Campus Master Plan Reimagines Park Avenue
Last year, BSU’s Campus Master Plan outlined a number of changes to the face of the college over the next nine years. Some of the plans, created by the design firm behind the East Campus Commons and Stonehouse Hall, Goody Clancy, revolve around “Park Square,” a proposed circulation hub at the center of BSU’s main street aimed at “making Park Avenue itself part of BSU’s campus landscape.”
Car traffic will be discouraged on the road through the creation of two traffic tables, both approximately 200 feet long, along with a series of traffic bollards. Renditions of the site also show bricks being laid, as well as new greenery around the street. Plans also reference an outdoor classroom space and seating that “transforms a busy circulation area into a place to hang out and engage with the campus community.”
In a section of the plan labeled “Maxwell Reimagined,” the firm proposes Starbucks being relocated to the corner facing Park Square with outdoor seating installed, along with a new staircase in the center of the first floor, connecting to the new Starbucks. Other changes in the library include new windows that potentially remove the brutalist concrete overhangs to “create visual connection between Maxwell’s study spaces and Park Square’s activity and landscape.”
The plan also explains that the Kelly Gymnasium will be made ADA accessible by a new entrance expanding off the building’s northwestern corner that will be accessible by Park Square. Inside there will be a lounge for students and an elevator, downsizing the closest classroom to the current entrance. The plan states that the space underneath the new entrance could be used as a classroom or athletics space and that the men’s locker room could be cut in half, making room for “additional strength and conditioning space.”
Outside the Rondileau Student Union, the doors, ramp, and porch leading to the auditorium entrance will be rebuilt for ADA compliance. On the inside, a new elevator will be made in the room next to the student government office, connecting all four levels of the building.
