Page 22 - College Planning & Management, September 2018

OUTSIDE IDEAS FOR URBAN CAMPUSES
HEALING POWER. The new Pozen Plaza revitalizes the exterior of the College of Pharmacy building at the Univer- sity of Illinois at Chicago, creating a lush greenspace and a welcoming portal to the college. An endowment has been created to support the upkeep of the plaza.
ideas over what constitutes a desirable Modern style have changed... and so
has the campus. One way was to remove raised concrete walkways in order to create a greener, brighter, more meander- ing campus. Incidentally, some of that concrete has been repurposed on campus as benches. And while buildings from the 1960s remain, planners and designers “look for ways to soften it, put some green space there,” by adding diverse plantings in front of façades, says Taeyaerts.
The campus’ Memorial Grove exempli- fies the general approach, with its gener- ously proportioned green space, positioned at about a 45-degree angle to the street corner, a meandering path amid mature trees and various plantings. A fence has been removed from the perimeter, bushes trimmed back, space generally opened up, and light coverage provided.
Functional Fixtures
Also provided: features like pedestals with emergency call capability; solar compacting trash and recycling stations that are remotely monitored and scheduled for pickups accord- ingly; and a smart irrigation system at the grove that, as Carly Rizor, superintendent of Grounds, explains, adjusts and runs its cycles based on local weather reports, humidity levels, and wind and temperature data.
The details speak to the general goal at UIC: “We’ve made a conscious effort to green the center of campus so it doesn’t feel like an urban institution,” the campus architect says.
The plan plays itself out at West Campus with such features as an “oasis courtyard” that provides “respite and calm” amid urban bustle, as well as land- scape and hardscape elements, sculpture, lighting, light bollards, and newly installed outdoor furnishings, Rizor explains. Those things appear at recently developed Pozen Plaza, for example, a well-used, modestly scaled street-front space. The plaza is adorned with a limestone sculpture of
a mortar and pestle, distinctive bicycle racks, and wheelchair-accessible tables, sit- ting near mature trees carefully left intact.
Exacting tree management is a tenet of the UIC Landscape Standard, which also stipulates inventorying and assessing the health of campus trees, sets rules for replacing trees, and calls for biodiversity in plantings, according to Rizor. Along that line, the urban campus is also Tree Campus USA- and Bee Campus USA-
IT’S ONLY NATURAL. The Delaware State University Ar- boretum, established in 2012, is composed of 178 different species of trees and shrubs planted on the main campus in Dover. The arboretum’s website provides a detailed map of the location of each.
certified, she says.
Both campuses have gardens that
serve educational purposes, as in the East Campus’ Heritage Garden and the West Campus’ Atkins Medicinal Garden.
Supporting Institutional Character
Likewise, outside ideas elsewhere and the spaces and features they spawn are integral components of institutional char- acter, educational goals and student life, including, among many others:
• Illinois State University, which integrates
its built campus and various educa- tional programs into its Arboretum on its Normal, IL, campus. There, thousands
of diverse trees also beautify the campus and present an important public face and space for students, prospective students, the community, and the wider world.
• Delaware State University in Dover, which is sited on 356 well-tended suburban acres. There is a mix of historic and new settings and architectural styles, punctu- ated with plenty of plantings, stormwater retention features, open green spaces, and bollard-lined walkways.
• Yale University’s West Campus, where, according to the university, a current outdoor space initiative is creating green spaces, improving roadways, and build- ing walkways for pedestrians. The project is a sign of continuing development
and gathering identity for the location, bought by the university 11 years ago. West Campus, roughly seven miles from the main New Haven, CT, campus, houses interdisciplinary institutes, a nursing school, and various facilities and com- mon spaces as well as the 136-acre Yale Landscape Lab.
In Texas, a Resilient Landscape
Elsewhere, recent campus, landscape, and sustainability master plans are guiding planning of the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. Among other things, the initiatives emphasize the need for system- atic integrated planning, transitioning
22 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / SEPTEMBER 2018
WEBCPM.COM
PHOTOS © SCOTT BERMAN