Sustainability Laboratory and Urban Garden (SLUG)

Prof Samuels wins national Architectural Education Award for urban agriculture

Washington University in St. Louis
Feb 12, 2020

A community development project led by Linda C. Samuels, associate professor at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, and Christopher Trumble, associate professor at the University of Arizona, has won a national Architectural Education Award for Collaborative Practice, presented by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

Once virtually uninhabitable, this Tucson alleyway was transformed into a space for learning and play.

The project, titled Sustainability Laboratory and Urban Garden (SLUG), centered on a narrow alleyway located between Tucson’s CITY High School and a neighboring property acquired as part of a middle school expansion. Measuring just 12 feet wide and 127 feet long, the alley represented the school’s only outdoor space. In summer, it could easily reach 120 degrees.

Over the course of a year, the SLUG team — which included design students, educators, gardeners and middle and high school students — reimagined and rebuilt the alley as a place for hands-on learning, play and urban agriculture. Learn more on the Sam Fox School website.

Link here.