University Business - December 2007 - (Page 41)

Old Main (left) is a Bethany College (W.Va.) landmark, as is Our Lady Queen of Peace chapel and library at College of St. Scholastica (Minn.). pus architecture. When alumni are asked about the buildings on campus that they like or about the design plans for a new structure, they often express conservative stylistic preferences, with Collegiate Gothic often being a favorite. When campus planners and architects are surveyed about campus buildings, however, they are often dismissive of the lack of imagination that led to a decision to build another building in this style when more innovative options were available. When they discuss other options with institutional administrators and others, the results can be surprising and illuminating. Rhodes College (Tenn.), which has an unusual degree of architectural harmony in its largely Collegiate Gothic campus, recently constructed a new library. The building is very large and already has become a center of campus life. Inside, it includes all the desired features of a modern learning commons, current technology, and ample traditional library areas. From the outside, it responds to the Collegiate Gothic environment around it, but inside it incorporates new ideas for the changing needs of the campus community. Innovative reuse and other preservation solutions oﬀer other possibilities. At Baker University (Kan.), a sandstone house dating from the 1850s is a tangible link to the pioneer days on the prairie and has been preserved as the Old Castle Museum. And at Houghton College (N.Y.), aﬀection universitybusiness.com One feature of Southwestern University’s campus is the determination of its planners not to turn everything inward toward a central quad. was so strong for Fancher Hall (originally known as Jennings Hall, built in 1905) that when in 1987 a new campus plan called for other uses of the site, this beloved building was moved in order to be preserved. Many colleges and universities have an Old Main, a structure that has received some interest in recent years. There are two books titled Old Main, one by Samuel Schuman (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005) and one by Richard Dober (Society for College and University Planning, 2007). Diﬀering educational philosophies are reﬂected in the early uses of Old Main. For early Catholic colleges, the sisters who were its principal faculty members often lived on the top ﬂoor, while classrooms, a chapel, and the president’s oﬃce ﬁlled the lower ﬂoors. For early Protestant colleges, however, it was often students who lived on the top ﬂoor. Another variant of this form is found at Flagler College (Fla.), which today occupies the magniﬁcent turn-of-thecentury Hotel Ponce de Leon, used for both residential and administrative purposes. Not all uses of space follow predictable lines. Southwestern University (Texas), with guidance from Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Group Two Architecture, has developed a highly uniﬁed campus master plan. One of the campus’s more unusual features is the result of its planners’ determination not to turn everything inward toward a central quadrangle. Rather, visitors are conscious of the openness of Southwestern’s campus and its connection to the surrounding areas, reminiscent of the early 20th-century Garden City movement in Great Britain. Focus and coherence in students’ experience are achieved in other ways—including a welcoming, modern student center—rather than through prescribed patterns of pedestrian traﬃc that lead all students to the same pathways at the same time. The importance of the physical campus as an expression of an institution’s educational values is easily overlooked once functional needs are met. We need to remember how fundamental architectural facilities and spaces are to gaining a broader understanding of the campus community. The visual and historic appeal of a campus’s architecture can be an endearing manifestation of a college or university’s educational mission. Richard Ekman is president of The Council of Independent Colleges, www.cic.edu. December 2007 | 41 http://www.cic.edu http://universitybusiness.com

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University Business - December 2007 Contents College Index Company Index Advisory Board Editor's Note Behind the News Viewpoint Admissions On The Hill Marketing Future Stock Independent Outlook Technology Spending Survey '08 Conference Call A Working Education 30 Smart Business Ideas Educause in Emerald City What's New Calendar of Events End Note

University Business - December 2007

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