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to Campus Master Plan Home PageWhere can I see a copy of the Campus Master Plan?
Copies of the Campus Master Plan are on file in
the following locations.
Clapp Library
Archives
Jewett
Science Center
The master plan is a comprehensive, long-range plan that addresses challenges inherent in meeting current needs and planning for future uses of the campus, with special sensitivity to the status of Wellesley's landscape and grounds as a unique historical treasure, an extraordinary resource for learning and teaching, and one of the College's great strategic assets.
The campus master plan provides explicit and systematic guidance for the restoration, management, ongoing maintenance, and overall use of the campus over at least the next two decades. Looking at the campus as a single entity composed of various integrated systems, rather than piecemeal, as a series of problems to be solved, the plan is a powerful management and decision-making tool for (a) land use; (b) maintenance; (c) budgeting and resource development; (d) allocation of resources.
Excerpt from "Campus Master Planning Process Management Structure and Charge to Steering Committee."
Who were the members of the Steering Committee and Advisory Board?
Who is Michael Van Valkenburgh?
Michael Van Valkenburgh is the principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, a Cambridge-based landscape architecture firm, and is the Charles Eliot Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, founded in 1982, has directed the design and construction of over 300 landscapes for institutional, public, and private clients across the United States and in Canada, France, Korea and Singapore. The firm has conducted planning and design work at Harvard University, Vassar College, Colby College, the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona. The firm's designs have received numerous design awards, including an Honor Award in 1994 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for the Harvard Yard Restoration.
Mr. Van Valkenburgh holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University College of Agriculture (1973) and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1977). He was a 1988 Advanced Design Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
What does the master plan include?
The plan encompasses Wellesley's main campus of approximately 700 acres including Lake Waban, its immediate owned surroundings, including Nehoiden Golf Course and residential properties and an approximately 40 acre tract across Route 135, known as the "North Forty". The arboretum was included in considering overall planning issues, but was excluded from specific scope mapping requirements, such as specimen mapping. In addition, any other College holdings were considered as strategic land assets. Campus surroundings and context were evaluated with respect to community concerns and sensitivities, current and potential needs of the College, and the opportunity for collaborative efforts.
Will there be a new student center?
The master plan examines the existing and future possibilities of renovating, relocating, expanding or creating a new student center. A campus center planning committee has been formed to make decisions in this area.
The master plan addresses the current and future parking needs of the College and the possibilities associated with them.
What about athletic fields? Students who play recreational sports do not have appropriate facilities to use.
The master plan looks at the areas available for the use of athletic facilities.
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