The Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact (all rendering views provided by the University of Oregon)
The
University of Oregon unveiled the design this past Friday for the $225 million,
160,000-square-foot first phase of what will become the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. In the university’s own words, the
Knight Campus “will work to reshape the state’s public higher education
landscape by training new generations of scientists, engaging in new
interdisciplinary research, forging tighter ties with industry and
entrepreneurs, and creating new educational opportunities for graduate and
undergraduate students.” It will also dramatically reshape the stretch of
Franklin Boulevard it will front and herald the future transformation of the university’s
presence along that heavily-traveled corridor.
If
the design by the team of Ennead Architects
of New York and Bora Architects of Portland is at
all a harbinger, we can look forward to a bolder, forward-looking, and less
self-effacing crop of academic buildings at the University of Oregon. There
will be no mistaking Ennead/Bora’s design for one dating from a much earlier
time in the campus’ history. The design as rendered clearly reflects a desire
to project a cutting-edge image, which the university undoubtedly views as
essential to attracting world-class scientists to Eugene. Though it will appear
novel and modern, it is a product of the UO’s longstanding interdisciplinary
tradition and its commitment to user involvement in the design process. Notably,
the scheme is also entirely consistent with the North Campus Area design
recommendations as outlined by the Campus
Physical Framework Vision.
The
university’s Campus Physical Framework Vision document, prepared over a 14-month period
spanning from 2014 to 2016, describes a comprehensive physical structure for
the campus. It provides specificity to inform decisions to accommodate growth
and change. The university does not intend for the Framework Vision to replace the Campus Plan (the Plan’s most recent
edition dates to 2014) but rather looks to the Vision to provide recommendations for updates to it. These updates
will be subject to the standard amendment process as detailed in the Campus Plan.
View from the north
The
Framework Vision imagines creating a
cohesive campus as the university expands north of Franklin Boulevard. This
vision is consistent with how the overall campus is organized as a system of
quadrangles, malls, pathways, and other open spaces and their landscapes. Think
of how key those open spaces, the heritage trees, the memorable paths and
edges, and the spaces shaped by the buildings are to our image of the
University of Oregon campus. The open-space framework is central to the
university’s physical character and identity. The Knight Campus is intended to
build upon this framework by extending it across Franklin Boulevard.
Aside
from the preservation and extension of the university’s open-space framework,
the Framework Vision does imply significant
deviations from the long-established Campus
Plan, including the plan’s fundamental premise that development of the
campus should be a process rather than a fixed-image map. The Framework Vision is in many ways exactly
that, prescribing where and how development should occur. I don’t know enough
about how the university reconciles the underlying principles of the Campus Plan with the findings of the Framework Vision project, so perhaps the
Vision and any consequent updates to
the Plan will continue to preserve
the university’s dedication to all six of the basic principles first enumerated
during the 1970s by The Oregon Experiment:
- Organic Order
- Incremental Growth
- Patterns
- Diagnosis
- Participation
- Coordination
Architectural
Style:
Make the
design of new buildings compatible and harmonious with the design of adjacent
buildings (on and off campus) though they need not (and in some cases should
not) mimic them.
We
should give the university a pass on this one because the Knight Campus is
expressly intended to present a rebranding of sorts, and the North Design Area
is set apart from the historical center of the University of Oregon campus. It
is less critical the Knight Campus be responsive to the character and
vocabulary of historic UO buildings (i.e. the composition of the facades and the extensive use of brick
during the Ellis Lawrence era). It is important that it emphasize high quality,
human scale, and careful detailing. Time will eventually tell if the design
becomes as treasured as many of the older campus buildings are today.
Existing
Uses/Replacement:
All plans for
new development shall keep existing uses intact by developing plans and
identifying funding for their replacement.
The
Knight Campus will displace several private businesses, among them Evergreen Indian Cuisine,
one of my favorite places for an enjoyable lunch. I trust the university is
fairly treating those affected by the proposed development and providing them
with all necessary assistance (especially the Shaik family, owners of
Evergreen, for whom the news of the Knight Campus came as a complete shock
after signing a 5-year lease with the UO foundation and completing a $100,000
remodel just before the 2016 announcement of the Knight’s largesse). The new
project may also have lasting impacts upon the Urban Farm, located immediately
north of the project site, across the Millrace. Will the new buildings
damagingly shade the garden?
Operable
Windows:
In the
absence of compelling reasons to the contrary, all exterior windows of
university buildings must be able to be opened wholly or in part.
Relying
solely upon the published renderings, it doesn’t appear the exterior windows
are intended to be operable, at least by individual users. Many laboratory
functions require precise control of temperatures, humidity, and contaminants,
but the labs can be isolated from less-demanding building areas. I would not be
surprised at all to learn some windows will open and close as part of an
automated natural ventilation scheme.
Another
pattern, Arcades, also appears to be absent from the Knight Campus
design. Wherever possible to implement, this pattern mandates the creation of
arcades along the sides of buildings to provide a semi-covered system of paths
throughout the campus. It’s not clear why Ennead/Bora appears to have given short shrift to this
pattern.
View of the proposed bridge crossing Franklin Boulevard
What
other thoughts do I have about the proposed design? It’s risky at best to
speculate about how it will turn out and the architects’ intentions in the
absence of more information (for example, I haven’t seen detailed plan
drawings); however, I do find the way the bridge connects the proposed
buildings to the existing Lewis Integrated Sciences Building (LISB) across
Franklin Boulevard to be under-developed; the dramatic bridge slams unceremoniously
into the side of the Knight Campus building without articulation. I also think
the design has an overly diagrammatic quality about it, appearing to be an
almost direct translation of the Campus
Physical Framework Vision’s prescription for the site; that being said, it appears
it will be welcomingly transparent and visually active.
Courtyard
Lab interior
Ultimately,
the design of the Knight Campus is more than just about its architecture. As
the promotional literature says, it is a blueprint for transforming the
university, so that it becomes a “regional hub of discovery.” Along with the
key aspects of the Campus Physical
Framework Vision that may be assimilated within the existing Campus Plan, the Knight Campus points
toward an optimistic future for the University of Oregon, a future in which it
is increasingly relevant on the local, national, and world levels. Beyond being
part of the Knight’s significant endowment, it will also establish a precedent
for how the overall campus will continue to grow and mature, which may prove to
be its greatest legacy as a project.
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