The proposed layout of the 2018 WSU Vancouver Master Plan update. The additions of residence halls as well as a student union, dining services and a new fitness center are focused around the south end of campus, creating a “student life cluster” as Nolan Lienhart of ZGF Architects said in a master plan open house April 23. Also included in this graphic are planned future developments.
Washington State University Vancouver has narrowed down where it plans to put new buildings as a consolidated planning concept was presented during an open house on April 23.
Officials from architectural firm ZGF spoke to attendees of the open house hosted on campus, explaining design elements and unveiling a plan that next week will go to WSU Vancouver officials for approval.
The design featured new additions including undergraduate residence halls, a student union/dining services and a new fitness center located to the south of current development. This plan came after a March 27 open house proposed a total of six different options.
Nolan Lienhart of ZGF said the agreed-upon layout was most similar to concepts presented involving southern clustering along what was known as the Mount St. Helens axis. He explained that the 2018 update was designed to be consistent with themes laid out in the original 1992 master plan for the campus, chief among them being the mountain view axes on the campus. The campus is based around view lines looking at Mount St. Helens for the roughly north-south axis and looking at Mount Hood for the east-west line.
“You really end up with a student life cluster here at the southern end of that (Mount St. Helens) axis,” Lienhart said, noting a connection between the uses of the planned building additions.
The axes were just one design theme used in the planning. Also taken into account were different types of landscaping including open-space meadows, deliberately planted “orchard” type spaces as well as existing woodlands.
Planning had also taken into account the 100-year floodplain, an area likely to flood at least once in the span of that many years, with development avoiding those areas largely along the Mill Creek and Salmon Creek banks.
Lienhart touched on some key updates this year’s plan would have over the 2007 iteration, which along with undergraduate housing included more long-term additions such as a life sciences and business academic building. Where those two buildings would end up was yet to be determined, but they had some ideas.
Lienhart explained that several areas have been identified for clusters of future campus development, both northeast of campus as well as to the west of existing buildings along the Mount Hood axis.
Regarding impacts on the community, Lienhart explained that in master planning they had looked at a cross-section of the campus, showing differences in elevation. Documents showed the cross section coming from Northeast 30th Avenue along the Mount Hood axis, with the consistent decline in elevation allowing a line of sight of the mountain even with development.
“Because of the topography it’s possible to put buildings in a variety of locations without blocking views from adjacent neighborhoods,” Lienhart said.
Debbie Chow, also of ZGF, spoke specifically about parking and transportation, noting that planned buildout would maintain the current circulation route. She mentioned that a planned secondary access onto Salmon Creek Avenue to the east was still included in the plan, as well as the possibility of pedestrian/emergency vehicle access on the southeast campus.
The latter, she added, would likely be several years down the road.
With the master plan nearly complete moving forward ZGF would provide the completed draft master plan to WSU for its approval following the May 7 end of the public comment period, according to a timeline presented at the open house. That form is available at
admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/capital-planning-and-development/master-plan.
