UW-Madison held its sixth and final open house to present the final draft of the 2015 Campus Master Plan Tuesday in Union South.
The theme of the plan, “Extending Our History and Embracing Our Future,” was explained by members of the plan’s consultant team. Campus planner Mary Jukuri described the necessity to take the concepts of campus that are already great and spread that to other areas.
“The theme is really about looking back at the history of the campus and to the existing campus and taking the best characteristics of what works well at UW-Madison,” Jukuri said. “We will extend those things to parts of the university that are still changing and still evolving.”
A central focus of the plan involves improving sustainable qualities on campus. The planners want to add more green space in the urban areas of campus, including a “Green District” in the west side of the university near Eagle Heights. This space, known as Willow Creek, is pegged to become a revitalized social and recreational area for individuals living far from the hub of downtown.
Additional bike path space and foliage lining the road is also slated to be added to University Avenue to promote use of multi-modal transportation, according to Jukuri. Along with this and renewable energy generation, infrastructures around campus to capture rainwater will be an additional sustainable feature added once the project commences.
Developments to buildings will begin sooner than the majority of the plan, which may not be fully realized for 20 to 30 years. Within the next few years though, buildings such as the Southeast Recreational Facility and Witte Residence Hall will be remodeled. George L. Mosse Humanities Building and the UW-Madison Natatorium may follow in several years.
According to Director of Campus Planning and Landscape Architecture Gary Brown, the plan still needs approval from numerous groups before it can be put into action. They have a meeting with Board of Regents in February, which will finalize the plan.
The committee said they have taken recommendations from the public at each of their open houses to improve the Campus Master Plan, and will use the feedback from this meeting to improve the final product before presenting it to Common Council in early December.
