An urban university’s first campus landscape replaced a bleak civic plaza, named in honor for the person responsible for the realization of the much-decried Boston City Hall plaza, with an activated landscape that hosts large events and is comfortable for daily use by individuals. The 14-foot grade change across the site was recrafted into stepped seating with pedestrian connections between upper and lower terraces. The new landscape is a thin veneer over a parking structure & mechanical rooms, with planting pockets carefully coordinated with the structural loads to allow maximum root volume.