<p>As an alum, I was at NU on Saturday night (mostly Norris and south campus area, though I did wind up driving through north campus). </p>
<p>Sam Lee has already shared the long-range physical plan for Northwestern. But particularly for alums (though anyone can chime in), if you were to do ONE thing to change the physical plant to make it more appealing and / or useful, what would you do?</p>
<p>As for me, I’d leverage the lake front a lot more. It still requires a dedicated effort to get to the lake front and once there, while you can enjoy the atmosphere, there isn’t anything specifically to do. I don’t think students use it as much as they could. </p>
<p>I’d also replicate the Arch at the south end of campus at other entry ways to give it more of a “presence” / feeling of entering the campus.</p>
<p>I wish there were more mid-campus dorms! I love living on South Campus, but there is a divide. I don’t even know what CCI, Slivka, Kemper, and the others look like. The furthest up north I’ve ever been is Patten. I should go explore, but yeah. Not really a middle ground for people to meet up- Norris is so far east!</p>
<p>Rhapsody, Kemper and Slivka are further south than Patten Gym. (I might be an alum, but I definitely remember visiting those dorms years ago! I can remember those times where I visited Slivka for some snacks and sandwich. )</p>
<p>Slivka is just north of Sargeant. Kemper is just north of SPAC.</p>
<p>As an alumna, I wish Northwestern could improve some of the current architecture. I’m not really sure how much the school should update its lakefront. There’s the small peninsula where people loved to walk/job. On certain days the lake could be pretty windy.</p>
<p>I wish the beautiful buildings in mid-campus (the theological seminaries) were relevant to / accessible to students. I have nothing against the seminaries’ presence one way or the other, but wouldn’t that be a better location for a student center and / or a great location for dorms?</p>
<p>I wish there was more to do on the lakefront versus just walk around there. Some architecture to encourage group gathering could be relevant. Gazebos where people could gather and sit and read or visit. Even outdoor pavilions of some sort that dorms, res colleges, and/or Greek organizations could rent out for barbecues and the like. Yeah, there’s the area behind Norris, but still … that area has always felt like the “back side of a building” to me.</p>
<p>See the concept drawing third one down on page 34 of the attached. Wouldn’t that be a great thing to encourage real use of the lakefront? Even just the retaining pond area, since the real lakefront has the rocks (and I wouldn’t want to move those, with all the history!!). </p>
<p>I’m at NU visiting my daughter, a soon to be alum, and while walking around the campus yesterday I thought that the first thing that I would change is Norris. It’s as depressing today as it was when we first toured the campus. Moving the information desk next to the front door was a good idea.</p>
<p>The next building on my list would be the library. </p>
<p>I also wondered about the reasoning behind the wooden NU sign next to the arch. It makes the campus look more like a summer camp than a place of higher learning.</p>
<p>Having offered my suggestions for improvement, I do have to say that the campus is truly beautiful and it’s a real pleasure to stroll through the grounds and next to the lake.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, Can you include the link for Sam Lee’s plan for NU. As a longtime, sporadic reader of Sam’s helpful posts, I would like to see his proposal.</p>
<p>Thanks, Pizzagirl. I mistakenly thought that Sam Lee had developed his own plan and didn’t realize that you were referring to the NU Framework Plan in your original post. (blush)</p>
<p>While doing away w/ the neo-brutalist architecture of Norris and the library are probably the 2 things on most people’s wish list, the first thing that should go is the horrendous Rebecca Crown Center.</p>
<p>Not only is it horrible architecture, it’s a waste of space and not really an endearing segway btwn Evanston and the campus (a new building, however, should include a new clock tower).</p>
<p>As for Norris - a quick fix would be to improve the integration w/ the lakefront (maybe add a glass-enclosed addition as a student hangout).</p>
<p>Good point. A beautiful building fronting Clark Street would do wonders there. Esp because the architecture in the south quads in general is lovely. Rebecca Crown just feels like you’re walking up and down stairs for no real purpose. Certainly no one congregates on the plaza as I imagine they intended.</p>
<p>I have to agree that the Rebecca Crown Center is a serious impediment. It’s almost as if the university wants to separate the campus from downtown Evanston. It needs to be more pedestrian-friendly and attractive.</p>
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