Reclamation

Background

The Facilities Master Plan is UMD’s proposal “for the orderly development and growth of the campus” until 2020 (Facilities). One goal of the Master Plan is to “preserve the architectural heritage of the campus and enhance it through open spaces, gathering places, vistas of green lawn and trees,” (Facilities).  This goal revolves around the ongoing efforts of preserving the beauty of the campus while protecting the environment. One way of doing this is to create more open spaces and moving all parking into garages and replacing the parking lots with gathering places and green lawns. These changes are being many campus districts.

Districts

District Boundaries [1]

The university has organized their plans by district. The campus has eight districts on the main campus, as seen to the right. The size of each district is defined by an approximately five to seven minute walk radius. These campus districts vary in style from natural woodland and meadows to more urban areas. Each district has unique characteristics evidenced in its natural features, open spaces, buildings, and their uses. The projects for each district have been made to maintain the most positive characteristics of the campus and use that as the basis of the future developments

Southwest District

Southwest District [2]

The southwest district covers the area in between Van Munching Hall and the South Campus Commons, as seen to the right. Before, this region was mainly parking lots and buildings and lacked the integration of nature that can be seen today. This reclamation of the natural landscape helps improve the overall beauty of the campus and increase the state of sustainability.  

The main change that campus has completed in this district is the open lawn placed in front of Van Munching Hall. By replacing the staff and faculty parking lots near Van Munching Hall, the university has transformed 30, 492 square feet of solid pavement into green lawns and open spaces, which has become the foundation for multiple academic buildings, 1700 plus spaces in the Mowatt Lave Parking Garage, and student facilities. By the end of the Master Plan all parking in the southwest district will be in garages and most of the old lots will be replaced with areas for new buildings, open spaces, and student life like in the photo below.

Mowatt Parking Garage and Open Space in front of Van Munching Hall

Landscaped public spaces have also been positioned at the South Campus Commons, and the Architecture school is nestled into trees and a lawn hillside at the Mowatt Lane-Campus Drive intersection. Lastly, Preinkert Fieldhouse faces an open lawn that serves the residential community along Preinkert Drive. All three of these changes are pleasant pedestrian regions and add to the natural landscape that the Master Plan is aiming for.

Northeast District

Northeast District [2]

The Northeast district is the dense cluster of engineering, science, and mathematic buildings as seen in the image to the right. The university has made this district to have “downtown” urban character and they believe that this “should be celebrated and used to demonstrate sound Urban Design practices in reforming our urban centers,” (Northeast).  In this district the construction of major public and semi-private spaces will enable the students of the engineering, science, and math programs to use and be proud of their environment.

Few examples of new open spaces created in this region are the Kim Engineering Plaza, the plaza next to the Computer Science Instructional Center, and the Chemistry Courtyard, which can be seen in Figure 5. These open spaces are integrated into the urban style environment that has been established in the north east district. The two plazas add more nature to the areas by containing trees, shrubs, and flowers. During this semester some new features have been added to the Kim Engineering Plaza. To help it be more integrated and usable for the pedestrians, tables have been placed in the plaza so that students and faculty can enjoy the outdoors and use the natural lighting. Another addition is the solar panel that has been placed in the plaza, which creates a new source for usable energy for the campus. The Chemistry Courtyard is also another environmental friendly region that incorporates a walkway between buildings that leads to the patio outside new atrium in the chemistry building. This courtyard with its table and benches adds a park-like feature to the area.  All three of these open spaces shift pedestrian routes closer to buildings and renew regions that were once unappealing.

Kim Plaza, Computer Science Plaza, and Chemistry Courtyard

Reagents Drive Strip [3]

 Some other ongoing projects the Master Plan are mainly improvements on pedestrian passages and to improve the other urban green spaces. Passageways, with greenery like trees and lawns, will be constructed along the Regents Drive strip as seen in the image to the right. Then in front of the Campus Drive buildings in the district small open spaces will be renovated to feature gardens and trees as seen in the map on the image below.

                                                           

Campus Drive Strip [3]

West District [4]

West District

The west district is bounded by University Boulevard to the west, Campus Drive to the south, and Stadium Drive and the predominantly high-rise residential community to the north.  To the east it merges into the parking lots and buildings that surround the southwestern side of the Historic Core.

The west district has the opportunity to create major changes and improvements. The Master Plan proposes a Western Mall, which can become the heart of the district and provide needed north-south connections between the residential communities on North and South hills, and west of McKeldin Library.  The new construction can be accomplished without sacrificing urban amenities, force-fitting buildings inappropriately into existing fabric, or sprawling over valuable wooded countryside. This transformation from one dominated by acres of asphalt parking lots for thousands of cars to an ordered, mixed-use district with strong and clear connections to the adjacent campus districts can heavily benefit the student life and the environment. Similar to the south west district project, the west district will displace parking spots to new garages, create open spaces filled with greenery in the old lots, and enhance the visual aspects of the west district. This proposed plan is shown to the left.

Footnotes

[1] - University of Maryland. “Facilities Master Plan.” Facilities Management. N.p., Jan. 2002. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.facilities.umd.edu//documents/fmp/UMD_FMP_2001.pdf>.

[2] - University of Maryland, and Department of Transportation Services. "Campus Map." The Department of Transportation Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.transporation.umd.edu/parking/maps/map_campus.pdf>.

[3] - University of Maryland. “Northeast District Aesthetic Guidelines for Campus Development.” Facilities Management . University of Maryland, n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.facilities.umd.edu/documents/mmd/11x17_NE_Cover-and-Core_1mar04.pdf>.

[4] - University of Maryland. “West District Aesthetic Guidelines for Campus Development.” Facilities Management . University of Maryland, n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.facilities.umd.edu/documents/mmd/11x17_W_Cover-and-Core_1mar04.pdf>.