As campus grows, one man has his eye on design

From deciding on the intricate details of woodworking, to discussing building placement and design with the greater Princeton community and maintaining the University's commitment to sustainability, McCoy has been busy during his first three months on the job.

Of course, one does not land the plum position of University architect easily. After completing his M.Arch. at Princeton, McCoy had a career with multiple firms as a private architect, including 10 years with the Philadelphia firm Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, which was responsible for Lewis Thomas Lab, a project McCoy spearheaded.

McCoy eventually was named director of the School of Architecture at Arizona State University, where he later became the school's first university architect. In spring 2008, however, Princeton beckoned him back.

Upon his return to New Jersey, McCoy inherited a number of University projects. With the University's master plan as his guide, McCoy now spends a sizable chunk of his time in "meetings with the users of the buildings, architects we might be considering [and] landscapers," he said.

McCoy and his office have focused recently on the proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood and the East Campus Athletics and Parking project, which, McCoy noted, has a "very major landscape plan."

He said the Arts and Transit Neighborhood has not been a simple project, as it "entails the [comprehensive] redesign of that edge of campus."

McCoy, though, emphasized that he works with a team rather than singlehandedly running the campus' projects.

"There are dozens of people who work in facilities ... from master planning to directing construction," he explained.

McCoy and his team work to adhere to the essential "aesthetic conscience," which "gets played out at the largest scale and the smallest scale, and everywhere in between," he said, noting that this job entails everything from designing pathways to speaking with Township and Borough representatives to coordinate the needs of the University and the surrounding community.

McCoy characterized his job as being based around guidance. "I'm an adviser to the senior administration [regarding] the strategic direction" of the University's architecture, he said.

"The heart of [the job] is providing direction to the architects we hire, to guide them as they design buildings for us," McCoy said. He added that his responsibility is to make sure the designs "are consistent with the master plan and principles, which may be a little abstract."

McCoy's job also entails choosing the best-suited architect for each individual design task, though McCoy noted that he cannot tell the chosen architects how to design. The master plan, however, provides directions and guidelines for architects to keep in mind.

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"Our directions are practical," he explained, adding that "they deal with fine-tuning and adjusting" through a series of discussions whose purpose is to "translate the [University's] objective."

Increasingly, that objective is sustainability, which is especially visible in some of the University's newer building projects, McCoy said.

One of architects' "major commitments" when designing new buildings is to ensure the building will be as sustainable as possible, he explained. Campus "greening" is now always in mind, from water management to hiring architects and designing projects.

Of course, sustainability is not McCoy's only priority. "There are parts of the campus that need to be enhanced, including the engineering district, the athletics areas and Washington Road," he explained. "Our challenge is to continue to make buildings that are memorable for students, so people don't always go back to Blair Arch for their favorite picture."

Ever the diplomat, however, McCoy would not commit to a favorite piece of architecture on campus.

"That's like asking a parent who their favorite kid is," he said.