CAMPUS PLANNING

4.0 CAMPUS DESIGN

4.1 VARIOUS TYPES OF CAMPUS DESIGNS:
4.1.1 CLOSED QUADRANGLES
Are the oldest extant campus architecture. Quad entry is limited and controlled, less publicized.
4.1.2 COURTYARDS AND ATRIUMS
In this type buildings and walls are connected to frame the interior landscapes. Courtyards and
atriums are extended architecture, settings for campus life, configured, defined, enclosed by a
building or buildings. Often neglected because of expedient cost cutting these are superb
opportunities for creating significant designs places where people can gather to participate
informally. Courtyards and atriums adding great spaces to the great walls.
4.1.3 PLAZAS
Plaza is a significant place in campus, geometric in configuration or informal, hard space or soft
greenery, at the campus entrance or portal of a major building or at the junction of several
campus path systems.
4.1.4 GREENS AND LAWNS
Typically grass, flower beds planted with trees is a place for rest and relaxation and informal
games, fabled venues for rites and rituals, these legacy landscapes enduring emblems of higher
education.
4.2.0 CAMPUS DESIGN FACTORS
Campus should have an appropriate image of its own making, an amalgam of buildings and
landscape that communicates a distinctive sense of place, functionality suitable for the
institutions particular purposes. Campus design methods and concepts will have to be flexible
and responsible to balancing continuity and change in the physical environment.
4.2.1 PLACE MAKING

Place making is the structuring of the overall design, the broader skeleton, the articulated
pattern, the campus plan.

Place making entails the positioning & arrangement of campus land uses, pedestrian and
vehicular routes, the location of buildings and functional open spaces, such as play fields and
parking lots, the definition of edges and the interface between campus and environs.
4.2.2 PLACE MARKING

Place marking involves the definite conceptualization and orchestration of certain

physical attributes which give a campus a visual uniqueness appropriately its own.
Place making elements include landmarks, styles, materials and landscape etc.
4.2.3 STYLE:

Style is the recognizable special and definitive way in which building parts are shaped
into vocabulary of forms.

Style is a powerful place maker, charged with visual energy and symbolic import.

4.2.4 LANDMARKS:

Landmarks are prominent features that identify a locale.

They capture the eye and are readily recalled because of size, grandeur and position.

Land marking techniques are, Buildings, Architectural elements, Monuments, Colors,

Spaces etc.

4.2.5 LANDSCAPE:

Landscape can serve as institutional metaphor.

Beautiful campuses are those well designed and landscaped.

4.2.6 MATERIALS:

As climate determines habitation pattern, materials determine architecture.

4.3 THE IDEAL CAMPUS

The campus is the physical environment created when buildings are constructed to allow
the university idea to flourish.

A university campus has been compared toa city on a small scale because it provides
most of the needs for the university community.

Unlike a city, however, the university is non-commercial and primarily a place of study.

The campus, therefore, ought to be a closely knit, unified cluster of buildings with
intimate pedestrian open spaces providing a unique environment for living and studying.

It should ideally be a quiet, comfortable oasis apart from the normally busy, noisy,
congested world.In this sense a campus should be more like a residential suburb or park than a
city.

It should not, however, be isolated from its surroundings.

The university and the region in which it is situated will mutually benefit its own proper
interaction.

The university will serve as a cultural centre, in which the people of the region are
allowed to share in its activities. It will contribute as an economic generator and provide
progressive ideas and new knowledge when its research potential is coupled to the particular
problems of its region.
The community will in turn serve as a laboratory and furnish a set of problems to be

solved.

The spaces between university building, if properly designed, provide areas where
students may congregate informally between classes for discussion and rest, or where they) can
gather in large numbers to watch or participate in sports or other physical activities.

An adequate campus encourages social relationship of all kinds in student activity

centres. It furnishes a place for literary, artistic, musical and dramatic occasions to culturally
enrich the university community as a whole.

The campus university also provides quiet and private hostel rooms where individual
students may withdraw for study, meditation and rest.

The same hostel offers the opportunity for students to identify with a small "family"
group who share basic living facilities. At mealtime, a considerably larger "family" meets
together to eat a good meal and mix socially. In short, a university campus should be a place
where a student is contented with

realities of living and working with other people in an environment that provides a wide
variety of conditions for the best kind of relationships. It thus sets the stage for the time when a
student enters the mainstream of life, bears his own responsibility, and makes a contribution to
society.
4.4 THE AVERAGE CAMPUS

Unfortunately, the nature of many campus environments in India speak of wasted

opportunities to mould students, impressionable because they are intellectually curious,socially
unsure and eager to accept the example and advIce of those in authority, presumed to be
sophisticated opportunities to provide positive experiences and impressions that could enlighten
and refine tastes and judgements, which will be essential throughout life.

Most classrooms contribute beyond bare shelter, usually comprising four walls, a floor
that is difficult to keep clean, rows of chair and a makeshift blackboard.

There is surely a need for the classroom to become a place of inspiration and stimulation,
a place where a mood can be evoked in student and teacher to supplement and strengthen the
material studies.

Just like a temple is enriched for spiritual inspiration, classrooms for the humanities, for
history and the sciences should be creatively designed. .

It is not only classrooms that fail to contribute to the quality of university environments,
but too often all physical aspects fail.

For example, disregard of the attributes of the natural landscape is common place, such as
indiscriminate cutting of trees, gauging levels in a sloping topography or ignoring vista.

These cause a barren, discordant environment, lacking many fundamental requisites that
only nature can provide for a well designedcampus community.

Campuses could and should be living laboratories for experiment in planning and design.
They usually have large acreages used by and under the control of a single authority. Thus, there
is a unique opportunity for full-size demonstrations of ideal community design.
4.5 GROWTH AND CHANGE

Another important attribute of a university campus is change. The university

administrator seeks that degree of continuity and stability compatible with the progressive
change required to maintain the institution's leadership role.

Consequently, it is not possible to "complete" the development of a university campus

because growth andchange, in response to changing academic and social demands, are
permanent features.

Campus design must anticipate, as nearly as possible, the nature of probable growth and
change. Providing flexibility and indeterminancy, is perhaps the greatest challengeto the
designer.

There are three major aspects to growth and change.

First is the overall growth or expansion of facilities caused by increasing enrollment.

Second is the differential growth that occurs in various areas of the university along with
overall growth. Some elements may grow in direct proportion to the increase in enrollment,
whereas others may grow faster or more slowly or even remain static.

The third aspect is theInternal flexibility required for changing uses of spaces and
services.

4.5.1 PATTERN OF GROWTH

No matter whether a homogeneous or heterogeneous approach is used, only certain

aspects of growth are predictable; therefore campus design is usually aimed atfinding solutions
which minimise strict predetermination of the pattern of future developments.

The objective is to establish a campus frame work that will provide opportunity for
maximum change of use in future while maintaining coherence and sense of completeness at
each stage development.

Despite the need for such flexibility of the factors that will affect the ultimate form of the
campus are limitations implicit in early design decisions, such as the selection of a site with
strong characteristics; and this includes the choice of a system of growth.

There are various types and patterns of growth which can be identified. Physical growth
is accomplished when building structures and necessary supporting structures and services are
added to a campus, This growth is practiced in India.

The footing and structural frame of a single or double storied building are over designed
to allow for the construction on top of a building that is being used for study. Also it is
aesthetically unpleasant for a structure to remain as an incomplete form, indefinitely.
4.5.1.1 LINEAR PATTERN OF GROWTH
The central core can expand at either end as the Campus grows.

4.5.1.2 MOLECULAR PATTERN OF GROWTH

The campus is complete at each stage of growth, but the system is perhaps limited to a many
centered' campus rather than a 'centralized' type.
4.5.1.3 CONCENTRIC PATTERN OF GROWTH
The central area or "core" of the campus becomes tightly enclosed and successive rings of
development shut in and prevent selective expansion.

4.5.2 FACTORS AFFECTING FORM

Various factors that may determine design approach and form, other than thephilosophy
and experience of the designer, are the institution's educational policy, thenature of the site,
climatic conditions, available materials and local technology.

In the design of new campuses, the educational philosophy or the nature of the site
usually has the greatest influence.

The nature of the particular type of specialized educational program to be accommodated,

or the functional requirements determining form must be satisfied for the institution to be at all
successful.

These requirements must be expressed in the internal campus form. For example lecture
class rooms would have sloping floors, no windows, and be shaped and equipped more like an
auditorium than a laboratory to provide the best conditions for teaching large number of students.

The nature of the site itself and the surrounding area can greatly contribute to, or severely
detract from, the eventual form that is evolved.

A site related to a seafront, range of hills, a river, a forest or lake provides an identity of
place and can often definition of campus edges and a sense of arrival and entrance. They can also
contribute a desirable positive statement, a wholesome impression or image to those who visit as
well as to those who are a part of the institution.
4.6.0 PRINCIPLES OF CAMPUS DESIGN

The process of building and planning in a community will create an environment, which
satisfies human needs only if it follows six principles of implementation.

The principle of organic order: planning and construction will be guided by a process,
which allows the whole to emerge gradually from local acts.

The principle of participation: all decisions about what to build and how to build it will
be in the hands of the users.

The principle of piecemeal growth: the construction undertaken in each budgetary period
will be weighed overwhelmingly towards small projects.

The principle of diagnosis: the well being of the whole will be protected by an annual
diagnosis, which explains, in detail, which spaces are alive and which ones dead, at any given
moment in the history of the community.

The principle of coordination: finally, the slow emergence of organic order in the whole
will be assured by a funding process which regulates the stream of individual projects but
forward by users.
4.6.1 ORGANISATION OF SPACE
There can be various approaches to the organization of space. The built form of a campus can be
broadly grouped into the following types:
4.6.1.1 Single corridor type:

This type is one of the most straight forward and simple arrangements of the school
building.

It allows a linear assembly of classrooms along a corridor, whichhas several advantages,

namely clarity of organization, ease of natural lighting and control of access to facilities.

The simplicity of this layout makes the building legible and controllable.
One of the challenges presented by this type is differentiating program elements
providing for a variety of spatial experiences and accommodating changes over a course of time.

4.6.1.2 Double corridor type:

As compared to a single corridor, the double corridor provides a compact form, economy
& flexibility.

Made up of continuous enclosed areas, this type can be built quickly and accommodates a higher
ratio of functional areas, as compared to circulation ones.

A double corridor reduces the amount of exposed perimeter, making this suitable for a hot
climate.
However lighting and cross ventilation should be

carefully worked out in the case of a double corridor.

There are several ways to introduce these to the middle of the volumes created by double
corridor.
These include skylights, double height corridors, dormer windows, etc.

4.6.1.3

Courtyard type:

This has been coon in India and holds and illustrious place in the tradition of academic
buildings.

It provides a shaded central space, a controlled play area and a variety of adjacent
verandas, corridors and rooms.

This type is particularly popularly in hot humid climates.

It helps in a better interaction among students and faculty and fulfills the shortcomings of
covered space

Separate courtyards can be used for different functions and level of education, with
several independent buildings around their own central court.
4.6.1.4 Cluster type:

The cluster approach attempt to translate the need for segregating educational academic,
service and other functions into well-defined zones.

In this type, the classrooms are arranged in-groups or clusters around a common
area.This approach allows flexibility of space making this configuration one of the most flexible
possibilities of schools designs.

The creation of a common space along with classroom clusters gives the school a more
intimate spatial quality and a greater sense of identity.

Each student affiliates with a group of classrooms, cluster or the common area.

A module of classrooms around a courtyard can be extended or repeated in stages as the

need may arise.

This form is economical to build because of its inherent modular system and standard
buildings.
4.6.1.5 Campus type:

Large schools and educational center demand a combination of built form approches.

The campus type plan focuses on the creation of a variety of exterior and interior spaces.

The buildings that constitute this type are often straight forward and the emphasis is on th
relationship between the buildings and open spaces. The varied functions can be segregated into
various
The orientation and climatic comfort should be a basic consideration of the site layout.
4.6.2 FORM AND APPROACH

In reality, campus forms are as individual in personally as members of the human race.
Since time, place, conditions, attitude and interactions of each case differs in combination on two
campuses are alike.

Dober suggests two categories, homogenous or heterogeneous, one of which will

apply to any campus. He says that campuses of homogenous style is a mannerism conceived as
an entity in a kind of geometric pattern utilizing the same materials and forms consistently
throughout.

He suggests that this style depends upon closed ended systems. In other words, it is
conceived and built in total with only minor additional growth expected on tolerated. This may
not always be true because several new campuses are homogenous yet anticipate future
expansion.

Campuses heterogeneous in style according to Dober are made up of individually

designed buildings that are distinct entities not always in harmony with each other, nor providing
strong enough background context to bring them together into a unified whole.

This is the characteristic of a majority old campus that have suffered under the hands of
changing administration and consecutive designers through the years. Such a style is certainly
open ended and considerable growth occurs but more often that not. Very little directions is
given for future growth. They often tend to be bad when individual buildings are of exceptional
quality.
4.6.3 SCALE AND CLIMATE

Irrespective of the nature of the institution living and working spaces should be related to
the convenience of the user.

For this it must be measured in the scale of man his/her physical dimension, his
emotional needs his habitual responses and impulses.

The place should be an environment that inspires, encourages and motivates the user to
fully exploit its potential to a positive outcome.

Another important but often-neglected aspect is the climatic response of the built
environment.

Factors such as prevailing wind, solar radiation, and rains that influence the orientation of
buildings are not neglected during planning.

4.6.4 CIRCULATION:

Pedestrian and vehicular and service systems sanitary, electrical, water etc are subsidiary
considerations but nevertheless are properly designed as an integral part of the total fabric of the
campus and not later superimposed on a framework that initially ignored them, as is often the
case.

In some instance the pedestrian circulation system may be allowed to establish the basic
framework on the campus since movements of students is a primary functional requirement.

A campus is made up of visible, physical measurable systems, which directly express and
support invisible, psychological and immeasurable systems of human interaction.

The visible are the landscape and open spaces, pedestrian ways, vehicular access the
framework of building and the various utility service systems.

The invisible are the interaction of academic and living activities, the time, and motion
and communication required.

How well the visible total fabric as an expression of the invisible satisfies the philosophy
and intentions of the university community determines the ultimate quality and success of the
campus.

Link an organic entity, a campus must have a kind of hierarchy of elements that gives it a
comprehensive form.

The structural skeleton is the framework of buildings. The muscles are the ordered
sequences of linked spaces. The services provide the network of nerves and the circulation

system consists of pedestrian ways and roads. There is an administrative brain center that
should be conveniently and easily identified from the campus entrance. And finally it is
important for a campus to have a heart or core of centralized activity around which the whole
campus grows and functions. This should be a relatively large collector space or plaza which is
usually dominated by an important feature such as library, a bell tower, a fountain or quiet pool, a
chapel or outdoor place of assembly.

The trend seems to be tower tightening up of academic areas around the core to give it a
stronger definition, with housing and other activities growing out from it. There is a logical
tendency to place facilities such as students centre etc., either in the core or closely related to it.

The core itself any take to a variety of forms depending upon the choice of a system of
growth. Formal, monumental campuses have proved inflexible and in appropriate to the nature of
todays rapidly expanding institutions of higher education. Todays planners favor an informal
flexible approach to campus design.

However there is still a tendency of rigid zoning to separate the academic and residential
areas of the campus, allowing for each function to expand within its own zone of serious.
Consequences are the Indian practice of segregating and grouping staff residential types
according to levels of income.

That completely devices the whole objective of the development of an ideal, integrated
learning living community. Outside of Indian there is a trend towards creating down the right
zoning and intermixing facilities.

It significantly contributes to the possibility of the integration of all campus activities into
a more, compact, denser campus.

Becoming more widely accepted is that a variety of creatively small exterior spaces is
more desirable than large spaces that created excessive distances between buildings, promoting
campus lacking unity and clarity.

The tendency still is to design buildings designated by discipline, as a physics buildings,

a history building etc. But within that pattern, are attempts to get more flexibility and to design
spaces that can be easily converted to other uses.

However, there is an evident trend towards providing spaces by function rather than by
discipline. This approach places lecture rooms in a centrally located buildings, classrooms of
variety types in their own buildings, laboratories in laboratory buildings and faculty offices and
seminar rooms in still another building. This allows clarity in aesthetic expression and economy
in structural and in economic systems.

Moreover, providing space by function rather than discipline is directed towards more
efficient utilization of campus facilities. The campus design with high density low rise buildings
is now in vogue. Advantages to this is the elimination of lifts, a covered all weather passage
connecting all parts of the university, adaptability to an existing campus and ability to provide

coherence to an idea of that campus which may be disorderly; and convenience in phasing of
construction.