Prospect2 awards students for ideas on campus improvements

Though many students will never have the opportunity to have their names embossed on the side of a University building, the next best thing may be helping to shape the future of the campus.

Architecture graduate students Juan Du GS and Michael Herrman GS and the 13 semifinalists of the Prospects2 competition may do just that.

Du and Herrman won first place Saturday in the competition that challenges members of the University community to redefine living space on campus in association with Whitman College.

The semifinalists were nervous because they never expected their proposals to come before the panel. Nonetheless, they were confident their ideas would be considered by the planning committee for Whitman College.

"I think this university is really good about listening to what the students have to say," said semifinalist Stacy Chen '05.

Many different ideas were reflected in the proposals. The majority of graduate student semifinalists focused on architecture and spacing as a means of improving undergraduate life.

However, undergraduate semifinalists leaned more toward social options, such as shaping the structure, function, living arrangements and activities that will be implemented in the sixth residential college.

Several areas of concern were addressed by more than one proposal.

"A common theme seemed to be recentering the attention of the campus," said juror Jeannie Kim GS, a Ph.D. student in the architecture school.

"Several proposals suggested using Whitman College as a way to recenter the attention of the campus and revitalize that area near the dinky station."

Du and Hermann's project manipulated the area to provide different levels of public and private spaces. Resembling the California freeway system with a combination of overpasses, their proposal included bridges that would connect the dinky to the main campus by passing over the dining hall.

One second-place winner, Christoph Geiseler '04, proposed relocating some student organizations' offices to Whitman College and having a mall of shops and restaurants in the college to increase the convenience for students down campus.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Other issues of concern to semifinalists were social affiliations and the use of common spaces on campus. In their proposals, some sought ways to minimize the focus on an individual's social identity.

"When I first came to Princeton, I found it rather bizarre that when you were introduced to someone, they were immediately classified by their year status and eating status," Amber Bard GS said.

"My proposal presented the option of giving individuals the opportunity to avoid having their life branded before they have the chance to seek other options."

Prospects is a student-run organization founded by Steven Caputo '01 that encourages community members to partake in the process of deciding what happens to the spaces around campus.

The inaugural program last spring sought creative ideas on how to reshape the social scene of Prospect Avenue to better accommodate the growing diversity among University students.

First-place winners received $2,000, and all semifinalists received monetary awards.

The presentations gave some insight to the planning board, Kim said.

"The Prospects2 competition has provided us judges with new ideas that we as architects never would have thought of considering when developing Whitman College," she said.

Overall, semifinalists said involving community input was a different approach than what is normally taken.

"I think one of the interesting things about Prospects doing this competition is that it challenges [the architect] and his characteristic approach," said Frederick Cooke, an architect from Lawrenceville.