Design overview

A living campus beside the Guadalupe

Place-specific restoration across the campus—not only its fence edge. Native habitat, very low irrigation demand and meaningful public benefits. Wildlife arrives naturally; no animal introductions.

In this section

One landscape, several protagonists
Client, neighbors and decision-makers
Habitat throughout a secure campus
The design ground: parcel, not fence
Let beaver processes shape the water
Let oak #59 bend the plan
An owl clearing within the mosaic
A meadow that looks like California
Give the roof an ecological role
West: room on both sides of the fence
South: a proposed link to an existing trail
Orchard: redesign arrival and parking
North: shared rights, distinct operators
A funded public landscape beyond the parcel

One landscape, several protagonists

Why this place

At Orchard/Component, the campus parcel sits east of the existing Guadalupe River Trail and levee. Its mature oaks, interior willow/cottonwood cluster and planted campus spaces are habitat anchors. Beaver, native fish, burrowing owl/ground squirrel and pollinators give the redesign distinct protagonists.

Explore in the redesign

Compose oak refuge, open grassland, flowering matrix and seasonal water gardens throughout suitable on-parcel ground. Connect their ecological functions to the watershed through cleaner runoff and dark, native-planted edges. Add public-realm extensions as separately agreed places—not assumed campus land.

Submitted campus arrangement. Property, security fence and limit of work are different lines.

Client, neighbors and decision-makers

Why this place

Proposed client/funder: Microsoft, the campus owner/operator. Drawing address: 2515 Orchard Parkway, San José, CA 95131. The City lists this SJC04 application, CP23-008, at 2549 Orchard Parkway. Filed collaborators: Sheehan Nagle Hartray Architects; HMH (civil/landscape); Environmental Systems Design (MEP); Thornton Tomasetti (structure); ZBeta (security). PG&E controls its switching station.

Explore in the redesign

Make a secure data-processing campus work for North San José. The strongest case is tangible benefit to surrounding residents and trail users: shade, habitat, cleaner runoff and well-kept public edges. City Council and its Rules Committee represent public interests and shape standards/approval pathways. Genuine community support can strengthen Microsoft's case amid moratorium calls; the cited record describes a citywide proposal, not an enacted SJC04 ban.

Habitat throughout a secure campus

Why this place

The original landscape plans already show substantial planting, trees and bioretention inside the 8-ft security perimeter. The fence controls entry; it does not make all enclosed ground an equipment yard. Electrical assets, fire routes and gates have their own localized protection needs.

Explore in the redesign

Connect internal planted belts, basins and retained trees with a reimagined perimeter landscape: one multi-species habitat network across the campus. Let the fence support continuity of planting and everyday views, while preserving inspection access and protecting actual electrical assets. Keep habitat on both on-parcel sides where suitable.

Original sheet 10.5 crop · planted building margins, trees and treatment areas within the secured campus.

The design ground: parcel, not fence

Why this place

The July 2025 application defines a ~22.24-acre Project Site and a completed northern lot-line adjustment. It includes buildings, parking, entrances, landscape and utilities. Off-site works are also drawn as part of the project; their inclusion does not transfer land ownership.

Explore in the redesign

Rework the campus landscape, parking and arrival as one concept. Use the civil PROPERTY LINE—not LIMIT OF WORK—as the land envelope. Filed plans show design intent, not recorded public-access rights; the current boundary/easement survey determines final usable geometry.

Civil sheet 4.0 · property line, limit of work, easements and sections are distinguished in the legend.

Let beaver processes shape the water

Why this place

Beaver suggest storage, complexity and living edges; steelhead and Chinook make the Guadalupe’s receiving-water quality tangible. Here, slow-infiltrating clay, a levee and planned underdrained basins determine what water can do.

Explore in the redesign

Give on-parcel runoff a beaver-inspired sequence of slowing, planted storage and seasonal wet–dry rooms. Protect mature trees and keep overflows functional. Cleaner discharge benefits steelhead and Chinook; river shade, passage or beaver works beyond the parcel belong in the optional partner scheme.

Beaver · reference photograph. The campus concept borrows hydrologic processes, not a promise of beaver occupancy.

Let oak #59 bend the plan

Why this place

HMH’s 2022 map locates the 51-inch coast live oak #59 in the northwest tree group, near the proposed water-yard/access setting. Its mapped trunk and mature canopy are a starting point for a retention-led alternative.

Explore in the redesign

Let viable roots and canopy reshape on-parcel paving, pipes and planting. Test a grove-linked alternative to the northwest yard/road geometry and an interior retention option for cottonwood #23. Check each boundary tree’s ownership: adjacent canopy is valuable context, not permission to alter a neighbor’s tree.

HMH Exhibit A crop · #59 and neighboring trees. The map is dated 2022; current condition is not established by this image.

An owl clearing within the mosaic

Why this place

Burrowing owl and ground squirrel point to a landscape of open sightlines, short vegetation, burrows and prey. A dense meadow everywhere would erase this opportunity. The 2025 survey did not confirm current owl occupancy.

Explore in the redesign

Test a broad, sparse on-parcel grassland refuge against usable foraging area, traffic and equipment risks. Place tall flowering bands and perch trees elsewhere. Do not assume animals can cross the trail, levee or secure line safely; a roof-owl concept must demonstrate a complete, safe life cycle.

Western burrowing owl · Ryan Phillips / local Habitat Agency report.

A meadow that looks like California

Why this place

Piet Oudolf’s repeated forms and seedhead structure, combined with Thomas Rainer/Claudia West’s layered plant communities, offer a compositional method. Local native bees and monarch need seasonal forage, hosts and refuge—not a transplanted European palette.

Explore in the redesign

Use interior landscape beds and suitable on-parcel perimeter ground for repeated needlegrass–yarrow matrices, gumplant, milkweed and late fuchsia. Place rush/sedge communities in working treatment cells. Compose spring flowers and summer-gold seedheads; the palette tab gives four native assemblages.

Purple needlegrass · local-native form reference, not an Oudolf or Rainer project photograph.

Give the roof an ecological role

Why this place

A planted roof is possible on the building type: Equinix documents one at ZH5. SJC04’s roof, however, is a dense mechanical landscape with a cool-roof strategy, not an empty meadow platform.

Explore in the redesign

Explore planted islands on proven available roof areas, and habitat roofs on new entrance or bicycle canopies. Pair them with sheltered nesting opportunities where the target species can complete its life cycle safely. Let structure, airflow and a low-water budget determine the viable form—not a blanket roof prohibition.

Submitted roof plan · dense cooler platform and administrative strip. No green-roof zones are approved by this image.

West: room on both sides of the fence

Why this place

Section C labels 28–180 ft from the western property line to the proposed fence, plus 13–44 ft from fence to internal road. The existing Guadalupe River Trail/levee is farther west; the river lies beyond. These are printed drawing ranges, not net unobstructed planting widths.

Explore in the redesign

Shape an on-parcel meadow–shrub–oak sequence across suitable outer ground AND the internal landscape strip. Fit slope, utilities, riparian setback and security visibility. Keep the existing trail as an adjoining route; do not absorb it or the riverbank into the campus design.

Section C · 2024-filed set, sheet dated Dec 2023; not to scale. Dimensions are printed, not measured from the image.

South: a proposed link to an existing trail

Why this place

The existing Guadalupe trail runs along the west. Separately, §3.3.8 proposes an east–west path inside the southern parcel edge. Section B shows 20 ft property-to-fence, a 19-ft recreational easement, and a 10-ft path with 3-ft shoulders. The final levee link is off-property.

Explore in the redesign

Design a legible Orchard/Component arrival to this proposed connector, outside facility security. Its corridor is largely path and shoulders, not spare plaza land. Explore planting/rest points only where a wider, usable on-parcel pocket exists; extend to the existing trail through a separate agreement.

Section B · proposed southern connector, not the existing Guadalupe River Trail. Bioretention sits inside the fence.

Orchard: redesign arrival and parking

Why this place

The campus proposal includes ~145 parking spaces, a guarded Orchard entrance, truck turnaround and separate pedestrian/bike gates. Orchard’s street, sidewalk and bike-lane works are public-right-of-way interfaces, not extra campus land.

Explore in the redesign

Test less nonessential parking, larger native soil/canopy areas and a clear, shaded campus arrival. Keep accessible parking, truck turning and fire access workable. Coordinate driveway crossings, street trees and sidewalk changes with the City; locate public amenities outside access-controlled space.

Sheet 10.3 crop · campus arrival and Orchard frontage. The proposed southern connector is a separate alignment.

North: shared rights, distinct operators

Why this place

Northern emergency access uses a neighboring-property easement. The northeast contains a Microsoft substation and a PG&E-owned/operated switching station within the Project Site. Neighboring parking and landscape shown on the plans are not campus redesign land.

Explore in the redesign

Keep the emergency link and utility access functional; do not redesign the neighbor’s parking or PG&E compound as a habitat garden. Develop native planting in compatible campus ground around these envelopes. Retain boundary-tree roots/canopy through coordinated layouts, not unilateral off-site work.

Section E · neighboring landscape/parking is beyond the proposed property line; electrical compound has separate control.

A funded public landscape beyond the parcel

Why this place

The filed scheme already proposes Microsoft-funded Orchard bike-lane and signal improvements. Valley Water identifies the river-trail link as being on its land. This supports a partnership design option—not an existing right to redesign the trail, levee or river.

Explore in the redesign

Draw an optional Microsoft-funded trail garden, accessible overlook or river-restoration scheme with the City and Valley Water. Public-land improvements need owner acceptance and agreed maintenance/flood access; donation of land applies only to land Microsoft owns.

Existing Guadalupe River Trail near the airport · regional context, not a confirmed improvement footprint.