Master-planning process under way

"Anything we build on this campus must be first-class, must respect the University's rich architectural heritage and must leave appropriate flexibility and space -- both green space and developable sites -- to meet future University needs," President Sonnenschein said in his State of the University address, delivered to the faculty on Feb. 3 (see story on this page). "The development of a campus master plan will help us ensure such results."

"We want to develop a strategy for campus improvements rather than build in an ad hoc way," Stone said. "We increasingly find ourselves making important facilities decisions without an overall philosophy to guide us. A successful master plan will lay the foundation for the campus for the next 25 years."

This will be the fourth time in its history that the University has prepared a comprehensive master plan. The first plan, led by Henry Ives Cobb in the 1890s, resulted in the central quadrangles; the second, led by Eero Saarinen in the 1950s, produced Regenstein Library and the South Campus; and the third, the Sasaki plan of 1979, resulted in the Science Quadrangle.

As part of the planning process, the University will create an inventory of all existing facilities to determine their current and potential uses; identify the academic priorities of the University to decide which projects should be pursued and to define areas of future growth and contraction; set guidelines for architectural design and style; set policies about parking, landscaping and open spaces; and ensure the campus is integrated into the surrounding community.

The master plan will include developing a plan for $500 million in capital expenditures across the University over the next 10 years, exclusive of capital projects in the Biological Sciences Division and the Hospitals.

Upcoming projects will likely include:

_ a news athletics center and swimming pool

_ the renovation or replacement of the Research Institutes (the Enrico Fermi and James Franck institutes), as well as the construction of new research laboratories for the biological and physical sciences

_ the expansion and reconfiguration of Regenstein Library to accommodate more books as well as technological advances

_ the construction of new undergraduate dormitories

Stone is chair of the Steering Committee, which also includes Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor in the Law School; Lawrence Furnstahl, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Neil Harris, the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor in History; Robin Hogarth, Deputy Dean and the Wallace W. Booth Professor in the Graduate School of Business; Donald Lamb, Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics; Janel Mueller, the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College; Arthur Rubenstein, the Lowell T. Coggeshall Professor and Chairman of Medicine; Steven Shevell, Professor in Psychology and Ophthalmology & Visual Science; and Arthur Sussman, General Counsel and Vice President for Administration.

The Trustee Advisory Committee is chaired by Robert Feitler and includes University Trustees Katharine Darrow, Mike Klowden, Howard Krane, Harvey Plotnik, Thomas Pritzker, George Ranney and Nancy Stevenson.

The Administrative Working Group, chaired by Steve Poskanzer, Executive Assistant to the President, also includes Daniel Garber, Associate Provost and the Lawrence Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy; Duane Hickling, Associate Vice President for Facilities; Associate Provost Greg Jackson; Martin Runkle, Director of the University Library; David Schramm, Vice President for Research and Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in Physical Sciences; Caren Skoulas, Director of the Budget Office; Associate Provost Patricia Swanson; Henry Webber, Associate Vice President for Administration; and Robert Zimmer, Associate Provost and the Max Mason Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics.