Campus design : a study of form

The University has some features which make it amenable to systematic study by comparison with the city, quite apart from simple difference in size. The University presents in some senses a microcosm of the city, but more orderly and regulated, and rather less heterogeneous. The high degree of centralised administrative control in Universities means that characteristics of their population are known and recorded in some detail. This study has developed through a close association with the development of one University and a desire to understand the patterns of growth and provide guidance in the physical development of a University, in particular the study is concerned with shaping the imperatives operating to produce a measure of place, legibility, identity, flexibility, resilience and vitality. The physical form and the methods of controlling that form and the forces which influence the form are analysed. Urban design issues are amongst the many forces that act upon a University and play an important role in modelling the University's character. A University is perceived by its physical appearance as well as its academic merit The shape and form of a University will have an important role in the image portrayed. The University population live and work as a community and many of the characteristics common to urban environments can be found within the University campus. To apply the theories researched in this study a case study has been made of the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Campus. This University presents many issues which are relevant to the study of Urban Design in particular the study is focused on the form of the Campus, and meaning of the form, produced by a group of related buildings and the spaces between them. The continued development of the University raises many similarities to the continued development of the city. Proposed future form and guidelines for control of future development are developed and proposed. Key matters are dealt with in detail which will influence the overall appearance of the University. The issues which will determine the liveability of the Campus are also analysed with the purpose of generating design guidelines. The QUT campus provides an interesting case study in terms of urban design, particularly because, like the city it has undergone adhoc change and expansion over a long time. The built form of QUT has received much ctiricism over the years for the lack of visual appeal and apparent lack of space. QUT suffers a similar lack of vision due to the acceptance of urban structure in a static form rather than the potential form which can evolve given certain circumstances. A University campus is not a static thing which can be planned once and for all. It is a growing organism which is always moving, always changing. Amongst the special characteristics which make urban design unique is the building of the urban environment over a long period of time and the need to retain an overall uniformity without imposing rigidity on the individual building designers. The building of Universities over a long period is a good reason for employing urban design principles in the planning and development control of the overall form. The issues of place, legibility, identity, and so on are as important to the well being of a campus as providing good access roads or looking after the under-privileged. By careful analysis an understanding of place or sense of place can be defined. This understanding of place enables the bridging between the people and the physical environment A University, like a town or any other place, has characteristics unique to itself and the people who inhabit it The positive qualities which are created by unevenness in the urban matrix are found in the vitality and visual variety which might already exist or which can be created on a University campus. An understanding of the many and varied behaviour patterns which help define the special sense of place for users and visitors is an important aspect of this study