Four campuses rated top billing at the 2004 SCUP/AIA-CAE Awards, a joint effort of the Society for College and University Planning and the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education. The juried competition recognizes collaborative state-of-the-art planning and emphasizes excellence in higher education environments and settings. This year’s trends included shifting campus focus through improvements to pedestrian spaces, closing roads and parking, and establishing new campus centers or gathering places, usually outdoor spaces related to new or renovated buildings. Several of the submittals were new buildings that required exploration of the campus before proceeding, and some of the final projects shifted after the planning effort.

Honor Award

Red River College, by Corbett Cibinel Architects, for the Princess Street Campus
Red River College, a large suburban community college, serves Manitoba province and mid-western Canada. Planning for a new downtown campus to add post-secondary seats and merge information technology programs began in 1998. Goals for the development of the satellite campus—located on a brownfields site that takes advantage of a heritage building tax-credit program—centered on community interaction, proximity and interrelationships with the adjacent industry, and increasing the level of service and facility for the industry program. As the campus plan evolved through government intervention (size of facility, enrollment numbers) and construction phasing, the college struggled to maintain its desired program mix. In the end, however, the final program reflected a broad mix of information technology: creative arts, business computer software and programming, and networking and electronic technology. “This was a favorite for the new-campus category and most difficult of all the projects,” said the jury. “It demonstrates outstanding architecture, presentation, and context, good handling of façade, and sustainability that combines academic and fiscal issues.”

Merit Award: District Planning

Technology Square, Atlanta, Georgia Institute of Technology, by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, for Georgia Tech
In the 1950s, Interstate 75/85 was built, separating Georgia Tech from its Midtown neighborhood, severing a 100-year relationship. This division led to a steady decay of the surrounding Fifth Street area, creating problems for the community and the school. Now, in just a few years, Georgia Tech’s $179 million investment has turned this underdeveloped field in the heart of Atlanta into a vibrant center of education, research, economic development, and hospitality. Georgia Tech’s Technology Square plays an important role in the Midtown renaissance by anchoring the district’s emerging high-technology core with a convenient mix of retail and service outlets. Technology Square includes the College of Management, a tech hotel and conference center, learning and conference center, two development institutes, and the area’s first major bookstore. The alternative-fuel Georgia Tech Trolley provides free transit to and from the western portions of campus and the nearby rapid rail station, with access to Atlanta’s international airport. The jury said that the project shows “good stewardship through the successful redevelopment of a blighted site. There are commercial aspects to the project, and they did a good job of blending the pieces of campus and community.”

Merit Award: Planning for an Established Campus

Smith College, Northampton, Mass., by R.M. Kliment and Frances Halsband Architects, for the college’s 2050 Plan
This campus master plan responds to the question, “What will Smith College look like in 50 years?” The planners developed a comprehensive process, spending more than six months interviewing 150 members of the college community, local community groups, the mayor, and city planners, as well as reaching out to regional planning authorities in the Connecticut River Valley, transportation planners, and environmental groups. They recorded their research on wall-sized maps that they made available at a series of public presentations on campus. With this feedback, the planners realized that rather than undertaking a major expansion into the neighborhood, they were able to make better use of land and buildings the school already owned, with a few strategic acquisitions. The implementation process also resulted in creation of the position of architect adviser to the Board of Trustees for this small college with no architecture school to provide in-house expertise. The adviser assisted in architect selection and design review for major projects, assuring design continuity and adherence to the principles of the master plan. “The plan description was very compelling, showed sensitivity and attention to details that looked at how context had changed, and how the whole planning effort should morph,” the jury remarked. “It was proactive as well as reactive.”

Merit Award: Planning for a New Campus

Cy-Fair College, Cyprus, Tex., by Gensler, for the Cy-Fair College
Cy-Fair College, a new community college in the suburbs of Houston, opened its doors last summer to almost 7,000 students in an area experiencing extraordinary residential and business growth. The planning team focused the college vision from three major sources: close examination of the community and future student demographics, extensive community needs and expectations study (including workforce development needs and new and emerging occupations), and examination of national best practices and research on adult-learning methodology and organizational development. The planning theme—active learning engagement and collaboration—encouraged the planning team to rethink all aspects of the college’s functions, from classroom design to the flow of student registration services. The result was the commitment to serve the community fully with high-quality transfer programs, state-of-the art workforce programs, fine arts, community meeting spaces, lifelong learning for families, and other programs and services such as English as a Second Language. Innovative facilities accompanied the programs, including the learning commons, which combines the college library, Internet café, counseling and tutoring services, and a county public library. The jury found this “an interesting, good project, exemplifying the spirit of a community and the college.” They admired the “nice balance of attractive architecture, quality landscaping, and clustering of structures. It’s inviting to the community.”

Honorable Mention

A Plan for High Street: Breaking Boundaries, Rebuilding Community, by the Ohio State University, Columbus, and Goody, Clancy & Associates, Inc.
Central to Ohio State University’s overall academic mission in Columbus is the integration of the campus and the surrounding community. To help meet its long-range planning objectives, the university created Campus Partners in 1995 to develop a comprehensive revitalization plan for the neighborhoods around the campus. In 1998, Campus Partners hired a consultant to conduct a detailed study of the two-mile stretch of High Street—Columbus’s main street—that runs through the heart of the university district. The resulting “Plan for High Street” acknowledges the central role of the university in the community, including in the lives of many of the 3 million people who annually visit OSU’s academic buildings, hospitals, art and performance space, athletic facilities, and open spaces. Through its planning work, OSU sought to revitalize the city’s chief corridor and the university’s urban “front door,” and create a new kind of town-gown fabric. Now, private and public initiatives, developed as an outgrowth of the High Street Plan, reflect and project the values of the stakeholders and their collective vision. All the key recommendations have been or are in the process of being implemented. “This project is clearly a plan for a sector, not for a wide portion of the campus. But it is critically important as entry that understands the impacts of surrounding areas on student experiences,” the jury said. “Its dual vision as a gateway and an urban street sets a good precedent for public/private partnerships.”

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