University of Wisconsin is seeking input over what the future of campus should look like as it begins to revise the Campus Master Plan, which will focus on spaces between campus buildings and areas that haven’t been developed.
Tuesday was the first of over 200 meetings and discussions scheduled to take place over the next year and a half to allow UW’s student and community members to voice their suggestions.
“We are interested in all the interstitial spaces of campus, the landscape areas, pedestrian areas, bike lanes, all the places that link campus together,” Mary Jukuri, principal campus planner of SmithGroupJJR, said.
The Campus Master Plan is also reaching out via its new website, to foster discussion on the future of the campus and allow people to share any ideas they may have.
The Campus Master Plan, not to be confused with the Rec Sports Master Plan, is a framework covering the maintenance and construction of campus infrastructure that is revised every ten years.
The Board of Regents requires UW to revise their Master Plan every decade to comply with Wisconsin statutes and ensure that facilities are used effectively.
The Campus Master Plan will be drafted and enacted by a group of firms led by SmithGroupJJR, an architecture and engineering group. They hope to have the plan approved by fall of 2016.
The plan is currently in a discussion stage, Jukuri said. Firm members are asking faculty and students to voice their opinion and state specifically which areas need work and which should be kept the way they are now, she said.
Jukuri addressed budget restraints and said the plan aims to provide the physical environment for quality academics and research to take place. It is important that short term actions match long term goals in the Campus Master Plan, she said.
“Every Master Plan is ultimately a framework, a roadmap for decision making,” Jukuri said. “Assumptions can change moving forward.”
Previous Campus Master Plans have focused on building new facilities, but this will no longer be the case, according to Gary Brown, director of campus planning and landscape architecture.
Several buildings on campus were built in the mid-20th century and as they age their future utility must be evaluated, Brown said. A lot of discussion will revolve around how to modernize existing buildings, he said.
“We know the most sustainable building is the one we don’t have to build,” Brown said.
This does not mean the plan will not involve any demolition work, Brown said. Many of campus’ older buildings have “good bones,” but the 20th century buildings are sometimes less efficient, he said.
Aside from sustainability, Brown said the plan aims to keep some buildings based on their historical value.
“[When] determining a building’s historical value, sometimes it’s about the architecture, but sometimes it’s about what happened in these buildings,” Brown said.
There will be another meeting Wednesday at Mechanical Engineering, 1513 University Avenue, room 1106. The meeting will be open to the public and the Campus Master Plan encourages students and faculty to attend and make their opinions known.
