Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411080008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Spanning the Mall and framing the War Memorial might be a new campus signature: a skybridge-reading room that links Newman Library to a new $25 million building devoted to the study of the information highway.
New buildings will be built of limestone "Hokie stone," to match the old VPI-era buildings that ring the drillfield. Oak trees and dogwoods will spread over expanses of lawn along the campus drives.
Those are some of the offerings in Tech's new master plan, overseen by Boston-based consultants Sasaki & Assoc. and recently approved by the university's Board of Visitors.
The plan mixes proposals for new buildings already set out in the university's wishlist of projects, as well as some new ideas. Some may come to fruition, some may not.
Because many of the proposals are still ideas, it's impossible to put more than an estimated cost on the plan.
Included are amenities for students, such as a proposed student health and fitness center, complete with juice bar and elevated jogging track. Last session, the General Assembly agreed Tech could add $80 to student fees to pay for the building, expected to cost between $17 million and $20 million when it's built in the next two years.
Also in the plan are proposals for new dormitories, complete with the air conditioning now found only in Payne Hall, the university's newest dorm. Last session, the legislature agreed to let Tech spend $15 million on two dorms, which also will be paid for out of student fees. Exactly where the dorms will be built remains undecided, but one suggested location is along the Mall, where disabled students would have easier access to town and class buildings.
But the skybridge, likely made of stone, seems to symbolize the plan.
"It's a major departure, and will make a huge impact on the way people see Virginia Tech when they come visit," University Architect Peter Karp said.
It would serve two purposes: as a reading room and a frame for the War Memorial set at the end of the Mall alongside the Drillfield.
Not everyone has been in love the idea of framing the memorial, fearing instead it would be obscured.
"It could be spectacular; it could be ghastly, depending on the sensitivity to the view on the approach to campus," said local resident Sara Thorne-Thomsen.
"I was opposed, initially," said Henry Dekker, an alumnus and member of Tech's Board of Visitors. "But I think, in the final analysis, it's going to be an enhancement of the memorial. It's an attractive reading room, and will provide a framework, an entry into the campus."
Said Ray Smoot, vice president for finance: "I looked very carefully at the [bridge] model that's been built. The space under the building across the mall will frame [the memorial], really."
And that's part of its appeal. Sasaki and Assoc., who put the plan together, thought the campus could use a more well-defined entrance. As it is now, visitors snake in through the back roads from U.S. 460.
This way, visitors could enter the campus from downtown Blacksburg, greeted by the high-profile skybridge.
It's the sort of signature that could help recruitment.
And, said freshman recruiter Karen Hansen, anything to enhance the campus visually helps recruitment.
Senior Robin Smith is an admissions office tour guide. When asked what prospective students want in a college campus, she said, "A lot of students we have coming to Tech look at recreational facilities: Basketball, volleyball, weight rooms, exercise machines. People here like to work out."
But she also guessed that the skybridge would draw fans, because "it makes the campus look more modern."
"I think the important thing about the master plan is the fact that they have given greater consideration to students, student learning, student life," Dekker said. "They have not always done so, but this is one of the essential features we, as members of the board, talked about."
The amenities, said Dekker, ought to appeal to students.
"I think when high school students come to look, 10 percent to 15 percent have their heads really into academics, and the rest are looking at the joy of living and the accommodations. Creature comforts are important to everybody.
"I think we've lacked for a long time, a very attractive student health building. That's a major step forward. I think universities are going to be changing dramatically; the amenities in life are going to become more important to students," Dekker said.
Other projects in the plan, culled from the university's existing wish-list of capital projects, include:
nDefining the Mall would include more than the bridge. Dorms sited along the roadway itself would serve handicapped students, who would have easy access to their nearby classes, as well as shops in town. In addition, those students would maintain the "24-hour life" of the area that's about to end with the renovation of dorms at the upper quad into academic buildings.
At the end of the Mall next to North Main Street, a creative arts building might take shape. Funding would come from student fees, private gifts or fund raising, said Tech spokesman Larry Hincker. A cost estimate has not been set.
A parking deck, the first for Tech, is contemplated in the parking lot across from Squires Student Center at the end of College Avenue. The garage could also go along Stanger Street, near the Upper Quad.
"We're one of the largest universities in the state that does not have parking decks," said Karp, explaining that the critical need for parking has far outpaced available spaces, and the school likely has no choice but to build the garage.
Student Smith might agree: "A lot of students here right now are concerned about parking."
Still, "there is a lot of internal discussion right now on parking decks," said Karp, indicating that school officials know the project has the potential to be a touchy one. It would be built in "increments of 500 or 600," cost upward of $7 million and would be paid for with parking fees. The town is "very pleased," with the idea of a garage at the end of College Avenue, said Adele Shirmer, Blacksburg's town engineer.
nAn outline for eventually moving fraternity houses on campus, near the location of special student housing. Here's an idea that's gone over big with officials in Blacksburg.
"We've found, from experience, that a frat house is not a compatible use in a neighborhood," said Shirmer.
But apart from the actual building concepts, the plan overlays a theme that will guide all future development. For the most part, Tech won't sprawl outward as it grows; buildings will be placed on open space within the campus.
That way, students can still experience that age-old Tech experience: Walking to class. Across the windy Drillfield, of course.
by CNB