A cluster of buildings does not a campus make.
Places of learning have long sought-out cohesive spaces that foster a sense of community and encourage an immersive life of academia. The suburban campus model, with a centric configuration, has been a successful model that has withstood the test of time. Urban campuses knitted into the urban fabric have also had success in fostering the same sense of community, but more so as part of the larger city, and using the urban context as a lab for teaching. But what makes the campuses we love successful? And how can we apply those principles to set up younger campuses for future success?
This thesis tackles these questions, and attempts to understand what differentiates a mere collection of buildings from a true campus. Applied to the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center, these borrowed ideas can start to inform the design of a new campus that bridges the gap between traditional suburban campuses and organic urban campuses. Rather than providing a series of definitive answers, the thesis establishes a series of principles on how to create a cohesive design that doesn't compromise the true nature of an urban campus. The proposed design is but one of many possible solutions.
As humans, we seem to have a desire to classify the world into categories. Oftentimes, however, the most beautiful things come from the tension of the unclassified. They come from the gray areas between typologies. The process of this thesis became inherently contradictory at times. It was developed in a way in which the particular conditions of the existing buildings on the site, and their character in the urban setting, were allowed to contaminate the clarity of the suburban campus typology, and as such, become in many ways an oxymoron. / Master of Architecture / This thesis examines urban campuses, and explores the design principles that make them successful. By comparing the layouts and designs of suburban campus models with those of school in urban conditions, one can begin to learn what ideas from either typology can be used to create a successful campus within an urban or semi-urban condition, like Old Town Alexandria. By using the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center as an example, the project develops a design proposal that would grow the current campus from a couple of buildings to a real successful urban campus, that has the potential to grow beyond its confined singular city block.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/83889 |
| Date | 09 July 2018 |
| Creators | Abboud, Assad |
| Contributors | Architecture, Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C., Kelsch, Paul J., La Coe, Jodi Lynn |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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