Planning event lures with cheese, eclairs

Nearly 900 students, faculty, staff and local residents bustled through the usually hushed Chancellor Green Rotunda yesterday, getting a comprehensive view of the University's plans for campus development over the next decade.

The event, called "Planning in Progress," featured eye-catching visual displays detailing the various aspects of campus development that have been identified and evaluated over the past year by the consulting firm Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP.

A detailed display

Prominently displayed in the center of the rotunda was a large three-dimensional campus model, with planned buildings, athletic field improvements, landscape projects and reforestation areas marked out in various colors.

Each niche on both levels of the octogonal rotunda was dedicated to specific themes, including transportation, landscape and campus neighborhoods, such as natural sciences or athletics.

Posters spanning the walls of the rotunda succinctly summarized the project and challenges and issues pertaining to each theme, while University officials, consultants, architects and engineers from the various firms responded to the comments and questions of community members.

"This is a chance for the on-campus and town community to see how we're working on these issues," Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said.

One issue that each of the displays dealt with was the effort to achieve a more environmentally friendly campus. In pursuit of this goal, half of the new Butler buildings will have "green" roofs — which insulate the structure and reduce stormwater runoff — while the new chemistry building will include efficient solar panels and use rainwater to flush toilets.

"While the technology is still new, we'll test and refine it will the goal of applying it in other places," Shana Weber, the University's sustainability manager, said of the changes.

Catering to visitors

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The event was clearly designed to attract a crowd. From the free cannoli, cheese platter and San Pellegrino to the feedback cards, the exhibition was a far cry from the meagerly attended planning boards that have typically been used to discuss campus planning in the past.

Upon entrance, attendees could browse a large printed timeline of Princeton's "campus evolution," from 1756 to the present — while nibbling on chocolate eclairs. As they milled inside, goodies in tow, they were presented with feedback cards and encouraged to offer suggestions to be mounted upon clearly displayed paper easels.

"Why is the new Butler not like Whitman?" a University official wrote on the easel pad as an example of a visitor's question.

Julia Chapman '09 and Cameron Lloyd '09, both prospective architecture majors, mentioned one of their biggest campus pet peeves: puddles.

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On a rainy day like yesterday, many visitors had campus drainage on their minds.

Landscape architect Justine Heilner, from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, said her firm is looking at soil types to improve drainage.

Though most current students will have graduated by the time these projects are completed, many of them still attended the forum and showed interest in the future of the campus.

"I'll always be a Princetonian and I like to be aware of all these changes that will be taking place," Katie Ko '09 said. "I appreciate the University's effort to hear what students, faculty and community members have to say."

Princetonian senior writer Ross Liemer contributed reporting.