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Master
Plan Update:
AUB MOST IMPRESSIVE CAMPUS |
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 Aerial impression of how the AUB Campus will look, after implementation of the Master Plan |
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| ---Concerned
administrators, faculty, staff, and a handful of students flowed into Issam
Fares Hall on April 16 for a town meeting-style gathering on the AUB Master
Plan. They stopped in the foyer to view a display of large, colorfully detailed
maps, plans, and photographic and artistic projections of a creatively renovated
campus. ---Inside the hall President Waterbury introduced the final plan, by explaining that it was "designed to carry forward the University's academic mission by bringing all classrooms and laboratories up to the standards of the twenty-first century." The president underscored the $150 million price tag as a commitment, not only to the University, but also to the city of Beirut and to the country of Lebanon. The Master Plan, he said, is "a major vote of confidence." ---The Master Plan was developed by three American consultancy firms (Sasaki Associates, Machado and Silvetti Associates of Massachusetts, and MGT of America of Olympia, Washington) and Beirut's Dar Al-Handasah Consultants, with the collaboration of AUB coordinator, Souheir Mabsout, and three AUB committees. The plan enhances the heritage, traditional values, and unique landscape setting of the AUB campus and mission, while incorporating innovative options for development over the next twenty years. ---Following President Waterbury's introduction, the final version of the plan, 18 months in the making, was presented by Tony Mallows of Sasaki Associates and Rudolpho Machado of Machado and Silvetti. Mallows said that the AUB campus was the most impressive his firm had ever worked on. ---The Master Plan foresees maintaining the historic heritage of the upper campus, joined with a rehabilitated |
Medical
Center campus; the transformation of the currently eclectic lower campus;
and the enhancement and nurture of the middle campus, the unique vegetation-covered
lime-stone escarpment separating the upper and lower campuses. ---Pedestrians will replace automobiles almost everywhere, and roadways will give way to pedestrian promenades, plazas, and new green spaces designed to link the three campuses and maintain the unique position of AUB, lodged between the city of Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. Special attention will be given to view corridors sweeping down from upper campus to the sea and the mountains beyond. ---Renovation and rehabilitation will be largely invisible, as old buildings are transformed into twenty-first century structures and work moves forward on the rehabilitation and modernization of all existing facilities, from buildings to infrastructure, including water, sewage disposal, power, communications, and IT. ---The plan envisages, following in the footsteps of the modernization of West Hall, the renovation of almost all the major buildings on campus (Fisk, Nicely, Jesup, Ada Dodge, the old Pharmacy and Old Out Patient Department) in three stages spread over the twenty-year period. (See box.) Major new construction includes the Charles Hostler Center for sports and activities and the new Business School Building on lower campus, new dormitories, academic buildings, libraries (with major emphasis on additional study space), storage space, and peripheral and underground parking. ---President Waterbury emphasized the need for the plan to be flexible enough to accommodate possible future |
changes,
while at the same time not deviating from the general vision of the final
Master Plan proposal. AUB must be ready, he insisted, to face the academic
challenges of the twenty-first century. ---During the question and answer period concerned members of the AUB community asked questions about sports facilities, the possibility of expanding outdoor theater options, the importance of maintaining old trees on campus, and the logistics behind establishing transparency on the Bliss Street edge of campus without compromising the singular quiet and privacy of the University. ---With the planning stages of the development winding down, Vice President Tomey announced on May 11 the formation of the Facilities Planning and Design Unit . The unit consists of Samer Maamari, associate director of the Physical Plant as interim director; Souheir Mabsout, Master Plan project coordinator, as assistant director; and Mr. Marwan Ghandour, Professors Jala Makhzoumi and Howeida El-Harithy as the academic advisory committee. ---The committee will report directly to Vice President George Tomey, who wrote: "This new unit will be entrusted with the overall leadership in the management of facilities and namely as it applies to planning, maintaining, updating, and implementing the different phases of the AUB Master Plan . . . ." |
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| Master Plan Phases | ||||||
| Phase
I ---Renovations and Additions: Nicely, Ada Dodge, and Van Dyck Halls; Duraffourd West, Gulbenkian Infirmary, Alumni Club, Building 56, Old OPD, and the hospital. Renovations have already begun on Van Dyck, Building 56, Old OPD, and the hospital. ---New Buildings: School of Business, Hostler Center, Temporary Warehouse, Parking at AUBMC. ---Site Improvements: Green Field site around Hostler Center and School of Business, University Overlook/Upper Promenade, Lower Promenade I, Middle Campus Enhancement I, Service Yard/Warehouse. |
Phase
II ---Renovations and Additions: Emile Bustani Hall, Bechtel Engineering Building, Durrafourd East, Fisk Hall, Jesup Hall, Medical Gate, Engineering Shop West. ---New Buildings: New Engineering Shop East, New Women's Gate Residences, Kerr Hall replacement (if necessary), New Agriculture Wing B. ---Site Improvements: Middle Campus Enhancement II, Lower/Upper Promenade II, Medical Campus Quads, West Plaza Enhancement, Medical Gate Site Enhancement. Promenades III. |
Phase III |
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