Campus planner meets with students on Visualize Temple

Representatives from SmithGroupJJR, the architectural panning firm hired to develop the Visualize Temple campaign, met with students on Tuesday night in the Architecture Building to hear ideas for the the university’s next master plan.

Douglas Kozma, the principal campus planner for SmithGroup, led a slideshow explaining to students the various factors SmithGroup is looking at in planning their outline. The presentation included graphic presentations displaying the concentration of residential housing, classrooms, and faculty offices around Main Campus.

Based on the data presented, Kozma said that the group had concluded that general and liberal arts activities were focused near the Bell Tower area on campus. The campus map outlined the area around Norris Street as the creative center on campus, 12th Street as the technological corridor and the south of campus as the hub of professional studies. Kozma said that Broad Street represents the public face of campus.

When asked what they saw as the future of Main Campus, students responded with a variety of answers including greater integration with other city and regional campuses, more green space, organic and healthy dining options and better transportation services.

“A master plan, if done well, should address cars, bikes, buses and trains,” Kozma said.

Sibia Ranjbar, a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, said that Temple needed to improve services for graduate students. Ranjbar suggested that in building the new library, the designers include resources specifically geared towards researchers.

Other students said the university needs to do better at reaching out to the surrounding community and easing relations between the growing student population living off-campus and local residents.

Some suggestions proposed by the students included building more on-campus housing and shopping.

Kozma reiterated that no plans as part of the Visualize Temple campaign include expanding on the current footprint.

Kozma did say that SmithGroup has discovered that there are no legal restrictions against building a bridge across Broad Street, though there appeared to be an unwritten rule.

Another part of SmithGroup’s presentation included the idea of placing the new library in the current location of Barton Hall, which is to be demolished after the new Science and Technology Building is finished.

“I think if you don’t consider the library the center of campus then the university is doing something wrong,” said Nick Kokiko, a senior sports recreation management major.

The university is expected to unveil the Visualize Temple master plan this fall.