Officials involved in reconfiguring and redesigning portions of the University of Wisconsin campus are set to field questions and suggestions from students and Madisonians on what they believe belongs in UW’s physical future.

Dennis Chaptman of UW communications said the university is planning a line-up of events where students can ask questions and offer suggestions for the next decade of upgrades on campus.

“What we’re hoping to do is get the campus talking about [the Master Plan], and look at it like an open forum,” Chaptman said.

UW’s Master Plan, which will focus on green spaces, campus utilities, transportation and existing buildings, is an outline of how the campus will change physically over the course of the next decade. These changes could come through updating a building’s infrastructure, preserving or adding green space or undertaking new construction projects.

Chaptman added the chance for students to provide input on how they want to see the campus for future generations comes around once a decade.
Chaptman said the last Master Plan’s provisions are more than 80 percent completed. Remodeling of buildings is a main component of the current campus overhaul, he added.

Gary Brown, director of the office of planning and landscape architecture at UW’s Facility Planning and Management, noted the difficulties of expanding and modernizing a campus in the middle of a city.

“We’re surrounded by urban development and residential neighborhoods, so we have to be creative and find ways to renovate existing buildings or remove buildings that have outlived their usefulness to make room for new development or open spaces,” Brown said in a release.

UW contracted with Baltimore-based architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross to develop the Master Plan. The company has also worked with the University of North Carolina, Arizona State University, the University of Virginia and others to design master plans on other campuses.

UW plans to hold two meetings Oct. 12 with students, professors and community members to gather their ideas. UW also will provide a website for residents to raise issues or suggest possible projects at www.us.wisc.edu/masterplan/.

Zach Vieth, a UW sophomore hoping to major in landscape architecture, feels it is important to keep students involved in the Master Plan.

“I think [the Master Plan] is very interesting and it’s something that concerns all of us — as students, people in the community, city leaders, state leaders,” Vieth said, adding he would like to see some conversation about updating older buildings and adding wireless Internet capabilities.

Vieth said the most important thing about the plan is that UW administration is keeping students and faculty involved in the process. He feels campus green space is essential.

“I think preserving the open green space [is a chief] concern,” Vieth said. “Everyone uses the green spaces.”