An expanded Square 80 now incorporates a small pocket park, enhanced with greenery and a mosaic of brick paths, behind the historic Lenthall Houses. Last year, this area was walled off from the plaza by weathered fences. Three new entry points widen access to the open space, adding to the many shortcuts students use to crisscross the campus.
The upgrades to Square 80 grew out of ideas generated by four students in the sustainability minor capstone class, which engages students in projects to make the campus more sustainable.
GW President Ellen M. Granberg joined the four students—Samhita Dulam, B.A. ’25, Kaitlyn Sheppard, B.A. ’25, and seniors Nida Chotani and Lexi Romanowsky—along with Joshua Lasky, interim assistant vice president for university resilience and the director of the Office of Sustainability, and Robert Orttung, professor of sustainability and international affairs and director of the Sustainability Research Institute at the GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future, in officially inaugurating the park last week by planting greenery in a garden bed beneath an old, statuesque oak tree.
Granberg was given a tour of the improved space by the fellows, who along with Student Government Association leadership, including President Ethan Lynne, helped to develop the project. Granberg said that this particular proposal for campus improvement jumped out at her because she’d noticed the underutilized space while traversing Square 80 many times.
“I’m impressed by the vision our students have brought to this space,” Granberg said. “They’ve shown how creativity, rigorous research, and applied learning can transform ideas from the classroom and the lab into real-world solutions, bringing sustainability strategy to life in ways that make a tangible impact on campus and beyond.”
The students benefited from the support of Lasky, B.A. ’07, M.P.A. ’09, who worked with the Division of Safety and Operations, and Adam Aaronson, M.B.A. ’04, assistant vice president for campus development, who wrote out a contract and found a contractor to implement the students'project. The backyard park was one of several ideas considered by the four students.
“We started with the core value of strengthening campus community,” Dulam said. “We think adding greenspace to the urban environment will help achieve this goal.”
Romanowsky said they came across the design principle because it promoted “a sense of peace, calm and relaxation.” They incorporated features of sustainability, storm water management, and native plants in their design.
In a walk-through of the GW campus looking for underutilized spaces, Sheppard said the group discovered an area fenced off from the wide-open plaza, a popular gathering spot in a central location on the Foggy Bottom campus with a lot of pedestrian traffic where students hang out.
Romanowsky said the group brainstormed about how to best use the existing space while enhancing its intimacy. And then they came upon the backyard spaces adjacent to the plaza behind the Lenthall Houses. “They weren’t being used, and [we] sort of felt that they had the hidden potential to become a shared space because they had the architecture of a backyard,” she said. “It was initially really closed off.”
They proposed expanding Square 80, originally created in 2009 by converting a former parking lot next to academic townhouses. The expansion combined three adjacent backyards, removed fencing and added landscaping that mirror numerous sustainable features of the original plaza. The proposal also aimed to reduce stormwater retention and to enhance the pedestrian pathway between F and G streets.
Romanowsky said they came up with a design that promoted “a sense of peace, calm and relaxation” based on the underlying theory of biophilia, a human instinct to connect with nature. The fellows incorporated issues of sustainability, waste management and indigenous plants in their design.
Chotani said one aim of the project was to create a space that everyone in the GW community can use. "We wanted to create an informal setting to build connections to both others and nature,” she said. “And the whole space is sustainable since it is built from reusable material.”
Aaronson said the expansion and new water-permeable turf combine to expand the usability of this space by the GW community. “It allows for this space to continue being heavily used for outdoor athletics and gatherings but without the mud and resodding issues we’ve had for years,” Aaronson said.
Orttung said the purpose of the sustainability capstone class is to provide students just enough structure to facilitate creativity, contacts with the administration and an understanding of how it all works.
“I think it’s about their passion,” he said of the fellows. “The hardest part of the class is figuring out what you want to do. Once you get over that bridge, your love of the project takes over.”
