About 125 Durhamites and Dukies turned out last night for the first public open house on the revised Central Campus plan. There wasn't a great deal of information that's new relative to the memos and press releases on Duke's Central Campus web site, which we discussed here yesterday.
Probably the biggest news out of the night was the general level of support shown by the community for the plan. As the Herald-Sun noted, there was a concerned question from a Duke Gardens volunteer about the impact of having dorms present so close to the nature preserve; to infer from that a lede-worthy pronouncement of "some residents are wondering if there's a cloud lurking," though, doesn't strike me as really reflective of the audience reception to the plan. (Matt Dees' coverage in the N&O is also worth checking out.)
Ultimately, the Gardens question was rather sui generis in the broader scheme of the evening, and was addressed by the presence of other pedestrian trails and linkages to the campus, notably through the Edens quad area.
Duke's assertion that it would continue to adhere to the conditions approved in the negotiated rezoning a couple of years back -- and would likely in fact have less retail than was allowed for in that agreement -- won kudos from Old West Durham activist John Schelp, who expressed general support for Duke's revised Central Campus plans after the meeting.
Given that it was concerns from neighbors the last time 'round that was the focus on much of the old plan's controversy, this bodes well for the plan sailing through the community comment period without many difficulties.
Besides that, most of the questions came from Anderson Street residents and others concerned about transit and transportation: questions about further traffic cut-through on Anderson south of Duke University Road, provisions for traffic calming and bike/pedestrian access to the campus were widespread.
Some of the response to these questions focused on Duke provost Peter Lange's assertion that the net number of staff and students would remain relatively unchanged due to the construction of the new campus and that existing residents and academic programs in the arts and humanities would simply shift to the new location. One element not clear in the discussions was what would happen to the spaces on East and West Campus freed up by such locations, and what growth that might drive; I'd expect more questions about this in the May public meeting.
The development team noted that their plan called for two "significant" new structured parking decks to be built as part of the construction project, on the edges of new construction but interior to the campus -- one near the Nasher, another by the current Alexander power substation.
The current Central Campus, on the other hand, was noted to have many small parking lots and multiple driveways/road incursions that combine to have a greater impact on local traffic and neighborhoods than a few dense, access-controlled parking decks would. In net, there would not be a significant increase in parking spaces in the way the old plan would have generated, Lange added.
Lange noted that the total campus investment could reach as much as $600 million, with as much as $400-500 million of that coming in the first four years. 80-90% of the buildings shown on the maps and diagrams to date, including just about all the construction along Campus Drive, is proposed for that four-year timeframe. (The buildings most likely to not be included on the first build-out are those farthest east in the plan, past Alexander.)
Lange and Fred Clarke (from architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli) did confirm that the existing Central Campus apartments would be phased out as replacement beds come on board in the new campus -- the wood structures disappearing first, according to Lange, followed by the brick ones.
Clarke noted that zoning rules allowed most of today's Central Campus to consist of buildings up to 90' in height, something far more useful for medical and research buildings than campus structures, and acknowledged last night as a factor in the decision to re-use today's Central for those future needs instead of today's campus housing needs.
As the H-S noted, and we talked about here yesterday, the vision of a new campus linked closer to West Campus also came through clearly in the discussion. Lange cited the desire to avoid having a third "island" on the campus that the renovated Central would have created.
Importantly, he also noted a shift away from the "developmental model" proposed a few years ago for campus housing that would have focused sophomores on West Campus and seniors on the new, urban-themed Central Campus; he noted this was a response to student feedback on the Campus Culture Initiative and their stated desire for more interclass interactions past the first undergraduate year.
Instead, new student housing would stretch from a build-out of the Edens/Keohane quads through the Campus Drive corridor, with arts programs, the humanities, languages and interdisciplinary studies groups taking spaces on the eastern end of the new campus nearest the Nasher (and sprinkled throughout the residential buildings at times, too.)
Expect to see a total bed count of 1,465 on the new campus -- about two-thirds in an apartment style, mostly north of Campus Dr. and west of Anderson, the remainder in a traditional dormitory or suite style.
Duke officials did announce last night that a study of graduate student housing needs was underway to determine what the future needs for graduate housing might be. Today, only 150 graduate students live on campus, consisting mostly first-year international students who choose Duke due to a lack of familiarity with the US in general and Durham in particular.
Expect the new campus to be well-integrated into the natural surroundings; architect Clarke spent a great deal of time discussing the natural beauty of the area around Campus Drive, including the three large hollows and the heavily forested area.
Clarke described the vision for the new campus as one of a university in a forest, at odds with the clear-cutting, mass-grading philosophy in place a century ago when East Campus and West Campus were built. Building setbacks on Campus Drive would be at least 75 feet, allowing for the expansion of separated transportation modes for vehicles, bikes and cars.
That said, expect the discussions on bike/ped/transit connections described in the N&O article to be just beginning. Duke officials expressed an interest in ongoing transit collaboration, but noted that the metro area has yet to put forward a viable, supported transportation plan. Similarly, campus staff noted that while the new campus would have strong internal bike and pedestrian facilities, the extension of those facilities throughout Durham to allow students and staff to reach the campus by means other than the automobile was an issue on which city support and leadership is greatly needed.
No word yet on architectural choices for the new campus, but Clarke made a point of describing the 'old model' for campuses as one drawn on European building styles, as Duke's Georgian and Gothic styles demonstrate. One rumor reaching BCR is that we might expect a glass-centered, modern architecture -- a hallmark of Pelli Clarke Pelli work on other campuses -- to play a key role in Duke's expansion.
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