2008 Woodie Awards
Drawing plans for a changing campus
UM will build parking garages, demo buildings, remove roads to become greener
Heather Steeves
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: News
Resident halls on campus will remain the same, with some new additions. The plan includes adding rooms for more than 1,000 additional students. Sasaki and UMaine Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron said they are considering bringing in a private contractor - similar to Orchard Trails - to add housing on campus. Orono would be able to tax this company for their services, which could help with local economy and lessen the need for parking by keeping more students on campus.
The plan includes redeveloping Little Hall, Shibles Hall, East Annex, Smith Hall, York Village, the machine tool lab and two fraternity houses. The presentation stated that it would remove 280,000 square feet of existing indoor space. Instead of keeping one-story buildings, Sasaki said they will use campus space in a more efficient way. By adding multiple-story buildings they will add 1,643,000 square feet of indoor space.
According to Waldron, the changes will happen steadily, rather than all at once. When the university considers a change, such as adding storage place, it will refer to the plan and use that to guide any changes.
"When it's time to sight a building, the tough, heavy lifting will be done already, and it will shorten the time for site selection," said the Associate Vice President for Administration and Finance, Elaine Clark. Site selection can be a huge time delay factor when the university decides to start construction, according to Clark.
"It is very much theoretical," said student representative of the campus planning committee Derek Mitchell. "It's sort of speculation and idea. They [Sasaki] are trying to sell a concept."
The campus planning committee oversees the development of the master plan. The committee has not decided who will get the final say when it comes to approving or rejecting it, but according to Waldron, they hope to take input from many different groups.
These changes will help to make UMaine a more environment-friendly campus. Parking lots on the west side of campus, such as the Hilltop Lot, separate wetlands. By replacing the lots with garages, the wetlands will be restored closer to their original condition.
UMaine's master plan hopes to make a national impact. "We're going to try to get the Green Building Council to actually change the LEED system," Clark said. "We're going to actually change the way green-building certification through this campus too." Currently, college campuses must prove they meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) basic standards for every building they construct.
If this is approved, the LEED certification process will be able to see campuses on a larger scale, as opposed to building-by-building certification. "We have to reprove the same points time after time - that we're looking at environmental issues," Clark said. If LEED makes the changes, universities would have to prove their basic commitments to the environment once. For example, if the university were to use a shuttle service, they would not have to prove green transportation for each building.
The plan includes redeveloping Little Hall, Shibles Hall, East Annex, Smith Hall, York Village, the machine tool lab and two fraternity houses. The presentation stated that it would remove 280,000 square feet of existing indoor space. Instead of keeping one-story buildings, Sasaki said they will use campus space in a more efficient way. By adding multiple-story buildings they will add 1,643,000 square feet of indoor space.
According to Waldron, the changes will happen steadily, rather than all at once. When the university considers a change, such as adding storage place, it will refer to the plan and use that to guide any changes.
"When it's time to sight a building, the tough, heavy lifting will be done already, and it will shorten the time for site selection," said the Associate Vice President for Administration and Finance, Elaine Clark. Site selection can be a huge time delay factor when the university decides to start construction, according to Clark.
"It is very much theoretical," said student representative of the campus planning committee Derek Mitchell. "It's sort of speculation and idea. They [Sasaki] are trying to sell a concept."
The campus planning committee oversees the development of the master plan. The committee has not decided who will get the final say when it comes to approving or rejecting it, but according to Waldron, they hope to take input from many different groups.
These changes will help to make UMaine a more environment-friendly campus. Parking lots on the west side of campus, such as the Hilltop Lot, separate wetlands. By replacing the lots with garages, the wetlands will be restored closer to their original condition.
UMaine's master plan hopes to make a national impact. "We're going to try to get the Green Building Council to actually change the LEED system," Clark said. "We're going to actually change the way green-building certification through this campus too." Currently, college campuses must prove they meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) basic standards for every building they construct.
If this is approved, the LEED certification process will be able to see campuses on a larger scale, as opposed to building-by-building certification. "We have to reprove the same points time after time - that we're looking at environmental issues," Clark said. If LEED makes the changes, universities would have to prove their basic commitments to the environment once. For example, if the university were to use a shuttle service, they would not have to prove green transportation for each building.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
dan
posted 3/24/08 @ 10:39 AM EST
is there a link to that map anywhere?
Post a Comment