Master Plan Unveiled
Imagine clusters of townhouses in the center of Gambier. An academic quadrangle replacing the loading dock and parking lot behind the libraries. And Sunset Cottage with a new perspective on the sunset.
These are among many possibilities in the new campus master plan that the Board of Trustees approved at its April meeting. Created by Graham Gund '63 and his Cambridge, Massachusetts firm, Graham Gund Architects, the plan will serve not as a decisive list of construction projects but rather as "a set of principles and recommendations" to guide future development of the campus.
The plan follows five guiding principles endorsed a year ago by the trustees, who said that future development should (1) promote a walking campus, (2) strengthen the Kenyon community, (3) focus academic facilities in the campus "core," (4) enhance the village center, and (5) preserve or add to green space. Over the past year, Gund and one his associates visited Gambier several times, consulting with large numbers of faculty members, students, and College staff, along with village residents and merchants.
Among the changes envisioned in the plan are:
- A greater concentration of student housing in the south campus and the village, so that virtually all students could walk from their residences to class within ten minutes.
- A new quadrangle behind the libraries, to include a fine-arts building, a building housing a gallery and museum, an administration building, and an academic building.
- New locations for various College houses, including Sunset Cottage, which would be moved to a (sunset-facing) site near Palme House.
- The promotion of greater density and more activity in the center of the village, through an expansion of the Kenyon Inn, two new commercial buildings, and townhouse-style apartments for faculty as well as students.
- The elimination of many parking areas in or near the heart of campus, and the addition of two lots on the periphery, along with an underground lot beneath the new quadrangle.
More information about the master plan is available on the Web, at www.kenyon.edu/masterplan.xml.
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