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The southwest part of campus was the latest subject of architectural
consultants working on the campus master plan, and their proposals continue a
theme of making all of Carolina look and feel more like north campus.
"What's driving this is the idea of connectivity," said Adam Gross, the
principal leading the Ayers Saint Gross consulting team.
Known as Precinct III in the master plan, the latest area studied is bounded
by South Columbia Street on the west and Manning Drive on the north. It
includes the Ambulatory Care Center, the Thurston-Bowles buildings, the two
Health Affairs parking decks and several medical and clinical research
buildings.
Ayers Saint Gross' proposals for the precinct include having new building
quads designed such that the scale of the buildings would be suited for the
open space. Quads, with walkways linking the buildings, are proposed for tracts
south of the Health Affairs parking decks and northeast of the Ambulatory Care
Center.
"The idea here is that all of this is a great walking environment," Gross
said.
Ayers Saint Gross' other major proposals call for:
* Building a new east-west road that would run from South Columbia Street to
Skipper Bowles Drive, cutting below the proposed quad south of the Health
Affairs decks and, at the eastern end, between the business school parking area
and a quad proposed for south of the Craige deck in Precinct IV, the southeast
part of campus.
The road would link a proposed academic setting on southeast campus with the
Health Affairs area and would be bordered to the north by commercial services,
such as ATM outlets, fast food restaurants, laundromats and small shops. In
Precinct IV, it would run by a proposed amphitheater/park that would straddle
the southeastern part of what is now Odum Village, married student housing that
would be replaced with units proposed for the area east of the Dean E. Smith
Center.
* Building an addition on the back of the Ambulatory Care Center.
As with previous precinct studies, the Ayers Saint Gross consultants met with
employees who work in Precinct III to help them shape their proposals.
"We've gone through lots of different options to get to where we are today,"
Gross said.
Gross said an issue remaining from the Precinct IV (southeast campus) study is
whether a new campus access road from the south should be built off U.S.
15-501, an Ayers Saint Gross proposal. The entry would be east of Otey's Road,
come into the campus north of Mason Farm Road and end east of the Health
Affairs parking decks.
The road would take traffic pressure off existing campus entrance points from
the south, primarily Manning Drive, South Columbia Street and Mason Farm Road,
Gross said. Easing that pressure will be even more critical as the health
affairs and hospital areas grow, he said.
The Ayers Saint Gross consultants now are studying north campus, or Precinct
II. That study started with a walk-around of the area on Aug. 26.
Precinct II has limited potential for development given its historical
heritage, said Jonathan Howes, chair of the master plan executive steering
committee.
Howes said buildings in the northwest corner of the precinct -- such as Hill,
Swain and Abernethy halls -- will get particular notice in the study. While
some people have called the early-20th century buildings "expendable," planners
should keep in mind their historical significance to the campus, Howes said.
The Ayers Saint Gross team will return to Carolina on Sept. 21-22 to work on
overall design guidelines for new campus buildings and to meet with a group
discussing possible uses of the Horace Williams tract in northwest Chapel
Hill.
The team will be here Sept. 28-30 to continue its Precinct II study. Also in
September, Ayers Saint Gross will report on master plan progress to the
Chancellor's Cabinet and Board of Trustees.
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