Thanks, Phil, this definitely helps. I like the idea of a horseshoe shaped berm that creates a suntrap and strikes a balance between collecting and shedding water.
There is a greenhouse and possibly a small chicken coop going in lower down in the same space, and I'm trying to convince my colleagues who are initiating these projects to also support this hugelkultur further uphill. One of my colleagues wants to put some berms in another location, but we could benefit from having the chickens nearby if we make a small mobile coop and get some electric fencing and there's also a big compost bin there. We could develop some great starts in the greenhouse and then plant them in the annual sections of the hugelkulture berms, if we have an annual section, probably near the tops of the berms.
What we don't want is a lot of projects in different places on our campus, which is dispersed among other non-school buildings and apartments, which means that we'll end up doing too much walking if things are spread out, especially as we get started.
I just came across part II of your hugelkultur series: Planting the Polyculture, and I'm checking it out now.
Hugh