2008 Woodie Awards
Master plan in second phase
Project seeks to expand university within existing space
Meghan Hayward
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: News
The University of Maine is in the second part of its three-phase master plan which is the first of its kind in the country. The master plan supports the mission and strategic priorities of the land and sea grant institution.
"The planning effort is intended to assist in improving the integration between physical and cultural resources and to support a diverse and complex campus environment," Janet Waldron, vice president for administration and finance said. "We also want the most effective use of resources at all levels while working to ensure support for teaching, learning, research and public service."
The first phase of the master plan happened over the summer with data collection and information about the campus. This included determining the square footage of the buildings, number of acres, watershed, flood planes, solar orientation of buildings, wind direction and carbon emissions.
"You name it, it got measured," Elaine Clark, associate vice president for finance and administration, said.
The second phase, known as the concept phase, began in September and will be in the works until the end of December.
The university is working with a consultant company out of Boston called Sasaki Associates.
In the concept phase, Sasaki took raw data about the campus and put together ideas about the future direction of the campus. Sasaki took all the data collected in phase one and presented it in a slide-show format. They have given the university feedback about buildings that could be demolished, roadways that are no longer necessary and parking lots that should be looked at.
"The No. 1 most important key element that has emerged so far is that the campus should stay within existing boundaries," Clark said. "We should not sprawl but should try to infill within the large development areas of the campus."
The concepts that were brought up in phase two were areas within the large developments that the university is underutilizing. The south end of campus has been recommended as an opportunity. Recommendations for roads that should possibly be torn out are the Sebec and Beddington Roads. The Steam Plant Parking Lot is also being looked at because parts of it are in a flood plane.
"The planning effort is intended to assist in improving the integration between physical and cultural resources and to support a diverse and complex campus environment," Janet Waldron, vice president for administration and finance said. "We also want the most effective use of resources at all levels while working to ensure support for teaching, learning, research and public service."
The first phase of the master plan happened over the summer with data collection and information about the campus. This included determining the square footage of the buildings, number of acres, watershed, flood planes, solar orientation of buildings, wind direction and carbon emissions.
"You name it, it got measured," Elaine Clark, associate vice president for finance and administration, said.
The second phase, known as the concept phase, began in September and will be in the works until the end of December.
The university is working with a consultant company out of Boston called Sasaki Associates.
In the concept phase, Sasaki took raw data about the campus and put together ideas about the future direction of the campus. Sasaki took all the data collected in phase one and presented it in a slide-show format. They have given the university feedback about buildings that could be demolished, roadways that are no longer necessary and parking lots that should be looked at.
"The No. 1 most important key element that has emerged so far is that the campus should stay within existing boundaries," Clark said. "We should not sprawl but should try to infill within the large development areas of the campus."
The concepts that were brought up in phase two were areas within the large developments that the university is underutilizing. The south end of campus has been recommended as an opportunity. Recommendations for roads that should possibly be torn out are the Sebec and Beddington Roads. The Steam Plant Parking Lot is also being looked at because parts of it are in a flood plane.
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trevor
posted 11/30/07 @ 2:40 PM EST
So why is tuition going up every year? Because we waste money on hiring a masshole run company to tell us how to build our maine schools.
I'm not an expert on carbon or emissions but to base the future construction / demolition of buildings on umaine campus on carbon emissions tested in summer is a questionable method. (Continued…)
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