Princeton University Announces Guidelines For Expansion

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton University has released a guideline for the development of the campus over the next 10 years. The forward-looking plan considers the potential needs for the university over the next 30 years, the university announced this week.

The framework provided by Princeton this week designates locations for projects that were identified when the university initially announced its plans to expand last year.

As part of the new guidelines, the university looks to develop a new Lake Campus on lands south of Lake Carnegie. It bought that land nearly 100 years ago, according to the university. The campus would include:

• athletic facilities;
• administrative and academic partnership space;
• housing for up to 500 graduate students and potentially for postdoctoral researchers;
• convening, retail and amenity space; and
• a parking area and transit hub with shuttle, pedestrian and bicycle connections to other parts of the campus and the community.

There would be walkways and bike paths that go to and through the campus. This includes a pedestrian bridge that would cross the lake and the Delaware and Raritan Canal at a location between Washington Road and Harrison Street.

The bridge would give pedestrians a safe and scenic way to cross the lake while preserving the historic character and natural features of the area, according to the university. It would become part of the regional bicycle and sidewalk networks in Princeton, West Windsor and Plainsboro.

Expansion also includes a new residential college or colleges, as Princeton looks to expand its student body by 10 percent, or 125 students.

The new college would be south of Poe Field east of Elm Drive, and near the existing Butler, Wilson and Whitman colleges. While only one new college is necessary, a second one is a viable option, according to university officials.

In order to accommodate this plan, the Class of 1895 Softball Field and the Lenz Tennis Center would have to be moved, and may be integrated into the new Lake Campus. New and improved softball and tennis facilities would join a rugby field and cross-country course that are already in the area. The new tennis site would include a racquet center for indoor tennis and squash, along with other outdoor courts for recreational use.

A hockey arena with two sheets of ice may ultimately be added to replace Baker Rink. A proposed athletics hub would include locker rooms, coaches’ offices, training facilities and other amenities. The campus shuttle would be scheduled accordingly.

There are also plans for new and improved facilities to support teaching and research in engineering; and environmental studies, and space to accommodate academic partnerships with the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors.

Princeton is looking to add new facilities for engineering and environmental studies to its existing development east of Washington Road, specifically along the north side of Ivy Lane and Western Way. This would be done to align them with nearby natural science departments and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The location is near existing engineering spaces that will remain in place.

Once new spaces become available, the university will decide whether to renovate, repurpose or replace some or all of the existing Engineering Quadrangle buildings.

Decisions will also have to be made about best uses for the spaces in Guyot and Eno halls that would be vacated by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Department of Geosciences and the Princeton Environmental Institute, officials said.

A number of new walkways and other improvements are also proposed. This includes: an east-west connector from the Graduate College on the west of the Central Campus to a new activity node on the East Campus near the new engineering and environmental studies buildings; and a north-south connector on the East Campus from Nassau Street to the proposed pedestrian bridge and the Lake Campus.

There is also a proposed enhanced “diagonal walk” from Mathey College in the northwest of the Central Campus to McCosh Health Center, as well as options for expanding the capacity of University Health Services; the development of an enhanced activity node in the area near Frist Campus Center, Guyot Hall and McCosh Health Center; and reconfiguration of the site where Wilson College is located.

Overall, the plan promotes cycling, walking, mass transit and other alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles. A new parking structure is proposed on the current lot 21 on the East Campus and a new surface parking lot on the Lake Campus that would be connected to the rest of the campus and the community by pathways for walking and biking and by TigerTransit shuttles.

Potential locations for future housing for faculty and staff as well as for graduate students and postdocs are also identified.

“The campus must not only house programs and people,” Eisgruber said. “It must also foster collaboration, invite serendipity, nurture inclusivity, cultivate argument, inspire creativity, generate community, and facilitate the rigorous, fearless and path-breaking pursuit of truth.”

“The breadth and depth of this multi-dimensional approach to planning are exceptional and rare if not unique among institutions of higher education,” Williams said.

Toronto-based planning and design firm Urban Strategies Inc. was the principal consultant, working with other consultants that specialize in areas ranging from architecture and landscape architecture to sustainability, athletic facilities, space utilization, historic preservation, transportation, parking, energy, information technology, stormwater management, water reuse, civil engineering and real estate.

The planning team, led by University Architect Ron McCoy, met with students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and local, state, and regional officials; invited in the process engagement through a campus plan blog website; and held several open meetings on campus and in Princeton and West Windsor.

It was recommended that the Butler Tract be preserved for future use for University-related housing and preserving future flexibility for long-term use in support of the university’s educational mission for the lands currently leased to the Springdale Golf Club. Nothing specific was proposed for the golf club, and changes aren’t likely for at least 10 years. Any changes would be “sensitive to potential impacts on the adjacent neighborhood; would enhance the stream corridor through these lands and recognize the historic attributes of the property; and would seek to improve public access to open space on the site, including via pedestrian and cycling pathways.”

The university is now developing a capital plan to determine which projects would move forward, and where and when work might begin. It is engaged in a campaign planning process to determine how much it will be able to raise to help pay for the projects.

Attached images provided by Princeton University