SHADED BY A WILLOW TREE, A SMALL CLASS SITS ON a well-manicured lawn. The women's running team circles around a pristine track as seated onlookers applaud.
These images come to mind when one a prospective student or parent in particular envisions a college campus. They are images that define the competitive landscape in higher ed. Families tend to come away from a campus tour with a strong instinct about the school, colored in large part by whether it matches the look and feel of the campus of their dreams. So the character of a campus whether it truly has that storybook look and feel can be a critical differentiator in the final decision.
Creating a Campus Feel
What makes a campus feel like a campus? Grass quadrangles with shade trees may come to mind, but an urban campus can achieve just as much appeal by carving out green space within its boundaries and utilizing open space as an organizational element.
In fact, unity is the primary factor that makes a campus feel "like a campus." A harmonious interplay of buildings, open space, programming, security, and layout is essential to campus unity, and it becomes one of the school's primary marketing tools. It inspires confidence in parents, and a sense of well-being and motivation in prospective students.
A consistent site vocabulary also contributes to unifying a campus. Signage and graphics, hierarchical paving and pedestrian circulation systems, site furniture, bollards (short vertical posts), receptacles, fencing, and curbing lend legibility, orientation, and clear boundaries and perimeters.
Campus gateways, signs, and other visual cues like plantings and lighting that assist visitors with finding their way around are also critical contributors to identity, creating important initial impressions. Informational kiosks animate a campus and provide visitors with orientation and updates on events. Reliable lighting and call boxes provide an extra measure of security. Finally, the landscape itself gives the campus an inviting aesthetic and seasonal identity. The image of a campus is primarily identified by the overall development of the built environment, including the landscape and site elements.
A commitment to unifying a campus and achieving that true campus feeling can be made at any time in an institution's life cycle. These decisions come about in a number of ways. Often the feedback of students and alumni is the motivation behind the decision by a school's president or board of trustees to enhance the campus image.
A harmonious interplay of buildings, open space, programming, security, and layout inspires confidence in parents, and a sense of well-being and motivation in prospective students.
At other times, the decision arises secondarily, when a school undertakes another type of project such as embarking on a master planning effort, becoming ADA compliant, contemplating the usage of a newly acquired parcel of land, converting an existing building to a new use, or addressing a parking shortage. Inevitably the conversation turns to the ever present bigger picture: How can we make our campus look more like a campus?
Ideally, even if this question is not directly raised, a landscape architecture firm or other design team engaged to address a particular project will at least bring up the issue and urge the school to consider the broader impact on the campus. A good design team will always have in mind how any on-campus undertaking might enhance the aesthetics and feel of the campus as a whole now and into the future.
A Master's in Planning
The most lasting, effective, and economical way to achieve campus unity is to establish a master plan. A master plan can determine standards for elements such as signage, fencing, receptacles, and furniture and can prevent the inconsistencies and hodgepodge feel that arise from improvements made without the benefit of an overall plan to guide them. Investing time and resources in creating a master plan offers (a) a multifaceted, appreciable return that also includes streamlined decision-making achieved by drawing on cohesive design standards, and (b) an improved ability to engage in capital campaigns because one is able to effectively convey a vision and predict costs.
The role of a landscape architect can be critical in the master planning process by:
