Mahan Rykiel was part of a team that developed a master plan for Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY and was responsible for the landscape and open space analysis and recommendations component of the plan. Plan recommendations include creating a hierarchy of pedestrian pathways and open spaces to define a campus network and connect disparate portions of the campus. This includes better organizing existing open spaces and recommending design solutions that treat the steep topography as an asset rather than a liability. In particular, the recommendations include a terraced amphitheater that would serve as a gathering place while accommodating circulation across steep topography and taking advantage of dramatic views to Lake Cayuga below.

Recommendations also include utilizing innovative water management practices and integrating them into the overall landscape design. One opportunity in particular is to “daylight” an existing drainage course to highlight water movement across the site and serve as an educational feature along the edge of an enhanced quadrangle.