North campus plans will reshape landscape

02/10/04 - Chances are you won't recognize the University of Rhode Island in 10 years. As part of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri's plan to transform the university into an economic engine, a number of changes through the College of the Environment and Life Sciences are in the works to turn the north end of campus into a bastion of technological innovation and sustainable design.

The plan, developed by Virginia-based community design firm William McDonough and Partners, will alter the area that stretches uphill from White Hall to the university's greenhouses on Upper College Road. It incorporates a number of resource efficient buildings, pedestrian walkways and green meeting spaces to replace the eclectic mix of buildings and parking lots that exist today.

"I'm excited the governor wants to invest in URI," said Jeffrey Seemann, dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences. "It's great for students."

In his second State of the State address last Wednesday, Carcieri announced his push for a $50 million bond referendum on the Nov. ballot for the creation of a biotechnology center in Kingston. The facility is currently in the conceptual design phase by architects Payette Associates of Boston, Mass.

Seeman said the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences will prepare students for work in Rhode Island's emerging biotechnology industry. The 150,000 sq. ft. facility will house a 400-seat auditorium, two 100-seat classrooms, a number of life science laboratories for undergraduates and state of the art research laboratories. The facility will be completed by 2009, he said.

The university is currently deciding the "utility" of the retro-futuristic Biological Sciences Building and has not decided whether the facility will be removed, said Paul DePace, director of capital projects for the university.

Carcieri also pledged $1.5 million in state funding for graduate research at public higher education institutions and Rhode Island, despite his promise to cut state spending by $180 million next year. Specific budget information, including possible cuts to URI, will be released later this month.

DePace said URI has received $500,000 in capital funds from the state to develop its North Campus plan, though the buildings themselves have yet to be funded. A design draft can be viewed at http://www.uri.edu/pspd/planserv/masterplan/index.html ("Scheme 5: Long Range Plan" under "Various Neighborhood Scenarios"), though the size and orientation of buildings are subject to change, he said.

In addition to the biotechnology building, Payette will construct the Center for Integrated Learning Technology, a futuristic learning space for programs in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences. The building will be constructed on the site of the Landscape Architecture Studio on Greenhouse Road.

Seemann said the center will be a prototype for educational buildings of the future. Its design will incorporate principles of sustainability, including the use of environmentally friendly building materials in its construction and a partial reliance on solar panels for power. The building will resemble a living, swimming organism "with a central spine of glass that will serve as a beacon at night," he said.

"It will be a gathering place for the exchange of information," Seemann said, "It is intended as an environment for students and faculty to enjoy being in...[and] will operate in the time frame that students live in. Architecturally, I think it will really be a statement."

Seemann said the CILT building will offer a variety of spaces that facilitate learning, as well as wireless Internet access, classrooms with moveable chairs and desks and laboratories designed for multiple uses. The estimated cost of the facility is $10 million and will be funded by private foundations that have an interest in sustainable design, he said.

The final concept design will be completed in the next two weeks, Seemann said.

Planners are also considering the creation of a tree-lined, brick streetscape along Alumni Avenue to compliment two new apartment-style residence halls for upperclassmen at the corner of West Alumni and Alumni Avenues, DePace said. The dorms are slated to open by September 2006.

In conjunction with the structural changes, CEL's Sustainable Communities Initiative is in the process of designing a minor in Sustainability that will offer courses throughout the university's colleges, according to Deborah Grossman-Garber, program coordinator for CELS.

Grossman-Garber said the cross-departmental minor could be offered as early as Fall 2004. Eight courses have been funded to date, she said, and several are already available in Kingston, including "Natural Resource Conservation" (NRS 100) and "Human Use and Management of the Marine Environment" (MAF 100).

For more information on the minor, visit SCI's Web site at http://www.uri.edu/sustainablility/minor1.html.