University picks plaza architect

University administrators have chosen Hargreaves Associates, a San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm, to design the plaza for the new West Campus Student Center.

Although the selection awaits final approval by the Board of Trustees in December, members of the firm began preliminary work on the project last week and are planning a reconnaissance visit to the University within the next two weeks, said Glenn Allen, a Hargreaves principal who will be working on the plaza project.

"The plaza is just the kind of university project that we like," Allen said. "The creation of a new, active, student-focused, connective piece of open space is something we've done very successfully at a number of universities across the country."

The firm has worked extensively on projects at other academic institutions, including Drexel University, Stanford University, the University of Arizona and the University of Cincinnati.

"They've designed a lot of big gathering spaces, which is the type of thing we're talking about here with the plaza," Trask said.

University officials said they hope Hargreaves will work closely with administrators as well as students in designing the plaza--a task with which Allen said the firm is familiar.

"In the past, we've stayed in contact with students as we worked," Allen said, noting that such contact took place in forums such as public workshops. "It's always important to remember that students, faculty, visitors are all equally stakeholders in the outcome of the new plaza and that they are some of our main sources for ideas."

Mark Novak, landscape architect in Campus and Facilities Planning at the University of Arizona, said Hargreaves has been very good at working with the university to create an Alumni Plaza that will connect a number of different campus elements. Duke has a similar goal for its own plaza, which will span the area between the West Union Building and the Bryan Center.

"They're a very talented and creative group of folks and they did a really good job at creating a strong design for us, encompassing a whole variety of attributes that we wanted out of the space," Novak said. "When construction starts in December, it's going to be knitting together that space with a new student union that has outdoor dining facing out onto the plaza, and it also connects with the main mall, which is the primary central space on campus."

Duke has also toyed with the idea of outdoor dining in its preliminary plans for the new student center, and administrators have placed a lot of emphasis on the creation of a cohesive whole out of the currently disjointed area. Allen noted that one of the firm's overriding emphases has always been on connectivity.

Because they are still in the first stages of thinking about the plaza, they have not yet formed any specific ideas for the design, Allen said.

"We like to come to projects without preconceptions and let the specific nature of the client tell us what the place is going to become," he said.

He added, however, that he already sees a lot of potential in creating a new University icon with the plaza. The University's preliminary plans for the student center construction and renovations call for a two-level plaza, which will recognize rather than hide the eight-foot difference between the level of the main quad and the Bryan Center entrance.

"We could possibly take advantage of that change to include a water feature of some sort," Allen said. "We haven't quite thought it through for Duke's plaza yet, but we created a very successful one at the University of Cincinnati. It would be an element that gives a very special character to the place with water."

Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said Hargreaves' use of materials is one of the reasons he is excited about their selection for the plaza project.

"They use some of the tools we've talked about for the plaza--water elements, beautiful surfaces, light and color," Moneta said, noting that the work the firm has done at the University of Cincinnati is representative of what he wants in the plaza. "It's creative, engaging and it makes outdoor spaces lively and exciting."

Trask also said he liked the firm's use of mixed materials. "They create public spaces that are very interesting and involve a fair amount of both hard and soft spaces," he said.

Novak said he has found Hargreaves' work to be both engaging and refined. "Their style is very forward-thinking," he said. "They have a very refined style and they're able to create the essence of a place without too many elements. What they've done for us creates a good harmony and a sense of order and place to the space."

Trask said he anticipates about nine months of design for both the top of the plaza and the supports that will hold it up. Construction is set to begin on the plaza next summer.