2008 Woodie Awards
Farmland to university
Far from its agricultural roots, the SIUE campus continues its quest for expansion
Catherine Klene
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: 50th Anniversary Special Edition
As the university continues to grow and the demand for new buildings increases, the pressure to adhere to Obata's designs grows. To help maintain these concepts, the Board of Trustees asked Klein to develop a book of design guidelines to distribute to all architects on campus.
"That's the hope for the future is that the current design guidelines will be followed," Klein said.
As SIUE continues to grow, more buildings inevitably will be needed to accommodate students and staff. In preparation for this, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker and others developed a Facilities Master Plan for the next 25 years of the campus.
Walker credits the residence halls with changing the culture of the university.
"One thing that has impacted the growth of the university more than anything is the construction of the residence halls," Walker said. "(Residence halls) have changed the culture of the university just by the fact that there are more students here in the evenings and on weekends."
The Master Plan includes many different structures and buildings, including parking garages, the Student Academic Success Center, a rebuilding of Cougar Village and more. Students may see results of the Master Plan within the next year as the new science building and the Student Academic Success Center are expected to begin accepting bids this year.
When creating the plan, Walker said the university held to many of the original campus design ideas, such as natural land buffers, reduced internal circle parking and brick towers with horizontal glass.
"The campus master plan does complement the original master plan that was created by Gyo Obata," Walker said.
Walker said as the university grows, the demand for more space for specific programs increases. For example, Walker said the increased interest in the nursing program has contributed to very full science classes. To remedy this, SIUE is working to obtain state funds to begin construction on a new science building and to renovate the old building.
"That's the hope for the future is that the current design guidelines will be followed," Klein said.
As SIUE continues to grow, more buildings inevitably will be needed to accommodate students and staff. In preparation for this, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker and others developed a Facilities Master Plan for the next 25 years of the campus.
Walker credits the residence halls with changing the culture of the university.
"One thing that has impacted the growth of the university more than anything is the construction of the residence halls," Walker said. "(Residence halls) have changed the culture of the university just by the fact that there are more students here in the evenings and on weekends."
The Master Plan includes many different structures and buildings, including parking garages, the Student Academic Success Center, a rebuilding of Cougar Village and more. Students may see results of the Master Plan within the next year as the new science building and the Student Academic Success Center are expected to begin accepting bids this year.
When creating the plan, Walker said the university held to many of the original campus design ideas, such as natural land buffers, reduced internal circle parking and brick towers with horizontal glass.
"The campus master plan does complement the original master plan that was created by Gyo Obata," Walker said.
Walker said as the university grows, the demand for more space for specific programs increases. For example, Walker said the increased interest in the nursing program has contributed to very full science classes. To remedy this, SIUE is working to obtain state funds to begin construction on a new science building and to renovate the old building.
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