New commons area to be open with
Performing Arts Mall linking to the Nutwood Parking Structure and
Titan Student Union.
May 19, 2005
By Pamela McLaren
Take a good look at the open space located
west of the Pollak Library and south of the Titan Bookstore –
because this summer the university will begin a process to completely
change the area.
Also this summer, the fence that has surrounded the
Performing Arts Center construction site for three years will come
down, revealing a new pedestrian mall where West Campus Drive used
to be.
By the start of the fall semester, these areas will
take on a whole new appearance – one that was incorporated
into the university’s master development plan when it was
approved in 2003.
“The goal is to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly
and to reclaim as usable open space what was previously inaccessible,
or a roadway,” said Kim Apel, facilities planner. The changes
to the Commons area, he noted “will turn it into a more student-oriented
place, as well as tie together the various landscaping areas there
already.”
The Performing Arts Mall will link the Nutwood Parking
Structure with the Performing Arts Center and the Titan Student
Union, and will form a plaza between Visual and Performing arts
complexes.
Under the first phase for the Commons area the rolling
landscape and narrow, winding path from near the library will change
to a single, widened, straight pathway alongside a level lawn area.
Some existing trees will be lost, Apel noted, but the new path will
be lined with sycamores.
“In future years, other landscape improvements
will expand to connect with the Student Recreation Center plaza
north of the Titan Student Union and the bookstore, as well as with
the Kinesiology and Health Science Building and Performing Arts
Center Mall,” said Apel. About three acres will be improved
in 2005, with more planned for the future. The entire commons project
is approximately 138,000 square feet.
As part of the future plans, vendors that are now
located around the front entrance of the bookstore will be moved
to the sides of the building, Apel added. The bookstore’s
existing loading dock will be moved to the north side, allowing
for a broad avenue between the student union and bookstore that
will lead to the Student Recreation Center plaza and the new relocated
Becker Amphitheatre.
Another large, flat grass area with a pond is planned
next to the library and the existing jacaranda grove will be expanded.
A strand of trees will be added to those areas along the pathway
from the library to the kinesiology building.
“These landscape projects are a rare opportunity to improve
the campus’s public open space by using a portion of the funds
assigned for capital projects and funds from other sources. The
combination of new buildings and landscape improvements will dramatically
transform the west side of the campus between 2004 and 2008,”
said Jay Bond, associate vice president for facilities management.
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