The Advanced Technology Education Park (ATEP) is a educational component of the Tustin Legacy Project, a large scale development with a mix of retail, commercial/business, residential and recreational uses located in Tustin, CA on the old Marine Corps Air Station site. ATEP will be lead by the South Orange County Community College District that includes Saddleback and Irvine Valley College. With nearby amenities such as the Tustin Metrolink Station and mixed used retail and entertainment venues, ATEP has the opportunity to become an innovative education park that changes the way students interact with their environment and prospective private business that will reside within the site. ATEP is seen as a node that involves a new method of innovation, where public and private ventures are juxtaposed to create a porous environment of thought and creation.

One of the challenges presented while establishing the design guidelines was how to create a porous site where the main circulation is not tied to one single walkway path, but to provide multiple vines that guide the user to different experiences within the site. Working together with landscape architects RELM, we decided to create three main circulations:

Paseos that lead to the main entrances of each building are differentiated by its hardscape, and are anchored by building entrances.
Street facing paths are designed with sidewalks incorporating trees on both sides. The main goal was to incorporate the façade articulation of each building with a subtle walkway.
The main artery is the center of the park, designed with multiple paths, each lead to a different user experience. It will be anchored on both sides with building facades that are more transparent and that open to the outside space. This in turn creates an open environment where paths and the massing of building façade treatments are subtle and create a seamless transition from the outside to the inside.

The focus of these different circulation paths is to increase interaction on the campus between the start up businesses and the college students, this increased interaction will give students a modern day education, where they can directly interact with businesses providing a modern career-technical education.

For more information about ATEP visit: http://www.atepland.com/