UCSD Master Plan Study
Introduction
Located at the heart of a regional system of canyons and mesas, on a site with some
breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding foothills, the UC San Diego
campus is a place of remarkable natural beauty.
Given its outstanding faculty, its creative leadership, its role in the University of
California system, as well as this enviable location, it is not surprising that UCSD's
enrollment has steadily risen and support for its research and teaching programs consistently
increased. This growth has continuously challenged UCSD to simultaneously accommodate growth
and advance the quality of the physical setting.
The physical setting of a university is an integral part of the educational experience
for all those who come to live, learn, and work there. This relationship is not lost on the
men and women who administer UCSD, teach its students, and carry out its research programs.
With growth has come a strong sense to foster what is best about the campus.
The Master Plan Study is a response to this desire, as well as to the need to accommodate the
campus' academic plans. By defining qualities that are most critical to the campus' identity
and its strength as an academic setting, and by suggesting ways in which they can be preserved
and enhanced as the campus grows, the Master Plan Study provides a basis for stewardship. Further,
there are special problems and opportunites associated with the developing a master plan for
the major university that is already substantially developed and is anticipating continued
growth.
The Guiding Principles of the Master Plan Study
The Master Plan Study proposes five organizing principles for the campus that
together will provide an overall direction for its future development.
Neighborhoods
|
The development of the campus should occur within neighborhoods.
The neighborhood is the "building block" of campus development. A neighborhood has clear
boundaries and a distinct character. Its buildings and open spaces provide an appropriate
setting for a college or a cluster of related disciplines and the housing that
accompanies it.
|
Academic Corridors
|
Although some departments and programs can function effectively without close contact with
other programs, most benefit from contiguity with related disciplines. To maximize the benefits
to disciplines of the latter type, a series of "academic corridors" should be established across
neighborhood boundaries to bring related academic departments and disciplines into proximity
and provide a basis for locating key academic facilities.
Five such corridors have been identified: Marine Sciences, Natural & Life Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Engineering & Physics. Each relates to existing departments, and provides
appropriate locations for their expansion.
|
University Center
|
UCSD should develop a "University Center" that will be the hub of campus activity and the focus of
its undergraduate teaching programs.
Existing "center's of gravity" on campus serve as gathering points. What is needed is a "town center,"
easily accessible to visitors and convenient to west campus neighborhoods, that can function
as the "heart" of campus social and academic life.
|
The Park
|
The shoreline, mesas, canyons, and eucalyptus groves constitute ecologically sensitive natural
resources of great local importance. They are a major source of UCSD's identity for all those who live
and work on the campus. They need to be identified and treated as a great park, to be protected for
future generations of scholars and students.
The UCSD Park together with nearby U.C. Scripps Coastal Reserve, Torrey Pines State Reserve and Los
Penasquitos Lagoon constitute the major remaining natural reservation for coastal communities in
San Diego. The University recognizes its stewardship responsibilities in conserving its portion of
those regionally important ecosystems.
|
Connections
|
The connections between the different parts contribute to making UCSD function as a single place.
Its connections to the region can also strengthen the campus' ties to the larger community.
Roads and paths, public entries, landmarks, view corridors and landscape features - all of these
can help connect the different parts of UCSD. Establishing these links is critical if the campus
is to have an overall sense of coherence as a place and as a community. Similarly, it is critical
that the campus connect to the region in ways that are seen as positive and beneficial by the
larger community.
|
|
