Page 30 - College Planning & Management, July/August 2017

A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING
rigorous student experience.
The Sasaki team invited to develop the Campus Framework
included planners, urban designers, architects and landscape architects. This mix ensured that, from the beginning, the Framework would comprehensively and cohesively examine possibilities throughout campus and from a number of vantage points. It yielded a Campus Framework proposing diverse learn- ing environments, across scales, connecting people and place with new types of learning spaces. Among other priorities, the three major strategic thrusts of the Framework are to consolidate and connect the campus, reimagine the Syracuse front door and enliven the campus edge.
Consolidating the Campus and Creating Critical Mass
In parallel with workplace innovation trends of the last decade, which have increasingly moved to open-office configurations, replicating café-like environments to encourage a fluid work/life continuum, institutions of higher education are dissolving the traditional boundaries around where and how students should learn. Just as modern workplaces are intent on ensuring employees congregate to exchange ideas, vital to successful learning envi-
ronments today is the cultivation of a critical mass of people and concentration of activities to encourage interaction.
To support dynamism on campus, Syracuse is boldly relocat-
ing all undergraduate South Campus housing to the Main Campus, creating a unified residential experience. South Campus will then be used for athletic facilities and faculty housing. The move will enhance the student life experience, providing access to student life amenities, academic facilities and campus activities — all in close proximity.
Further enhancing the Main Campus, the Campus Frame- work proposes three big connector ideas that create a strong public realm with a network of three promenades — the Waverly Avenue Promenade, University Place Promenade and an Academic Promenade — to foster greater connectivity and accessibility and provide a new mix of campus uses and student life amenities. The physical framework synthesizes social, environmental and mobil- ity strategies into a strong public realm structure that provides legibility and reinforces a compact campus core.
LET’S CONNECT. Future plans for campus improvements for Syracuse University include three proposed parallel promenades that will improve circulation and accessibility on the vibrant Main Campus. The goal is to foster an inclusive range of strategies to address the student experience, integrate accessibility and mobility, and improve the academic and research environments.
Designing a New Front Door
The learning environment begins at the front door of a cam- pus. The approach and arrival can showcase the academic life of a university by demarcating an active edge with legible mobility, landscape, programming and architectural ideas. This is a place to make a statement and a lack of a distinctive entry can be a statement in and of itself.
For much of Syracuse’s history, the ceremonial front door of campus oriented the major academic buildings towards downtown Syracuse. The Campus on the Hill was connected to the city by this orientation, such that a visitor would first encounter the heart of campus: the iconic Hall of Languages flanked by academic build- ings and fronted by a sweeping lawn.
Then, development throughout the 1960s-1980s began populating the campus edge with buildings oriented towards Old Row, leaving Wa- verly Avenue lined with loading and service zones and blank façades. As a result, Old Row and Waverly Avenue stood in stark contrast, the
30 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JULY/AUGUST 2017
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