Academic Council Hears Plans for First Phase of New Campus
First construction to focus on area near Nasher
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Durham, NC -- University officials last week unveiled plans for the first phase of construction for the new campus expansion that will focus on student residence halls and facilities for arts, languages and literature.
University officials told the Academic Council they will seek approval from Duke’s trustees to begin construction in the area near the intersection of Campus Drive and Anderson Street, close to the Nasher Museum of Art, which they hope to connect more closely to the rest of the campus.
Provost Peter Lange said the first buildings would meet the areas of greatest need: residential space for 500 students, mostly undergrads; academic facilities for arts, languages and literature departments and the Franklin Institute; and spaces for dining, recreation and student services.
“The New Campus plan is very ambitious,” Provost Peter Lange told Academic Council members Thursday. “If we build everything in the plan, it will come with about a $800 million price tag. That’s beyond our ability to do all at once. We’re not deferring from that plan, but we will do it in phases.”
The discussion with the Academic Council was just one part of a process that started this past spring and will continue throughout the semester, with planners and officials meeting with university and community groups to shape the project.
Planning for the New Campus
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Duke University is planning a long-term large-scale revitalization of its Central Campus, which will take place over the remainder of the 21st century. Its goals to provide an intellectually and socially dynamic residential environment and to create an "academic village" focusing on arts, languages and international programs and to foster interdisciplinary learning. To get more information about the history of the planning for the new campus expansion, and for updates, go to the project website.
Following an update at their October meeting, the university’s trustees may give the go-ahead for Duke to start its selection process for architects.
At the Academic Council meeting, Lange and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask III said the new plan addressed concerns that the construction of student residence halls might change the character of Duke Gardens.
Lange said the new design removed proposed student housing that was closest to the gardens in the initial plan.
“It’s very important that we address the interface with the gardens in the sense that we need to protect it,” Lange said. “There will be no thoroughfare into the gardens at its most delicate area – the Blomquist Garden. What you see here is a design that is intended to diminish the impact on the gardens.”
Lange and Trask said they would continue working with gardens officials to address these concerns and avoid creating a major student pathway through the gardens to West Campus.
The initial construction phase may also include a new 300-350-seat performing arts center. Lange said.officials hope a major donor will step forward with financing to enable work to begin on what he expects to become a campus showcase.
In addition to constructing new buildings, the plan’s initial phase will involve the development of sewers and other infrastructure, as well as improvements to campus roads. Trask said Duke will also build paths for pedestrians and bicyclists, and will seek to transform Anderson Street, which is now a major automobile thoroughfare, into something more like a “campus” road.
