History

When the center of campus moves from the oval to the parking lot, what's lost?

The oval located at the north campus. It has a park-like landscape.

The surface parking lot located at the central campus. The valuable land is consumed by parking spaces for cars.

The Beginning

The center of campus hasn't always been the parking lot. When Michigan State University was established in 1855, our campus was created to have a park-like landscape. In the early stages of the campus development, the plan was an expression of the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted. Two major planning themes were emphasized. The first was the idea of creating a cohesive academic community where no building exceeded a comfortable walking distance. The second driving idea was that of enhancing the natural beauty of the existing landscape. The creation of pastoral scenery was intended to elicit emotions of tranquility in order to improve the mental and physical health of the members of the community.

The Change

With the United States becoming a "Country on Wheels" because of the popularity of automobiles, the landscape made for people was gradually consumed by cars. When the university expands rapidly in the 1960s south of the Red Cedar River, the center of campus moved with it. Although it's hard to define a center on campus because there was no designation for such place, the mental center of campus became "the surface parking lot area" located at the crossing of Shaw Lane and Farm Lane. That mental center is located here because of two reasons. One reason is that Shaw Lane and Farm Lane are the two major East-West North-South corridors connecting to the city. The other reason is that there is the International Center along with lots of academic buildings surrounding the parking lot area.

This is a Timelapse Video of East Lansing. It shows the land change from 1984 to 2016. What is not changed, however, is the parking lot located at the center of campus.

Click the Play Button on the lower left corner to enter the time machine.

The Campus Master Plan

In 2001, Michigan State University developed its campus master plan titled 2020 Vision: A Community Concept for the Michigan State University Campus with an outside consultant Sasaki Associates. The Plan has since became the guideline for the development of the campus.

In the plan, the parking lots located at the center of campus was to be replaced by a park-like green space just like the oval. But the community aren't ready to get rid of their cars. In 2016, the parking lots are still here, although it's good to see that the Northeast portion of the parking lot has been restored to a green space.

The master plan for the central campus. The highlighted area is the place that this project is focusing on.

Reacting to climate change

In 2013, a group of students from Michigan State University participated in the EPA Campus Rainworks Challenge. The planned area is based on the overarching goal from the master plan of developing a united green space on the center of campus, but specifically they developed a master plan that is focused on stormwater management as well as creating places with this type of practice. The plan was also using the Spartan Spirit as an design inspiration for site elements.

The EPA master plan

Towards a future campus

The above plans are all great plans that has different focuses, but are they preparing our students for the challenges of future? It's a hard question to answer because no one knows what our future could look like. But that's probably part of the reason why I was attracted to a topic like this. Even though I won't be here using the campus, our next generations will. We need to create places that prepares our students for the challenges of future.