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NewsvineThe face of the Stanford campus will change dramatically over the next 20 years as the University undergoes significant architectural modifications, according to University Architect David Lenox. Major changes will include a new Graduate School of Business (GSB) campus, the construction of a new residence complex and the reorganization of many existing buildings and features.
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Lenox, also the director of Campus Planning and Design, said the proposed alterations were largely influenced by the styles developed in the original master plan for the University laid down by famed architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York City’s Central Park.
“The original campus framework for growth envisioned a series of quadrangles along an East /West axis centered on the Main Quad,” Lenox said in an email to The Daily. “These quadrangles will serve as the tool to organize a Science and Engineering quad, as well as a new quad on the East side of campus anchored by Encina Commons, Toyon Hall and a future undergraduate dorm complex.”
Some of the changes, Lenox said, will be made in an effort to “encourage movement around campus and multi-disciplinary collaboration among faculty, students and researchers.” Among these proposed future developments is a new series of buildings for the GSB that will be constructed at the end of Serra Street near Campus Drive.
“[The proposed plan] provides additional room for future GSB growth, and also supports the notion of a living/learning environment with the Schwab Graduate Residences,” Lenox said. “The new GSB facility will also support the new academic curriculum which requires flexible, multipurpose teaching and student team spaces.”
The new GSB campus — named the Knight Management Center after Nike founder Philip Knight MBA ‘62 who donated $100 million for its construction — is planned for 2010 or 2011, according to University projections.
Lenox said he will remain loyal to the architectural values of space and cohesiveness established in the original plan for the University.
“The original campus plan established a ‘sense of place’ and understood that the design of the exterior spaces between buildings is as important as the design of the building architecture,” Lenox said. “Stanford has always balanced the attributes of the natural open landscape, intimate courtyards and garden spaces and the building architecture, and the proposed design and construction will continue to focus on this critical balance.”
The architect also intimated that the campus could be much “greener” in the future.
“The architecture of Stanford also was designed to be sustainable from the time when the University was conceived and opened,” Lenox said. “Design components such as arcades to shade the sun, natural ventilation, drought tolerant landscaping, [and] natural interior light will continue to build on the foundation of the original sustainable concepts.”