Campus Capacity and Assessment Study

In order to align with the university’s strategic plan, the physical campus must evolve to support strategic directions and operational realities. A Campus Capacity and Assessment Study provides a communication tool for leadership and serves as a mechanism to guide prioritization and decision-making as it relates to the physical campus. It provides the framework for engaging the campus community in a rich dialogue about what is best for NC State. It is not a master plan and does not provide detailed solutions for development. Rather, the Campus Capacity and Assessment Study complements the 2014 Physical Master Plan as a high-level overlay and guiding document.

The Campus Capacity and Assessment Study provides a tool that supports the alignment of the physical campus with the mission and vision of the institution. It does not set the strategic direction of the University nor does it provide a funding mechanism for projects. If a project has a physical component, however, the Campus Capacity and Assessment Study provides a set of principles that serve as a tool to evaluate decisions related to highest and best use for land and overall campus development.

Guiding Principles

Strengthen Identity and Brand

Strengthen the identity and brand of NC State by leveraging its location in the region, creating welcoming gateways for the surrounding communities, augmenting existing iconic spaces and buildings, and clarifying campus edges and gateways.

STRATEGIES

  1. Create a consistent quality and character for all major gateways
  2. Prioritize Western Boulevard gateways and streetscape for improvement
  3. Engage Hillsborough Street with active uses and streetscape while creating a more  welcoming, porous edge to the campus
  4. Identify strategic partners to help enhance neighboring landholdings and streets that are critical to the University’s mission, identity, interface, and connectivity

Enhance Stewardship of Campus Resources

Enhance campus stewardship by ensuring the highest and best use of land and resources, excellent teaching and research facilities, and quality of and connectivity between the University’s diverse landscapes.

STRATEGIES

  1. Improve adjacency, utilization, and condition of facilities through strategic renovation, demolition, and new construction
  2. Prioritize infill development to densify campus and promote collaboration and innovation
  3. Enhance, connect, and create vibrant, iconic landscapes throughout campus
  4. Incorporate working landscapes and visible stormwater management systems where appropriate throughout campus to support sustainable initiatives and educate the campus community
  5. Capitalize on partnership opportunities to improve campus edges and programmatic connections between campuses and to deliver additional facilities in a financially sustainable manner

Connect The Campus

Advance the culture of collaboration and interdisciplinary by improving programmatic adjacency and mobility, and creating strong connections between University landholdings.

STRATEGIES

  1. Increase programmatic connections by strategically locating interdisciplinary facilities
  2. Provide dedicated pedestrian, bike, and bus routes throughout campus
  3. Provide direct and fast transit connections between campus precincts
  4. Activate campus corridors and public streets to shorten perceived walking distances and to add vibrancy
  5. Create a bridge between North and Central Precincts to mitigate topography, reducing travel time and distance
  6. Connect Nazareth Street, Morrill Drive, and Broughton Drive to create a strong pedestrian path from Hillsborough Street to Centennial Campus
  7. Enhance Western Boulevard pedestrian connections by adding key bridges, tunnels, or caps (i.e., tunnel top-surface requirements/amenities)

Reprioritize Circulation

Create a closer campus community between geographically-dispersed units byre-prioritizing modes of circulation on and around campus to provide a safe, healthy, and active campus supported by consistent and reliable transit (Pedestrians > Bike > Bus > Vehicle).

STRATEGIES

  1. Enhance on-campus pedestrian crossings
  2. Eliminate/reduce surface parking in the campus core
  3. Keep vehicular access and parking at campus edges
  4. Encourage a ‘park once’ mentality by adjusting the parking management system
  5. Support alternative means of transportation; improve bikeways and pedestrian pathways
  6. Re-envision Cates Avenue and redirect traffic south to remove vehicular congestion in an active pedestrian area
  7. Encourage shared parking between different uses on Centennial Campus

Promote Vibrancy

Promote a vibrant campus by creating spaces for collaboration and gathering, concentrating activity and density, and ensuring a mix of uses in each precinct.

STRATEGIES

  1. Export the energy of the Central Precinct to other parts of campus by blending uses and creating critical mass at key campus crossroads
  2. Develop shared spaces and hubs to inspire community, collaboration, and innovation like Park Shops, Hunt Library, Talley Student Union, Carmichael Recreation Center, and Hillsborough Street
  3. Renovate or build new interdisciplinary facilities that bring people together to collaborate, innovate, and address complex problems
  4. Improve adjacencies and concentrate activity in strategic locations