Phase II: North Campus
Activating the Spine
Making a ‘Heart of the Campus’
Planning is continuing for an ambitious project that seeks to improve the functionality and aesthetics of learning spaces across North and South campuses and to chart UB’s path to the “Library of the 21st Century.” The project is intended to respond to the relocation of little used and electronically superseded library volumes to remote shelving in library annexes by providing improved study spaces, centralized student services, improvements to the “public realm” of the campus, space for Undergraduate Research Academies, office and classroom space for academic units, and secure facilities for Information Technology.
On the North Campus, “The Heart of the Campus” focuses primarily on the reconfiguration and repurposing of space in Capen, Norton, Talbert, and Lockwood Halls while also considering student housing on or connected to the spine.
Internal Circulation of the Spine
Like an Italian hilltop town, the internal circulation in the buildings bordering the Spine is labyrinthine, navigated easily only by those who know their surroundings well. The Campus Plan is exploring ways to activate these passages by retail and service programs, informal study areas, innovative learning spaces, and daylight.
Transparency at Founders Plaza
Masonry is replaced with glass at proposed ground floor public spaces, visually connecting indoor and outdoor activity. Glass “beacons” are located at points of vertical circulation. Recent and proposed renovations to Founder’s Plaza landscape will make it a comfortable place to linger, not just a space to pass through.
Lockwood Hall is given prominence
A new and prominent glazed entrance would allow easy and visible access into Lockwood Hall. As one of the Hearts of the Campus, this building might house more active uses on the ground floor, enlivening the Spine.
Connector bridges become gateways
Glazing the Spine side of the O’Brian-Baldy connector would visually connect internal circulation with the external circulation along the Spine. These bridges are gateways to reach buildings and open spaces beyond the main route of the Spine, such as the Alfiero Center.