico Masterplan
SUSTAINABILITY, RESILIENCE AND ENERGY PLANNING OVERLAY TO COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
Illustrative Campus Plan: SmithGroup
California State University, Chico (CSU Chico or Chico), is a public university in Chico, California. Chico was impacted by the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history. Although the physical campus was not damaged, many staff and faculty homes were destroyed, and Chico had to quickly rethink significant parts of its physical and operational life on campus to accommodate this shock.
Just prior to the Camp Fire, SmithGroup was selected to lead Chico’s masterplan. The master plan is a vision through 2030 of strategic priorities for the campus. The master plan evaluates the current condition of campus facilities, open spaces, and infrastructure to identify goals and recommendations to enhance the overall campus environment in the future.
Dr. Gayle E. Hutchinson, President of CSU Chico presenting on resiliency at SCUP.
Steven was part of SmithGroup’s core team leading the sustainability and infrastructure elements of the master plan. Key to this process was an Sustainability Framework, which focused on the physical campus drivers that impact environmental performance associated with the following focus areas: energy (and its associated carbon impacts), water, waste, mobility & transportation, landscape & ecology, and community connectivity. The framework built upon Chico’s existing sustainability initiatives, such as AASHE STARS, as well as incorporating new initiatives highlighting Chico as a leader accelerating the CSU-system sustainability aspirations.
Steven also developed an energy infrastructure strategy for the master plan, working closely with P2S Inc, which connected the physical and operational direction of the campus to the infrastructure and building solutions. In the wake of the Camp Fire and resulting campus flooding, a key aspect of the masterplan was to focus on creating a resilient Chico. The energy infrastructure strategy achieved this by connecting existing resiliency initiatives and city-scale resilience planning toovercome defined risks and pathways to mitigation.
Location: Chico, CA
Client: CSU Chico Date: 2019
Collaborators: P2S Inc.
