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myfaceisonfire
Sep 30, 2008, 3:41 PM
Consultants from Urban Strategies based out of Toronto have put together a fairly comprehensive "workbook" that will be used to define the University of Waterloo's new master plan. It looks like they've given some great consideration to improving how UW presents itself to the city.

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/masterplan/c_workbook_sept23.pdf

Highlights (for me) include:
- removal of nearly all surface parking in favor of 3 strategically placed parking garages :yes:
- Direct some new academic growth at the periphery of the South Campus to
improve connections to the city and to preserve open space within the Ring Road.
- Create new campus gateways to the south, north and east, framed
by prominent new buildings and enhanced open spaces, and with an improved sense of arrival for visitors travelling by car, transit, bicycle or on foot.:banana:
- Development of east campus block with the inclusion of a new eastern gateway to the campus :tup:
- incorporation of planned rapid transit station.


I know UW isn't really on the radar for most people here but it is incredibly important to the future success of Waterloo and I think that the consultants have absolutely hit the nail on the head in terms of trying to reconnect campus with the city.

Overall I think the document is an extremely pleasant read. Lots of pictures & renderPron to gock at :slob:

jcollins
Sep 30, 2008, 7:45 PM
Ill add my two cents as well.

First and foremost, they did a great job, I love a lot of the ideas put out in this, well worth the time to sit down and read through.

My highlights:
-I like that buildings will now front right onto university ave. I think it'll add a lot to the street scape, as well as the campus.
-The same thing for Columbia at the north entrance
-East gateway will be great for Phillip St. It will really add more to the street scape.
-Rapid Transit...'nuff said!
-Housing on Phillip near East Campus Hall. This might entice more students to live on campus. This could be more like in the states where students in years 1-4 almost all live on campus, whereas here it is typically 1st and some 2nd year students while the rest move into apartments or developed neighborhoods
-Parking Strategy

If any or all of these things are done as laid out in this document, it will bring a ton to the community. Lets all cross our fingers.

How much of what gets put into a master plan tends to get accomplished?

smably
Oct 1, 2008, 2:45 AM
The new master plan looks great, but the real battle will be convincing the university to follow it.

How much of what gets put into a master plan tends to get accomplished?
Here are some passages from the 1992 version of the master plan. You can judge for yourself:
...the parking strategy entails a rational evolution away from auto dependency, as the campus matures. This is a long-term objective, in concert with the overall environmental emphasis, and in recognition that the surface parking currently provided within the South Campus occupies valuable land which should be made available for future University buildings.
...
In the longer term, it is anticipated that a limited number of parking spaces, as determined by the parking study and by ongoing monitoring of demand, will be provided in new parking structures, the funds for which should be provided, in part, from revenues derived from parking fees.

Both entrances now require improvement in order to better orient visitors and to present a public face to the surrounding community.
...
The symbolic and visual presence of the University should be extended along University by the development of a number of parcels. One of these (on Lot H) is recommended for early implementation in order to respond to current needs, such as the book store, a visitors’ orientation centre and other public outreach functions.
...
Because of its potential to address a number of objectives at once, this project is accorded a high priority in the first-phase implementation of the Master Plan.
(On the other hand, it called for a campus centre, and we got the SLC expansion.)

plam
Oct 1, 2008, 4:01 AM
They're now calling for two campus centres. I'm not sure how that would really work out.

Also, the reason that parking is going to go away now is that they need the space more than they needed it in 1992. See: Engineering V.

jeicow
Oct 8, 2008, 3:28 AM
^ and E VI and E VII. There will be an E VI article in the IW tomorrow.

Duke-Of-Waterloo
Feb 8, 2009, 5:55 PM
Campus will be 'more a part of the city'

UW Daily Bulletin, February 5, 2009

University Avenue past the main entrance to the UW campus will be “a much more urban street” in the years to come, planner Joe Berridge told the UW board of governors on Tuesday as he spoke about the new campus master plan (http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/masterplan/masterplan.htm).

University Avenue, or Waterloo Regional Road 57, is a four-lane artery that runs the full width of the city of Waterloo. The segment between Phillip Street and Westmount Road has a large influence on the campus because UW has facilities on both sides of it, and the majority of visitors arrive on campus by driving along it or crossing it.

Berridge, who heads the Toronto-based firm Urban Strategies, described the present University Avenue as “free-flowing”. But he said redesign and clever choice of construction materials could give the road a more citylike feel — slower-moving cars, more space for pedestrians and bicycles — as the campus becomes more closely integrated with Kitchener-Waterloo.

The spiral-bound “Master Plan Update” presented to the board on Tuesday is developed from a plan that was created by Berridge’s firm in 1992 and approved by the board at that time. Local real estate agent Mary Bales, who has been serving as chair of the board’s building and properties committee, asked for — and got — board approval of the plan, though laughing that she’s approaching the end of her term as a board member and won’t be around when the time comes to deliver progress reports on how it’s working.

The committee’s sense that it was time for an update to the 1992 plan is “a measure of your success,” Berridge said. “The campus is getting quite crowded. It’s often hard to focus on the landscape rather than the buildings, but the context where the buildings are is very important.” He quickly took the board through eight “key moves” that are endorsed in the master plan:

• “Develop a north-south circulation spine through South Campus as a wayfinding device, a focus for enlivening open spaces and public uses, and to create a common space for all people on campus.” (“I’m delighted to see that the Grad House is right at the centre of it,” said systems design engineering professor Keith Hipel, recalling last year’s controversy over proposals to tear down or move the 19th century house that sits opposite the Doug Wright Engineering building.)

• “Develop a comprehensive network of landscapes and open spaces, and invest significantly and early on in key landscape initiatives on South Campus.”

• “Direct some new academic growth to the periphery of South Campus to improve connections to the City and preserve open space within the Ring Road.”

• “Create new campus gateways to the south, north and east, framed by prominent new buildings and enhanced open spaces, and with an improved sense of arrival for visitors travelling by car, transit, bicycle or on foot.”

• “Work with the Region of Waterloo to successfully integrate any rapid transit initiatives into the Campus Master Plan.” (Rapid transit is coming within a decade, Berridge reminded the board. A station will likely be constructed somewhere near the point where the existing CN railway tracks cross University Avenue.)

• “Create a new university mixed-use community with the redevelopment of the East Campus Hall lands and the renewal of Phillip Street.”

• “Develop a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle trail network that seamlessly links South, North and West Campus, and improves connections beyond the edges of the University into the Waterloo Region.”

• “Implement a comprehensive transportation demand management program and begin to accommodate parking in centrally located structures.”

Discussion at the board meeting addressed the University Avenue entrance to campus, as Berridge pointed to a proposal for tearing down South Campus Hall and putting up new buildings nearby. “One aspect of being more a part of the city,” he said, “is that you’re going to get many more visits. We can use new buildings to architecturally define a new gateway.”

But Germanic and Slavic professor James Skidmore observed that for many people who walk to campus, the “gateway” comes sooner, and that trudging though a vast UW parking lot on the way to crossing University Avenue is “a deflating way to enter a grand institution”. The 1992 plan called for doing something about University Avenue, he said, asking whether the same appeal in 2009 will be any more successful.

http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2009/feb/05th.html

notmyfriends
Feb 9, 2009, 2:52 PM
Do those pictures seem to include a stadium in behind the arena there?

mpd618
Feb 9, 2009, 5:44 PM
Stadium? Arena? I haven't seen either in any master plan pictures.

notmyfriends
Feb 9, 2009, 6:24 PM
Stadium? Arena? I haven't seen either in any master plan pictures.

The arena already exists (CIF), now look to the left of it.

mpd618
Feb 10, 2009, 12:10 AM
Fair enough, it's there. :)

rapid_business
Feb 10, 2009, 9:06 PM
I like the plan a lot. When Urban Strategies came to the planning dept. at UW and we talked about different ideas, it was good to see the plethora of ideas different people had. (lol, I just realize my picture made it on the Master Plan...oh man...)

But I have to say I'm skeptical. Sure the U might build a couple of those buildings in the proposed locations (such as along Univeristy), but I some things, such as the 'spine' that is proposed to connect the campus won't get built. It's esthetic and designed for connectivity. The money, in this economy, isn't there for that. Instead I fear we'll keep the same, or some lame improvements to tack-on to the existing design.

I want to believe that this will be a governing document for any future growth, but like I said, I'm skeptical.

waterloowarrior
Feb 10, 2009, 9:31 PM
wrong thread