Burbank Water and Power (BWP) and AHBE Landscape Architects (AHBE) celebrated the completion of the first phase of their collaborative efforts to transform Burbank Water and Power’s main campus from an industrial relic into a sustainable model for the rest of the nation.

When BWP built an award-winning electric power plant in 2005, it also replaced several existing substations located on the campus. In restoring the old substation sites, BWP saw an opportunity to achieve something greater.

Los Angeles-based landscape architecture firm AHBE Landscape Architects was commissioned to create an ambitious master plan for an EcoCampus that focused on transforming the grounds from an aging industrial site into a regenerative green space.

Read: California’s First Sustainable Utility Campus

The campus features five different types of water filtration technologies including infiltration, flow-through, detention, tree root cells, and rainwater capture. The project also features one of the longer Green Streets in Southern California; the landscape running across three contiguous City streets acts as a filter before runoff enters the storm water system. By California law, all projects are required to mitigate at least the first ¾" of rainfall.

The most striking feature of the new campus is at the heart of the Centennial Park. The structure of an old electric substation was purposely left intact, repurposed by AHBE’s design as an outdoor meeting room or super trellis. The skeletal remains of the substation will soon be covered in living vines, creating a poignant juxtaposition of industry and environment.

All of the landscape serves a dual purpose. Aesthetically, it provides green space for employees and the public. Functionally, there are water filtration systems hidden below ground, allowing the entire campus to serve as a water filtration system.