Virginia Commonwealth University: Campus Master Plan

VCU 2020 V I R G I N I A C O M M O N W E A LT H U N I V E R S I T Y

MASTER SITE PLAN

V I R G I N I A C O M M O N W E A LT H U N I V E R S I T Y

VCU 2020

MASTER SITE PLAN

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B OA R D O F V I S I TO R S The Honorable Ralph “Bill� L. Axselle, Jr. Mr. David G. Baldacci Dr. Edward H. Bersoff Mr. J. Alfred Broaddus Jr. Dr. John C. Doswell II Mr. Brian K. Jackson The Honorable Anne J.G. Rhodes Ms. E. Janet Riddick Mr. Richard T. Robertson Dr. Michele A. Romano Mr. Thomas G. Rosenthal Dr. Carol S. Shapiro Mr. John Sherman Jr. The Honorable G. Bryan Slater Mr. Thomas G. Snead Jr. Mr. Philip Thompson, Sr. U N I V ERS I T Y PR ES I D EN T Dr. Eugene P. Trani ST EER I N G C O M M I T T EE Mr. Paul W. Timmreck, Chair, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Mr. Donald J. Gehring, Vice President for Government Relations Dr. Roderick J. McDavis, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ms. Sue Ann Messmer, Chief of Staff, Office of the President and Vice President for University Outreach Dr. Sheldon M. Retchin, Vice President for Health Sciences and Chief Executive Officer, VCU Health System Dr. Marsha R. Torr, Vice President for Research Mr. Peter L. Wyeth, Vice President for Advancement Mr. Richard L. Sander, Assistant to the President and Executive Director of Athletics

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Mr. Brian J. Ohlinger, Chair, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Ms. Terry A. Atkinson, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dr. Donna R. Brodd, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Mr. Jeffrey E. Cupps, Senior Associate Athletic Director Mr. John F. Duval, Chief Executive Officer, MCV Hospitals Mr. William M. Gleason, Associate Vice President for Health Sciences, Senior Associate Dean for Finance and Administration Mr. Paul Jez, Associate Vice President for Business Services and Treasurer Mr. Darrell Johnson, Vice President for Administrative and Support Services, VCUHS Dr. Roy W. Pickens, Associate Vice President for Research Dr. Henry G. Rhone, Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services Mr. W. Camden Whitehead, Director, Art Foundation Program and Assistant Dean, Admissions, School of the Arts Dr. Christopher D. Kenney, President of MCV Campus Student Government Association Mr. Zmarak Khan, President of Monroe Park Campus Student Government Association U N I V ERS I T Y STA FF Ms. Mary P. Broughton, University Architect Mr. Russell T. Uzzle, III, University Planner Mr. Lauren G. Mullendore, Senior Planner Mr. James E. Niles, University Space Manager C O N S U LT I N G T E A M BCWH Architects, Richmond Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, Tampa/Norfolk Michael Dennis Associates, Boston Vanesse Hangen Brustlin, Parking and Transportation, Richmond Higgins & Gerstenmaier, Landscape Architecture, Richmond Draper Aden, Utilities, Richmond

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN C R E D I T S

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PREFACE BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

PROCESS OUTLINE AND PARTICIPATION

SCOPE OF THE MASTER PLAN

Virginia Commonwealth University’s previous Master Site Plan was adopted in May, 1996. In the years since the plan’s inception, VCU has largely followed and implemented this master plan, operating within its flexible framework with occasional deviations where warranted by changing circumstances and opportunities.

By 2003, most of the future development identified for the University in the plan had been completed. As a result, the planning contexts of both campuses had literally been transformed.

In the same time period, the University’s programs and enrollments grew substantially, simultaneously changing the institutional context for planning. As the University looked forward to the next planning window, other issues including projected growth, scarcity of land, enhancements to the quality of the campus environment, and traffic, parking and pedestrian circulation issues, made it clear that it was time to revisit the University’s existing Master Site Plan.

The Master Site Plan process was directed by the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, with the University vice presidents and the athletic executive director functioning as the Steering Committee. A Planning Committee of selected University faculty and administrators provided programmatic and advisory review, along with the VCU Architectural Review Committee. The Facilities Management Division provided staff support. The seven-step, fifteen-month long process was broad and inclusive. To solicit qualitative and programmatic input, the data gathering and programming phases included over 66 interviews with groups and individuals at VCU. As part of the development and refinement of the design solutions, the proposed master site plan was presented to over 51 groups including University governance bodies and administrative advisory committees, community advisory boards, neighborhood associations, and city and state agencies and commissions.

The scope of the plan is as broad as the growing reach of the University. The plan focuses on the University’s two main Campuses: the newly re-named Monroe Park Campus (formerly known as the Academic Campus) along with the substantial initiative of the Monroe Park Campus Addition; and the MCV Campus, including the integrated current master site plan and development initiatives of the VCU Health System and the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park.

MASTER SITE PLAN GOALS The Master Site Plan summarizes and coordinates recent planning and development and illustrates the University’s planned growth and development through the year 2020. It fulfills three primary University goals: •

articulates the University’s vision for its campuses. •

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The document which follows was developed as an update to the 1996 Master Site Plan. Its approach is evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, building upon the values and directions established in the 1996 plan, and continuing to endorse the urban and architectural design principles from the “General Plan and Guidelines� adopted by the Board of Visitors in 1995.

Provides a comprehensive document for the Board of Visitors which

Provides program direction and physical guidelines for future development of campus structures and campus open spaces.

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Continues to articulate VCU’s relationship with neighboring communities by identifying districts and areas of future consideration.

Also included in this Master Site Plan Update are the University’s satellite facilities. In the Richmond metropolitan region, these include VCU Athletics presence at the Boulevard (Diamond) Site, the VCU School of Medicine, and the Health System’s facilities at Stony Point. Beyond metropolitan Richmond, the plan includes VCU’s initiatives with the INOVA program at Fairfax General Hospital in Northern Virginia and the VCU Rice Center for Life Sciences and Environmental Studies in Charles City County on the James River. The VCU School of the Arts in Qatar extends the University’s presence, and its Master Site Plan, into international locales.

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Project Process Schedule

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S U M M A RY I N T RO D U CT I O N VCU Institutional Background Mission of the University VCU Strategic Plan Evolution of VCU: 1990 - 2004 General Plan and Guidelines The Urban University Campus The Broad Street Corridor

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B ROA D T H EM ES O F T H E M A ST ER SIT E PL A N UPDATE

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M CV CA M PU S Campus Context and Environment Existing Development Campus Analysis Current Development Campus Planning and Design Initiatives New Development

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VC U H E A LT H SYST EM

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V I RG I N I A B I OT EC H N O LO GY R ES E A RC H PA R K

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M O N RO E PA R K CA M PU S

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S AT EL LI T E FAC I LI T I ES VCU Medical Center at Stony Point VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences VCU INOVA Health System VCU School of Social Work - Northern Virginia VCU School of the Arts in Qatar VCU Athletics- The Diamond Site

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M A ST ER SIT E PL A N I M PLEM ENTATI O N

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A PPEN D I X

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN C O N T E N T S

Campus Context and Environment Existing Development Campus Analysis Current Development Campus Planning and Design Initiatives New Development

SUMMARY THE VCU STRATEGIC PLAN

VCU’s Strategic Plan, Phase II is summarized by five strategic themes that address: • the quality of the academic programs, services and facilities; • excellence in teaching, research and public service; • leadership by the academic health center and clinical enterprise; • the quality of the working and learning environment for staff, administrators and faculty; and • the innovative national leadership of the University among its peers.

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The Master Site Plan is one implementation of these tactical strategies, as it shapes the location, quality and character of the University’s investment in its campuses for the benefit of its strategic vision.

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ambitions and overall context that will shape the direction of VCU’s facilities development for the next decade or more. The Broad Themes are discussed in greater detail beginning on page 25.

Strategic Plan Themes: •

The University will provide the highest quality academic programs, services and facilities for students.

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The University will foster excellence in teaching, research, and public service that will establish the University as a leader among the nation’s major research universities.

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The University will position the academic health center and clinical enterprise as a leader in the creation and application of health care knowledge and as a provider of quality patient care and health services in the highly competitive

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marketplace.

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The University will provide an environment for working and learning that attracts, retains, and supports outstanding,

BROAD THEMES OF THE MASTER SITE PLAN

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BELVIDERE

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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JAMES RIVER

Left: City of Richmond Right: Campus Proximity Map

MCV CAMPUS/ HEALTH SYSTEM

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VCU MONROE PARK CAMPUS

The programming phase of the Master Site Plan process relied heavily on input from the University community. The synthesis of this large volume of institutional planning knowledge and foresight is summarized into nine Broad Themes. With very few exceptions, every campus development initiative in the Master Site Plan is an outgrowth of one or more of these broad themes. Together they embody the forces,

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The University will foster recognition of Virginia Commonwealth University as an innovative leader among the nation’s major research universities.

Broad Themes of the Master Site Plan •

Impact of Growth in Student Enrollment

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Impact of Changes in Student Profile

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Impact of Growth of On-Campus Housing

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Impact of Growth in Funded Research

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Academic Spaces on the Health Sciences Campus

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“Collegiate Community”-Student Engagement

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Monroe Park

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Coordination of Major Initiatives

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Strategic Growth Issues

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diverse, and dedicated staff, administrators, and faculty.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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The three tactical strategies of the Strategic Plan have direct implications for the Master Site Plan directing University resources into: • integrated planning processes, • institutional infrastructure, and • institutional accountability measures.

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SUMMARY

The VCU Strategic Plan is the foundation document for the Master Site Plan, providing fundamental decisions and actions to shape and guide VCU’s strategic development.

SPORTS BACKERS STADIUM

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From its earliest founding, VCU has been a center for higher learning that has grown through the collaborative union and expansion of diverse institutions. It has always sought creative and progressive partnership within its ranks and with the wider community it serves. This tradition continues and is reflected by the next fifteen years of development as outlined in this Master Site Plan. Since 1990, VCU’s growth and evolution have accelerated in broad categories of enrollment, research, schools and programs, and facilities. Historically, the Monroe Park Campus housed programs serving a local, part-time, nontraditional commuting undergraduate student population in the arts and business. The campus has been transformed, offering a broad spectrum

of programs to a full-time, traditional, resident undergraduate and graduate student population engaged in leading academic and research pursuits.

Furthermore, there is now greater interdisciplinary research and instruction between the disciplines on the MCV Campus and the Monroe Park Campus. There is more unity and mutual institutional identification between the Campuses and their programs, including their reaches into locations beyond the boundaries of Richmond, the Commonwealth and the nation.

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Virginia Commonwealth University is a public, urban, doctoral-granting research institution, supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia to serve the people of the Commonwealth and the nation. Virginia Commonwealth University is located in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, the center of a dynamic metropolitan area nearing a population of one-million citizens. With two major campuses in downtown Richmond, VCU is one of the largest employers in the metropolitan area, is the second largest real estate holder in Richmond, after government, with more than 126 acres in the central city and occupies more than 7.3 million gross square feet of space. In the past decade VCU contributed significantly to the economic development of the City and region, in part through $589 million in real estate development. The impact of the institution has grown through strong and proactive leadership and a commitment to working with, rather than acting upon, the community. VCU is a leading partner in the education and development of metropolitan Richmond.

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The MCV Campus occupies a dense, highly urban setting in the heart of downtown Richmond. The VCU Medical Center, among the largest academic health centers in the nation, is the most comprehensive in Virginia. The campus, composed primarily of 4- to 10-story urban structures, is centered in one of the oldest neighborhoods of the City and is home to several historic institutions including the White House and Museum of the Confederacy, and the Valentine Richmond History Museum. Acquisition of the former Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital and the Virginia Treatment Center for Children sites have expanded real estate holdings and potential development options within this dense urban context. An aging academic infrastructure and advances in technology have created demand for renovation of many existing Health Sciences buildings, while significant growth in research funding with concurrent competition for research dollars has created demand for increases in the quantity and quality of research facilities.

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The “General Plan and Guidelines” of the 1996 Master Site Plan established urban and architectural planning principles for VCU’s campus development.

These “Guidelines” are endorsed and continued in this Plan. They recognize and celebrate the urban character of downtown Richmond and the existing campuses, and promote the distinctive qualities and benefits of this environment in supporting the unique identity and mission of VCU. Development appropriate to the urban context is encouraged, as the particular character of various campus districts are defined and enhanced by the University’s investments.

Architecture is to follow urban patterns, permitting diverse styles but consistent scale and texture, as the structures define streets, and enclose public spaces and quads. Vehicular circulation is accommodated, but attention is given to making the campuses an environment where the pedestrian is welcome and protected. A complete copy of the “Guidelines” can be found in Volume II of this Plan.

The Master Site Plan establishes a vision and framework for development on the University’s campuses. It builds upon the campuses’ histories and heritages, and on the recent and significant growth of the past decade, to shape the environment of the campuses for the year 2020, a fifteen-year planning window.

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VCU’s home in historic downtown Richmond is integral to its identity and mission. The University’s proximity to the City’s cultural, recreational and natural resources, to state and local governments, to the business community and to other City institutions provides a rich context for education and public service. VCU is in a great place to benefit from, and to be a resource to, the greater Richmond community.

The urban environment also brings unique planning constraints. VCU’s campuses are integrated into the fabric of the city and, as a result, are generally landlocked presenting limited opportunities for physical development. Usable real estate is often difficult to acquire, and multiple parcels are often required to satisfy the area needs of institutional development projects.

SUMMARY OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS VCU, 2020 VISION

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Recent development, therefore, on the MCV Campus has centered on the renovation improvements to academic and research facilities and the redevelopment and expansion of clinical facilities serving the VCU Health System. Renovations are on-going throughout

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N MCV CAMPUS VCU Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Non-VCU Buildings Left: Downtown Richmond Canal Walk Right: View of The Gateway Building from East Broad Street

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings: New Construction Area of Future Consideration

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

SUMMARY

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The most transformational project in the Plan involves the replacement of the existing West Hospital and A. D. Williams Clinic buildings with a landmark School of Medicine facility. The building is envisioned as a multi-purpose campus center, including academic spaces, offices, research labs, student services and support areas, and parking. Other new development features additional research space, including a new research quad on the site of the Virginia Treatment Center for Children, three new parking facilities, new apartment-style housing and a new student center.

The proposed developments are coordinated with selected demolition and revised land use concepts to unite the campus through planning a series of connected indoor and outdoor spaces, providing an urban campus network that can serve pedestrians with walkways and courtyards. This network is integrated into the concourse proposed for the Hospitals.

The VCU Medical Center is one of the leading and most comprehensive academic medical centers in the country and stands alone as the only academic medical center in central Virginia. The center includes a 779-licensed bed hospital, outpatient clinics, a 600faculty group practice and VCU’s Health Sciences schools. The VCU Medical Center, through its VCU Health System, offers state-of-the-art health care in more than 200 specialty areas, many of national and international note, including organ transplantation, head and spinal chord trauma, burn healing and cancer treatment. The VCU Medical Center is the site of the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center. VCU’s Massey Cancer Center was the first National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Virginia.

The Park’s development focus addresses 34 acres to the west of the MCV Campus and includes almost 600,000 gross square feet. The development of the Park has brought significant investment from several key tenants including the Virginia Department of Consolidated Laboratory Services and Virginia Division of Forensic Sciences of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and Infilco Degremont, Inc. Over $140 million has been invested to date and the Park is home to over 45 entities, including private companies, research institutes, non-profits and state laboratories, bringing total employment to over 1,400. The Master Plan for the Park has responded flexibly to the dynamic forces surrounding development in this area of the City, and represents a substantial potential build-out of over 1.5 million gross square feet.

The Health System developed “A Strategic Facilities Plan-2004” concurrent with the VCU Master Site Plan Update process. This plan identified the strategic directions of the clinical care functions of the Hospital and planned a succession of development projects to meet these strategic needs. Key Health System projects include a new bed tower north of Main Hospital, expansion of the Clinical Support Center, and complete removal and replacement of North Hospital to develop a comprehensive Cancer Hospital for the Massey Cancer Center. The Health System Plan proposes a concourse, passages and connectors to provide a clearly delineated, secure, attractive, pedestrian-friendly circulation network to serve patients, staff, faculty and support functions.

This network interfaces with those planned for the Health Sciences spaces.

SATELLITE FACILITIES Near the downtown campuses, the Sports Backers Stadium represents VCU’s first investment in the civic athletic complex at the Richmond Metropolitan Authority’s Diamond site. The VCU baseball team plays its home games at the Diamond. A state-ofthe-art competition tennis center is planned for an adjacent site and the University remains interested

in expanding its facilities to serve NCAA sports, including baseball, soccer, track and field, and tennis at this site.

VCU’s reach continues to extend far beyond the boundaries of downtown Richmond.

The VCU Health System operates its outpatient medical center, the VCU Medical Center at Stony Point, on the western border of the City. VCU has established the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences on a 342-acre site on the James River in Charles City County. Only 30 minutes from downtown Richmond, the site provides a living laboratory for research and education in the Life Sciences, with an emphasis on the natural habitat of the James River. The School of Medicine expanded to Fairfax General Hospital in Northern Virginia with its INOVA program for interning medical students. The VCU School of the Arts in Qatar brings the expertise of the School of the Arts and degrees in Communication Arts and Design, Fashion Design and Merchandising and Interior Design to middle-eastern women in this distant location.

These satellite initiatives are evidence that VCU is following through with its strategic initiatives to establish University programs in the surrounding communities of metropolitan Richmond, the Commonwealth and the world.

VCU’s flagship campuses will continue to be powerful engines in the renewal and growth of Downtown Richmond. They are functional anchors along the prominent Broad Street corridor and generators of activity and investment. The institution based in these campuses will continue to enrich the City, as the widening breadth of its education, research and service are enriched by diverse national and worldwide interaction.

Left: Entrance to Emergency Department, VCU Health System

Upper left: Sports Backers Stadium

Right: Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, Biotech Two

Lower left: The Diamond Right: VCU School of the Arts in Qatar

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SUMMARY

Additonal renovations are planned for the same facilities and the Tompkins-McCaw Library, McGuire Hall, the Smith Building for the School of Pharmacy, and Randolph-Minor Hall (the former First African Baptist Church). While significant resources have been invested in existing buildings, the MCV Campus is now on the cusp of dramatic investment in new academic space. Medical Sciences Building II will serve as the second part of a planned three-phase expansion of state-of-the-art academic research space.

It will be built on the site of the existing School of Nursing; this building is to be vacated by the School for a new facility north of Leigh Street.

THE VIRGINIA BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH PARK

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

several facilities, including Sanger Hall, to support research activity and the School of Medicine, the Smith Building instructional laboratories for the School of Pharmacy, and the Wood and Lyons Buildings for laboratory and instructional space in the School of Dentistry.

THE VCU HEALTH SYSTEM

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The new development in the Master Site Plan, in addition to developing Grace Street, indicates new construction at the important corner of Broad and Belvidere Streets, replaces the Franklin Street Gym with contextually appropriate housing, expands the academic core with an information commons addition to the library, new construction in the block west of Linden Street and the Cabell Library, and new structures around the existing School of Business building. The plan proposes the closing of the block of Linden Street between Floyd and Grove to extend the pedestrian path along this route, and anchors the passage with a new facility for Life Sciences II on Cary Street, and a new indoor swimming pool adjacent to the Cary Street Gym. While the existing street network provides good access through the campus in an east/west direction, the plan seeks to enhance and improve the number and quality of the paths that accommodate north/south pedestrian movement through the campus. Most of these pathways will emanate from and serve both Monroe Park and the Academic Core.

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The success of the VCU School of Engineering led to the planning of the Monroe Park Campus Addition east of Belvidere Street and the current Engineering School. The Addition will continue to elevate the quality of the Monroe Park Campus, provide inspiring traditional architecture, and include planning of streetscape and courtyard spaces to create new homes for the School of Business, the School of Engineering and new student residences.

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VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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The investment in the Broad Street corridor effectively leaped over the Grace Street Corridor, leaving this area as one of the primary areas for new development within the campus boundary. Proposed housing developments with ground floor retail spaces, a new parking deck, and public/private redevelopment of commercial properties are focused on transforming Grace Street into the “College Street” it has the potential to become for VCU. Concurrent with much of the Broad Street development were major projects within the Academic Core, including the Shafer Court Dining Center, two additions to the Student Commons, the new Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences and another perimeter parking deck on Cary Street. With associated site and open space improvements, these projects served to reinforce a high-quality campus environment.

Park as a prominent historic open space at its urban heart.

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Fueled by rapidly increasing enrollment, by greater demand for on-campus housing, and by new spaces built to house leading academic programs, development of the Broad Street corridor has literally transformed the context and environment of the Monroe Park Campus.

The Sports Medicine Building, two new parking decks including the bookstore and visitor’s center, the Siegel Center, the Fine Arts Building, the Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center and the Belvidere and Broad Street Apartments represent an investment of $100M in this corridor. The University’s investment helped attract over $100M in private development to the area including shopping centers containing Lowe’s and Kroger stores, and over 800 beds of housing for students.

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Collectively, this development focuses the Monroe Park Campus on its historic and yet unrealized potential campus center, Monroe Park. Once known as the “Academic Campus,” the Monroe Park Campus will now gain more meaningful attachment to Monroe

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Trani Center for Life Sciences Plaza

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN VCU Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction/ Acquisition Non-VCU Buildings Area of Future Consideration

INTRODUCTION VCU INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU currently has 20 graduate programs in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the top graduate programs in the nation, and is ranked first in the nation for its graduate programs in sculpture and nurse anesthesia. VCU’s faculty, representing the finest American and foreign graduate institutions, enhances the University’s position among the leading institutions of higher education in the United States via their work in the classrooms, laboratories and hospitals, and as published in scholarly journals.

authority and responsibility for VCU as established by the General Assembly. The president is selected by and is responsible to the Board, which determines policies for the University.

The University is dedicated to educating full-time and part-time students of all ages and backgrounds in an atmosphere of free inquiry and scholarship so they may realize their full potential as informed, productive citizens, with a lifelong commitment to learning and service.

The University serves the local, state, national and international communities through scholarly activities, diverse educational programs and public services activities. As an institution of higher learning in a metropolitan center that is also the state capital, the University enjoys unique resources that enrich its programs.

MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY VCU is a public, urban, research university supported

by Virginia to serve the people of the state and the nation. The university provides a fertile and stimulating environmnet for learning, teaching, research, creative expression and public service. Essential to the life of the university is the faculty actively engaged in scholarship and creative exploration- activities that increase knowledge and understanding of the world and inspire and enrich teaching.

16 Strategic Plan Themes:

VCU COLLEGE AND SCHOOLS

Richmond is a two-hour drive from the Atlantic seashore to the east, the Appalachian mountains to the west, and Washington, D.C. to the north. A wide range of cultural, educational, and recreational facilities and activities is available in the Richmond area, including a full performance schedule at VCU’s Performing Arts Center.

VCU operates a major teaching hospital and is composed of a college, 14 schools and the School of Graduate Studies. The academic units offer 54 baccalaureate, 62 masters, 24 doctoral, 4 firstprofessional, and 31 post baccalaureate certification programs.

College of Humanities & Sciences School of Mass Communications L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs School of World Studies School of Allied Health Professions

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services and facilities for students.

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The University will foster excellence in teaching, research, and public service that will establish the University as a leader among the nation’s major research universities.

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The University will position the academic health center and clinical

School of the Arts

enterprise as a leader in the creation and application of health

School of Business

care knowledge and as a provider of quality patient care and

School of Dentistry

health services in the highly competitive marketplace.

School of Education

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The University will provide an environment for working and

School of Engineering

learning that attracts, retains, and supports outstanding, diverse,

School of Graduate Studies

and dedicated staff, administrators, and faculty.

School of Medicine School of Public Health

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School of Pharmacy School of Social Work

The University will foster recognition of Virginia Commonwealth University as an innovative leader among the nation’s major

School of Nursing

The governance system of the University is headed by the Board of Visitors, a 16-member body appointed by the Governor of Virginia. This group has legal

The University will provide the highest quality academic programs,

research universities. plus three Tactical Strategies: •

The University will create an integrated planning process that links budget, information technology, staff, facilities, and space management planning processes to strategic planning.

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The University will assure the institutional infrastructure necessary to support strategic initiatives.

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The University will develop and apply institutional accountability measures to assess the results of these strategic initiatives.

Left: Historic Fan District homes Right: City of Richmond

Left: MCV Campus

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

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VCU is a nationally-ranked Carnegie Doctoral/ Research-Extensive institution and one of Virginia’s three largest universities, with a headcount enrollment of over 28,000 students in the fall of 2004. The Medical College of Virginia Campus was founded in 1838, the year in which the Medical College of Virginia was created as the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College.

MCV became independent in 1854 and state-affiliated in 1860. The Monroe Park Campus began in 1917 as the Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health. In 1925, it became the Richmond Division of the College of William and Mary; and in 1939 its name was changed to the Richmond Professional Institute (RPI). RPI separated from William and Mary in 1962 to become an independent state institution. In 1968, MCV and RPI merged to become Virginia Commonwealth University.

VCU maintains active communications with its growing cadre of alumni and enjoys a cooperative and stimulating relationship with the City of Richmond and surrounding localities, which encompasses the business and industrial community, the arts, and local government. The University operates satellite facilities and programs throughout the Richmond metropolitan area and the Commonwealth. The University’s affiliated organizations, including the VCU Foundation, the VCU Real Estate Foundation, the VCU School of Engineering Foundation, the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, VCU Health System, the MCV Hospital Authority and the MCV Foundation, support educational programs and health care services from Petersburg to Fairfax.

VCU’s location in historic Richmond affords students the benefit of living in one of the region’s most cosmopolitan cities. Located in central Virginia,

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Virginia Commonwealth University is served by two main campuses in Richmond, Virginia: the MCV (Medical College of Virginia) Campus located near the financial and governmental center in downtown, and the Monroe Park Campus, situated about one mile west of the MCV Campus, wrapping around Monroe Park and adjacent to the historic Fan District.

THE STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY: PHASE II

THE MCV CAMPUS

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The Monroe Park Campus of that time was a relatively small and fragmented assembly of buildings, many of which had been converted from residential or commercial uses to educational functions. The campus had little identity or presence and very few amenities for students, staff or faculty. The campus reinforced the common preconception that VCU was largely a local Richmond, part-time, undergraduate student, commuter school.

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MCV CAMPUS, 2004

VCU Owned/Occupied Buildings New Construction since 1990 Acquisitions since 1990 Virginia Biotechnology Park Buildings

Some recent programmatic developments for the Schools of the MCV Campus include approval of the formation of a School of Public Health, distancelearning initiatives in the School of Allied Health Professions for Gerontology, Nurse Anesthesia, and Rehabilitation Counseling, and leading clinical and research work in oncology and the neurosciences in the School of Medicine.

VCU’s overall growth in the last fourteen years has been significant: a twenty-nine percent increase in gross square footage of the campuses, with a corresponding growth in full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment of twenty-eight percent over the same period. The construction of facilities only slightly exceeded the pace of enrollment growth, but the physical and qualitative improvements to the campuses are readily evident.

18

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

INTRODUCTION

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THE EVOLUTION OF VCU: 1990 TO 2004

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VCU’s campuses have been in a state of transformation since 1990. The catalyst for the dynamic changes over the last 14 years were Board of Visitor leadership and the arrival of Dr. Eugene P. Trani to take leadership of the institution in 1990. At that time, the MCV Campus was a dense medical complex whose newest building was the Smith Building constructed for the School of Pharmacy in 1984. No other University building was newer than 1971 and no new patient care facilities had been constructed since the Massey Cancer Center in 1983 and Main Hospital in 1982. MCV’s programs carried national reputations which excelled, at times in spite of their facilities. The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park did not exist. In its place were acres of surface parking lots.

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VCU needs well-designed, high quality and wellmaintained facilities to serve students, support research, attract and retain faculty and administrators, and keep the health center and clinical care enterprise competitive to help support VCU’s recognition as a national leader among its peers. The Master Site Plan is one implementation of the tactical strategies.

Development in the Plan will address the challenges and obstacles that VCU faces in fulfilling these objectives.

INTRODUCTION

The MCV Campus is now a contemporary academic medical and research center.

The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park has developed seven buildings with plans for two more in the immediate future- transforming a sea of asphalt into an active research center. Since the early 1990’s, the VCU Health System has added two new structures to create an attractive entrance and an integrated network of facilities - The Ambulatory Care Center and The Gateway Building. The Massey Cancer Center’s new addition expands the research capacity of the Center and provides infrastructure for significant future growth. Most academic facilities have seen an enormous investment in on-going renovation. The Dr. Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building I provided a state-of-the-art laboratory building with an extraordinary new lecture hall- all with a new public plaza complementing the historic Egyptian Building. Additional parking, infrastructure (new steam plant) and recreational facilities have been constructed. New acquisitions have expanded the real estate holdings of the campus and provided space for potential development within the dense urban fabric of the campus. The campus remains dense, but it is more accommodating, of a higher quality, and is more contemporary in spirit.

The Strategic Plan advances the mission, goals and vision for VCU’s future. It establishes priorities and the strategic actions required to achieve them. The 1996 Master Site Plan was guided by the first phase of the Strategic Plan, and its 15 Strategic Directions.

Phase II of this plan acknowledges the institutional progress and achievements under the first Phase and sharpens the University’s focus on five “strategic themes.”

Left: Egyptian Building / Dr. Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building Plaza Right: The Gateway Building

THE MONROE PARK CAMPUS In 1990, the Monroe Park Campus, then known as the Academic Campus, was generally restricted to the area between Franklin and Cary Streets, and Harrison and Laurel Streets or Monroe Park. Franklin Street was the only district with a distinctly rich urban character and had been established as the identifiable symbolic area/center of VCU. The Academic Core was a dispersed assembly of large scale structures arranged in suburban patterns having little campus identity or sense of place.

developed, effectively identifying the Monroe Park Campus as a resident campus environment, a place of learning and research for a diverse range of full-time and part-time students, and a destination in its own right.

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Some recent programmatic milestones for the College and Schools on the Monroe Park Campus include the remarkable success and growth of the School of Engineering, expanded programming in the Life Sciences, significant increases in Graduate School enrollment and degrees, and continued high national rankings for programs in the School of the Arts as well as new programs like Kinetic Imaging and Interactive Multimedia Design.

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The MCV Campus and the Monroe Park Campus are now more connected to one another than ever before.

In addition to their extended tradition, history and antecedent institutions, they now share 36 years of common history. Together they carry the status as flagship Campuses for VCU, as the University grows in its statewide, national and international missions.

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20 VCU OWNED/OCCUPIED BUILDINGS, 1990

MONROE PARK CAMPUS, 1990

NEW CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1990

MONROE PARK CAMPUS, 2004 ./24(

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

INTRODUCTION

VCU Owned/Occupied Buildings New Construction since 1990 Acquisitions since 1990 Improved Campus Open Space since 1990 Leased Housing

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

INTRODUCTION

19

The Monroe Park Campus of 2004 represents an significant amount of development progress. Franklin Street, once the only identifiable district of the Campus, is now matched by the quality and critical mass of both the Academic Core and Broad Street districts.

The Academic Core has been reinforced by significant new construction of the Shafer Court Dining Center, additions to the Student Commons and the Trani Center for Life Sciences. Open space improvements and street closings in this area have significantly established a high-quality pedestrian-centered campus environment in this district. The entire length of Broad Street from Bowe Street to Belvidere Street has been touched by VCU, transforming a series of vacant auto dealerships into a unique campus district.

The construction of the School of Engineering on the southeast corner of Monroe Park brought the Park within the academic circle of university activity.

Acquisitions on Grace Street create the opportunity to fill in the area connecting the larger body of the campus to Broad Street. Landscape and streetscape development has begun to knit the varied parts of the campus into a more recognizable whole. Additional housing, parking, and student life facilities have been

Left: Student Commons Plaza

Upper right: School of the Arts Building

Right: Student Commons Phase III

Lower right: Trani Center for Life Sciences

GENERAL PLAN AND GUIDELINES THE URBAN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

INTRODUCTION

21

• Civic continuity and institutional identity When urban institutions such as universities occupy more than one or a few buildings, their identity is conveyed not by the presence of an “institutional building,” but by a district or “campus.” Thus, they are at once part of the continuity of the city and an interruption of it. The most desirable condition for an urban university is to be simultaneously continuous and subtly distinct. The university merits an institutional presence within the urban fabric and should contain its own quality of “place.” A recognizable threshold should be present without becoming itself a barrier.

• Campus districts The campuses are each composed of several distinct districts. There are three principal attributes that contribute to the physical identity of an urban district: a clear center, a clear edge, and consistent texture.

Paving In general, sidewalks will be brick paving. This is especially important around the perimeter of the campus and on major streets such as Franklin Street.

Paving other than sidewalks should be limited to a few types and be used consistently.

Urban continuity may be achieved through consistent texture, through similar building type, size, scale, or style, but more importantly through the spatial continuity of streets and trees. In Richmond it is primarily the latter that stitches the richly varied parts of the City into an urban whole. The overlay of campus districts presents a historic pattern of development and informs the type and scale of development appropriate to each area of the campus.

• Reconstruction Three methods of reconstruction will be employed: demolition, renovation, and new construction. New construction alone is insufficient, but it can be a catalyst and a model for future action. The most essential principle in constructing a coherent urban environment is to re-establish a symbiotic relationship among buildings, landscape, and public space.

These are the conventions, in all their variations, of Richmond. The urban context of the City of Richmond provides the basic principles to guide the development of the VCU Campuses.

Curbs and Edges Streets will be delimited by curbs of granite or concrete. Where streets have been closed for pedestrian or service use, the edge will be indicated by equivalent means such as contrasting paving.

Where buildings are set back and do not align on the sidewalk, the interior edge of the sidewalk will be defined by architectural elements such as curbs, fences or hedges. Franklin and Clay Streets set the pattern for the character to be replicated on both campuses.

Amenities Street lamps, signage, trash receptacles, bicycle racks and benches will be integrated with paving and trees.

Signage will be consistent for reasons of identity and information.

• Architectural Principles The single most important architectural goal for both Campuses is to design urban, rather than suburban, building types. Each district within the campuses has its own unique character, and yet, with the exception of the Academic Core of the Monroe Park Campus, each is decidedly urban in its disposition. In the Academic Core, proposed development is directed toward establishing an urban fabric in this district.

New development will conform to these urban architectural patterns.

Building Types Urban building types align on streets and define public spaces. They address the public realm with principal entrances and facades on main streets or squares. They positively define the perimeter of their sites and may leave the “private” interior of the block an irregular form. Suburban building types are inappropriate for the city. Typically, they are irregular on the exterior, occupy the center of the site or block, leaving residual space to the exterior public side.

Scale and Character Scale and character, second only to type in their importance to the environment, should be compatible with neighboring contexts. A large building, even one that violates the prevailing height limits, may be a compatible neighbor if its scale and character are appropriate. Buildings that acknowledge the human realm at their base by an articulate ground floor enhance good streets. Brick or stone buildings tend to relate better to traditional architecture than do metal and glass buildings, synthetic stucco buildings, and exposed concrete buildings.

• Consistent streetscape A critical urban goal for both campuses is reestablishing the continuity of urban space formed by streets passing through the Campuses. This will be accomplished by expanding the extensive program of curbside street trees, brick paving, and pedestrian amenities that has been undertaken since the 1996 Plan. Continued development of these features along Broad Street is particularly important.

Style Architectural style must complement appropriate building type and scale as aspects of good urban buildings. Buildings of our time can relate to, and even refresh, traditional environments. VCU should adopt an attitude of rapprochement in avoiding the extremes of literal historic reproductions and abstract avant-garde modern buildings.

The University Administration and the Architectural Review Committee should collaborate with the University’s selected architects in designing buildings which are stylistically complementary and enriching to the Campuses.

Left: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart / Johnson Hall

Left: Student Commons, a modern suburban building

Right: Putney House and 11th Street

Right: The Gateway Building, a modern urban building

22

INTRODUCTION

Rather than gaining their image from pastoral open space traditionally associated with the term “campus”, the VCU Campuses derive their unique character from their specific urban context in Richmond, Virginia, and from their educational missions. VCU will exploit this urban quality by developing buildings, open spaces, and landscaping according to urban guidelines, not suburban guidelines.

Street Trees Trees will always be planted at curbside, not (only) inside the sidewalk. This is the convention throughout Richmond and should be related to the size and type of street.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

The “General Plan and Guidelines” of the 1996 Master Site Plan recognize and celebrate the urban character of downtown Richmond and the existing campuses, and promote the distinctive qualities and benefits of this environment in supporting the unique identity and mission of VCU. The 2004 Master Site Plan affirms these fundamental guides to campus development at VCU.

Broad Street and the Monroe Park Campus A major urban node should be developed along the Broad Street Corridor at Broad and Belvidere Streets.

VCU and the City should continue to co-develop the section of Broad Street between Belvidere and Harrison Streets as a multi-use, tree lined boulevard that would function simultaneously as a place, or destination in its own right, as a gateway to and from the City, and a gateway to the VCU Monroe Park Campus.

On the Monroe Park Campus, there are successful gateways at Cary and Harrison Streets at the Trani Center for Life Sciences, and at Broad and Harrison Streets at the Siegel Center. The gateway at Cary and Belvidere Streets will soon be well-defined by the architecture of the Addition, and the prominent civic corner at Broad and Belvidere Streets awaits a future University building on its southwest corner to be fully developed.

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Broad Street and the MCV Campus Approximately one mile east of Broad and Belvidere Streets is 10th Street and the MCV Campus of VCU. The MCV Campus has long held a position on Broad Street opposite Capitol Square. Physical development of the Broad Street sites is dense and of high quality.

Broad Street functions as a gateway for the MCV Campus and Downtown Richmond. Broad Street is the MCV Campus’ front door to the City and connects the MCV Campus to the institutions and citizens of the Corridor. Recommended streetscape, landscape, signage and parking guidelines, similar to the areas of the Monroe Park Campus, should be adopted for this section of Broad Street and coordinated with ongoing City and State Plans.

The section of Broad Street adjoining the MCV Campus between College Street and 10th Street is of high urban and historic value. The south side is defined by a continuous enfilade of high quality monumental civic buildings that screen Jefferson’s State Capitol and the Capitol Square. The north side is the MCV Campus’ civic face, one that relates it to the State Capitol Square Complex and to the Monroe Park Campus to the west. Approximately one-half to two-thirds of its length is lined with buildings of high architectural and/or historic value.

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• Enrich collegiate community The objective of all this well-considered urban planning is to create an identifiable, high-quality, memorable campus environment. It should be a place that welcomes students, faculty and staff to stay and enjoy it, and profit from the social, cultural and intellectual interaction that is central to the University experience.

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On the MCV Campus, gateways occur as the result of the topography to the east of the campus, where crossing the Shockoe Valley on Broad Street, or Leigh Street from the Martin Luther King Bridge, makes a dramatic entrance to a dense urban environment.

From the west, prominent architectural markers are needed at Leigh and 10th, and at Broad and 11th and 12th. New facilities planned for research and the School of Medicine, respectively, will be designed to fulfill these needs.

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VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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The most crucial site is currently occupied by surface parking, the parking lot between 10th and 11th Streets. The property is not owned by VCU. Proper development of this site at this important civic location would improve the character of the street and more clearly establish the southern face and gateway of the MCV Campus.

Upper left: Cary and Harrison Parking Deck

Left: Broad Street, Monroe Park Campus

Lower left: MCV Campus Gateway, Broad Street and I-95

Right: Broad Street, MCV Campus

Right: Trani Center for Life Sciences Plaza

24

INTRODUCTION

Broad Street is the primary urban connection between the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. As such, the specific development of this Corridor as it passes through each Campus is important to the identity of the University in the larger urban context of Richmond and in the unifying relation of each Campus to the other. Broad Street is not only the central spine of Richmond, it is also a connector: of the City of Richmond and Henrico County; of the State Capitol and the Broad Street Station Site; and of the MCV and Monroe Park Campuses of Virginia Commonwealth University. Continued development of the corridor will benefit the City, the community, and the University.

INTRODUCTION

23

• Quality and usefulness of campus open spaces Open space on the Campuses is relatively scarce, and very precious. As a result, it is especially important at VCU that the quality of open spaces, whether hardscaped or landscaped, be as high as possible to maximize the attractiveness and utility of the areas.

Suburban patterns of development have left areas of open space that provide grass and trees, but little useful area, uninviting, without enclosure or character.

Proposed development on the Monroe Park Campus reclaims some of these spaces and makes newer, better courtyard and quadrangle spaces available.

On the MCV Campus, the emphasis is on creating additional high quality courts, quads and atriums and connecting them as a network of public space to supplement the street and the Hospitals’ concourse as an accommodating civic space for the campus.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

• Campus gateways One primary means to defining the edge of a district and of the campus as a whole is the development of Campus gateways, sufficient in spatial definition and architectural articulation to signify an urban entrance to the institution.

10 TH ST RE ET

THE BROAD STREET CORRIDOR

T H E M ES

O F

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Participation in the Master Site Plan from the University community was more broadly inclusive than any other VCU Master Plan to date. This process allowed the capture of the widest reasonable views of the needs and provisions necessary for VCU to fulfill its mission and vision on the campuses and satellites of the University.

M ASTE R

S I T E

PL A N

• Impact of Changes in Student Profile More traditional students, yet an increasingly diverse range of types and backgrounds.

Broad Themes of the Master Site Plan

The fruit of the broad programming survey is a compilation of nine Broad Themes. The themes summarize key impacts, critical needs, and significant initiatives affecting VCU’s Campuses. Almost every project illustrated in the development plans of the Master Site Plan has a direct relationship to one or more of these Broad Themes.

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Impact of Growth in Student Enrollment

•

Impact of Changes in Student Profile

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Impact of Growth of On-Campus Housing

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Impact of Growth in Funded Research

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Academic Spaces on the Health Sciences Campus

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Coordination of Major Initiatives

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“Collegiate Community”-Student Engagement

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Monroe Park as Center of Activity

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Strategic Growth Issues

VCU has one of the most diverse student bodies in Virginia. Thirty one percent of the student body is made up of minority students, and there are 798 students from 85 foreign countries.

Virginia residents make up 88% of VCU’s enrollment.

The municipality with the largest population at VCU is no longer the neighboring counties of Chesterfield or Henrico, but rather, Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. VCU’s other 12% of students hail from 51 states and territories in addition to the countries noted above. There is now a higher percentage of students from out-of-town, and more of them are living oncampus.

Four key impacts were identified within the Broad Themes:

VCU has traditionally served many part-time undergraduate students, but now serves an increasing number of traditional four-year undergraduate, and graduate students. VCU has 54 undergraduate programs, 13 unique within Virginia, and has

• Impact of Growth in Student Enrollment Growth in headcount enrollment from 1997 to 2007 will exceed 7000 students.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

25

Virginia’s college-age population grew at an increasing rate in the 1990’s and this growth is anticipated to continue through 2010. A few Virginia institutions, including VCU, are absorbing the bulk of this enrollment “bubble”. Eighty-eight percent of VCU’s students are from Virginia and VCU now enrolls more in-state students than any other public university in the Commonwealth. VCU has become “Virginia’s University.”

In the five year period from the fall of 1997 to the fall of 2002, headcount enrollment grew by more than 3300 students, from 22,702 to 26,009. Total headcount enrollment growth is targeted to fill a maximum University capacity of 30,000 by fall, 2008.

This represents an increase of approximately 7000 people to the campus environments of the University since 1997.

This enrollment increase means increased demands for everything the University provides: • General classroom space, and the administration of the College of Humanities and Science • University Libraries • Student life and student services including dining, recreation, and student commons

• • • • • •

also grown to include 62 master’s and 24 doctoral programs, 31 graduate certificate programs, four first professional degree programs and other combined, interdisciplinary and cooperative-degree programs within the Commonwealth.

What this diverse student body means to the campus is represented by a range of new potential facilities: • Increased space needs for graduate student study, computer labs, research and Council meetings • An interfaith chapel and meeting space • A Campus Learning Center to serve entering and academically at-risk students • Greek community housing and space • Cultural Houses for a variety of diverse programs More full-time and traditional four-year students as opposed to part-time, non-traditional students means there are more 18 to 22 year-old young people at VCU interested in the traditional American “collegiate experience.” The increasing number of resident students further reinforces the number of students directly involved in a community life at VCU.

26

Housing Parking Faculty offices Technology Administrative management Dining

For many years, VCU has addressed its growth, not only through keeping pace with new facilities, but through efficiency and flexibility: adapting space and schedules to expand services, leveraging technology and exploring shared and interdisciplinary space use.

One sometimes overlooked impact of the increased student population is on the campus open spaces, gathering spaces and sidewalks. The University already shares most of its streets with the wider community life of the city. Pedestrian improvements throughout the campuses help serve the additional students crowding the sidewalks. Additional benches and seating areas will be needed. The Master Site Plan Update includes the University’s expansion into areas of additional real estate, and plans for enhancement of many campus open and gathering spaces.

VCU STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS 2003-2004

Gender

Male

38%

In State

Female

59%

Out of State

Not Reported

-ONROE 0ARK #AMPUS

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RECENT / CURRENT STUDENT ENROLLMENT HEADCOUNTS

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Status 60%

Full-Time

67%

African American

18%

Part-Time

33%

Other

22%

Undergraduate &ALL

PROJECTED

9%

White

Student Level

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91%

3%

Ethnicity

-ONROE 0ARK #AMPUS

-#6 #AMPUS

Residency

Student Type 16,504

Day

20,551

Graduate

4,593

Evening

2,918

First Professional

1,493

Off-Campus

3,301

Special

4,180

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

B ROA D

Impact of Growth of On-Campus Housing/ Resident Population The campuses will soon be “home” to more than 5000 students.

For most of its history, VCU’s resident students on both campuses were a relatively small number, lacking the critical mass to establish the community life more typical of larger resident institutions. In the past five years, however, a remarkable shift in student demand for on-campus housing at VCU, as well as increasing enrollments of out-of-state students, led to a boom in the construction and planning of student housing.

While the University added 1,469 beds in the past four years, the private-sector added approximately 805 beds specifically marketed to VCU students in areas adjacent to the campuses.

•

Nearby retail services and entertainment opportunities • Coordination of private and Public/Private development initiatives and their potential impacts on “off-campus” neighborhoods • Pedestrian access • Campus security Housing on the Monroe Park Campus is generally distributed around Monroe Park and along Broad Street. More apartment and suite-type facilities, housing between 200 to 400 students, will be developed. These contemporary residence halls

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

2004 • 933 West Broad Street (170 Bedsleased);

PAST

Student

2003 • Broad/Belvidere Student Housing (412 Beds); • Gladding Residence Center Ph. III (172 Beds); • Capital Garage Student Apartments (142 Beds-leased);

2005 • Brandt Hall (640 Beds)

PROJECTED

RECENT / CURRENT STUDENT HOUSING INVENTORY

VCU owned/managed housing Private Development

will enhance a sense of community and improve management of residence life activities. At the present time, they are also more marketable to upperclass students. The Monroe Park Campus Addition will bring a new model of housing to the University as “Residential Colleges” are explored.

Growth of on-campus housing involves the evaluation of needs for: • On-campus services • On-campus access for University sports and cultural events programming • Indoor and outdoor recreation spaces

VCU is committed to providing housing for every interested incoming freshman, and up to 65% of the sophomore class is interested in remaining in University housing.

Not only has growth in housing been significant, it is projected to increase further to more than 6,000 beds. For the Master Site Plan, this means identifying locations for residential development that will accommodate the type and scale of housing required and work to create a community environment on the campuses.

27

2001 • Ackell Residence Center (396 Beds); • West Grace Street Housing (167 Beds);

NEW VCU HOUSING SINCE 1996

Housing on the MCV Campus is in a state of transition. Existing housing is of the older dormitory type, unsuitable and unmarketable to the professional, and often older, students on the campus. Private development in Tobacco Row and Shockoe Bottom provides nearby, affordable housing. However, a recently completed housing study indicates that there is a demand for 231 beds of apartment style housing on the campus. Further development of the Student Life District of the campus is proposed to enhance the resident community of graduate and professional students interested in living on campus. Child care is another issue requiring evaluation for this population.

Left: Rhoads Hall from Franklin Street Right: Siegel Center and Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center

• Impact of Growth in Funded Research Funded research at VCU grew from $120M in 2000 to $185M in 2003.

Research is an integral and essential component of Virginia Commonwealth University’s education mission. VCU is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the nation’s top Doctoral/Research-Extensive universities – one of only three in Virginia – and is ranked by the National Science Foundation (NSF) at 102 among American universities in total Research & Development expenditures. This represents a steady rise from the position of 107 in 1999. The School of Medicine is ranked at 60 in National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for research.

The next few years, however, are projected to see flat federal funding for research. Further growth is heavily dependent on VCU’s ability to attract excellent researchers and the University will need the facilities to house them. Many of the existing facilities are dated and no longer adequately meet the needs of modern science. VCU’s reputation depends on the national competitiveness of the faculty and hence on their research environment.

Current needs in the University’s research space include:

•

Overall quality of the space: high-quality labs and offices are of primary importance, • Vivarium to support animal-based research, • Character of the space, permitting and encouraging collaboration and interaction, • Technology and equipment, particularly for animal care, and • Safety, control of hazardous materials and biocontaminants.

While current projects are rebuilding existing facilities like Sanger Hall from the inside out, floor by floor, significant investments are required.

The Master Site Plan identifies sites for research, including sites scheduled for demolition of obsolescent facilities and replacement, as well as new development.

As a result of the identification of research space shortfall, nearly one million square feet of research space is being programmed for construction on the MCV Campus. Design on the MCV Campus should encourage increasing program integration of the clinical, teaching and research enterprises on both campuses. Monitoring of space for retention should be based on grant performance.

28

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

•

Selected List of MCV Campus buildings and their ages

PAST RESEARCH AWARDS

ALLIED HEALTH 0.8%

BUSINESS 0.2%

RECENT / CURRENT RESEARCH AWARDS

Leigh House

1816

Hunton Hall

1841

Egyptian Building

1845

William H.Grant House

1857

Stephen Putney House

1859

Randolph Minor Hall

1876

McGuire Hall

1912

VA Mechanics Institute Bldg.

1925

Nursing Education Bldg.

1928

Tompkins-McCaw Library

1932

A.D. Williams Clinic

1938

West Hospital

1940

Wood Memorial Building

1953

Larrick Center

1961

Sanger Hall

1963

Cabaniss Hall

1967

Lyons Dental Building

1969

OTHER 14.3%

complex and half of them are to the north. The Hospital is one common area where the programs meet in clinical applications; however, there exists little physical common ground for academic and social interaction. The Tompkins-McCaw Library is one site for this interaction to occur, and has recently undergone renovation. Food service spaces and student life and student services space that will enhance academic life are in planning.

Current initiatives, such as the new School of Nursing on Leigh Street, as well as new initiatives in the Master Site Plan for a new School of Medicine on the site of West Hospital, and a new facility for the Schools of Allied Health Professions and Public Health on the McGuire Hall Annex site, ensure that the potential for a collegiate environment of interdisciplinary work and interaction will become a reality, in high-quality new and renovated spaces, identifiable and connected in new ways as the Health Sciences Center.

NURSING 1.6% DENTISTRY 1.6%

29

PHARMACY 2.1% ENGINEERING 3.7%

HUMANITIES 6.7%

EDUCATION 7.0%

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

MEDICINE 51.6% SOCIAL WORK 10.4%

FISCAL YEAR 2004 FY04 RESEARCH AWARDS

BY SCHOOL

The Medical Science Building II will house an assembly of leading Neurosciences research. A critical need is for a vivarium designed specifically for animal care and integrated with the rest of the research complex for service and circulation.

The University is growing research by promoting the Rice Center as a resource to attract star researchers in the Life Sciences. VCU continues to develop ways to partner with the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park in housing VCU funded research.

• Academic Spaces for the Health Sciences There is need for enhancement in the quantity, quality, and identity of academic space on the MCV Campus.

Each of the six schools on the MCV Campus has specific facility and infrastructure needs.

As extraordinary as the programs and faculty are, there is greater potential to excel given improved classrooms, laboratories, research and administrative space.

These will provide the quality of space required, areas that allow, suggest, and encourage interdisciplinary interaction and experimentation, as well as distinctive physical identities for each school.

•

VCU is unique as the only comprehensive Health Sciences Center in the Commonwealth having six schools, including dentistry. The structure of their spaces and buildings on the MCV campus does not easily bring these programs together as an interdisciplinary team for teaching and research.

Half of the Schools are located south of the Hospital

In contrast to other universities, most VCU alumni remember the “instructional classroom experience,” rather than the place of VCU itself, the campuses.

Alumni identified more with their own school than they did with the institution as a whole, having most of their relationships and interaction within their own schools. For non-resident students in particular, spending time on the campus is important to the collegiate experience.

Collegiate Community suggests accessibility to: • Academic spaces programmed with the flexibility to invite interdisciplinary programming; • Libraries, meeting rooms and study spaces; • Dining spaces and restaurants; • Indoor fitness facilities; • Outdoor recreation spaces, fields and courts; • Convenient retail and entertainment establishments; • Athletic events: The opportunity to participate in and be a spectator at University sporting events.

There was a consensus in the Master Site Plan interviews that the general quality of the campus environments had improved measurably in recent years. At the same time the quality of the environment has improved, increasing enrollments have put more pressure on new and existing spaces. There are more students vying for the same space on the sidewalks, along Shafer Court, in the Commons and in Hunton Hall, at the Cabell or Tompkins-McCaw libraries, in the corridors of Hibbs and Sanger Halls and in the classrooms throughout the University. Many current projects and initiatives in the Master Site Plan are addressing these needs.

The Trani Center for Life Sciences was frequently noted as an example of a building that had created, through its courtyard and overall design, a highquality pattern for future development. Here students and faculty interact and events can be staged, in

“Collegiate Community”: Student Engagement and the Campus Environment Quantity and Quality of Campus Built Space and Open Space for Social, Cultural, and Intellectual interaction.

Left: Robert Blackwell Smith Building, School of Pharmacy

30

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

RESEARCH AWARDS DOLLARS (millions)

comfortable and ample surroundings, free from the noise of traffic. Interior spaces in the building provide complementary kinds of spaces for interaction. New building planning should account for the casual interaction spaces, inside and outside, for faculty and students, needed to support active involvement and collaboration.

The new Shafer Court Dining Center on the Monroe Park Campus provides an excellent venue for student gathering and interaction in the perfect location at the heart of the campus. In the absence of a faculty club or similar space, there had been few places for faculty to develop interdisciplinary relationships outside of a formal assignment. The new Shafer Court Dining Center is also conducive for faculty to meet and

dine together in an informal setting. Selected street closings, sidewalk and streetscape improvements and the addition and improvement of other campus green spaces, including Moroe Park, will begin to add more flexible, quality areas for student interaction. The streetscape and network of campus open spaces is the connective tissue that unites the intellectual, social,

MONROE PARK The New “Gravitational Center” of the Monroe Park Campus.

Until recently, the center of activity on the Monroe Park Campus centered on Cabell Library and Shafer Court. The planning of the Monroe Park Campus Addition brought renewed attention to the condition and usefulness of Monroe Park. With construction of the Addition, VCU will now surround the Park, drawing it further into the functional circulation of the campus and the lives of students, staff and faculty.

VCU views Monroe Park as a shared civic space with the potential to be an emblematic and functional open space, suitable to all the symbolic, recreational and traditional events of college life. Monroe Park is uniquely suited to VCU: urban, historic, and shared, with both the City and the community.

Upper left: Trani Center for Life Sciences Building Courtyard Lower left: Commons Building

COORDINATION OF MAJOR INITIATIVES • Impact of Monroe Park Campus Addition The Monroe Park Campus Addition is one of the most visionary and coordinated large scale planning efforts to be undertaken by VCU. Designs for an integrated urban, but traditional campus environment to serve a new School of Business and an expansion of the School of Engineering, along with student housing and additional program elements, have inspired rapid development. Plans for the Addition have been coordinated with the Master Site Plan’s programming and design process and have been incorporated herein. Some of the Addition’s impacts, addressed in

Upper: Monroe Park - The New “Gravitational Center” of the Monroe Park Campus Lower: Monroe Park Campus Addition Illustration

32

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

31

and cultural life of the University in an accommodating and identifiable “place.”

In addition to the Broad Themes’ key impacts, and two Themes relating to critical needs, there are three Themes addressing major initiatives or issues.

Recent years have brought an increasing recognition of the potential for Monroe Park to serve the University and the community. The Monroe Park Advisory Council, an association of City of Richmond officials, VCU, resident institutions on the Park, historic interests and the community, was established in 1991 to review the Park. A master plan for Park improvements was developed in 1998 that would facilitate greater beauty and utility from the Park. VCU endorses this Council as a vehicle to plan improvements, with which VCU will assist in implementation.

the planning, include: • Traffic circulation and interface • Pedestrian circulation • Reprogramming and development of spaces vacated on the Monroe Park Campus • Distribution and adequacy of University services including student services, commons, dining, libraries • Possible integration of residential college model into VCU • Programmatic coordination and interdisciplinary study opportunities

STRATEGIC GROWTH ISSUES Boundaries, Surrounding Neighborhoods The 1996 Master Site Plan incorporated the boundaries that the University had established with the surrounding communities and neighboring institutions of the Campuses. This update validates those boundaries.

VCU values the relationship it has built with its neighbors and respects the character of their neighborhoods as unique and often historic places for whom the University’s presence should be monitored and measured to minimize unintended impacts. VCU has honored and continues to honor its boundary relationships, largely removing the University’s physical development as a threat to these communities.

Areas identified for future development respect these agreements. The issues going forward relate to collateral impacts such as traffic, parking, and private development related to the University.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

33

• Health System Strategic and Master Plan The VCU Medical Center’s academic mission is supported by the VCU Health Sciences Schools of Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, and the recently established School of Public Health. Approximately 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students, interns, residents and post-doctoral students, as well as nationally and internationally recognized scientists learn, teach and practice on the Campus and Medical Center.

The Medical Center is inextricably related to the clinical, teaching and research functions of the Health Sciences as an integrated “teaching hospital.” The Health System’s “Strategic Facilities Plan-2004” was developed coincident with the Master Site Plan Update and the initiatives of each plan have been coordinated.

The network of public spaces envisioned for the Health Sciences facilities between Broad and Marshall Streets, has been coordinated and connected with the network of Medical Center circulation spaces joining the buildings in a common concourse. Sequences for building renovation, swing space occupancy and demolition will be coordinated as each VCU and Health System project is planned.

In all cases it is the University’s intent to maintain open lines of communication through its Community Advisory Boards and to continue to play a role in building and enriching the neighborhoods it shares with the community.

Zones of Development, Property Acquisition, Land Banking (Areas of Future Consideration) VCU’s campus growth in the past 14 years is an extraordinary chapter in the institution’s history. Much of the progress came from providing the necessary

infrastructure of a major university for the first time.

This progress, however, may not be predictive of the scope of future growth.

Historical precedent in other institutions of higher learning indicate, however, that even in periods of slower institutional growth, the expansion of the infrastructure of healthy institutions can continue at 1% or more of the total gross footage per year.

Once achieving a size similar to VCU, with 7.3 million square feet, 1% growth a year can amount to significant additional infrastructure to support program enhancement and quality improvements.

VCU is taking care to chart the location and direction of its future growth by identifying “Areas of Future Consideration” in the Master Site Plan. While these areas will guide future real estate acquisition, they do not mean that the University has an interest in acquiring all the property in these areas, but that VCU may establish a presence in these areas and join with private and public interests, as appropriate.

The University should employ a consistent land acquisition strategy, identifying philosophies and priorities for acquisition that associates potential programs with particular campus districts, to align uses and functions to track availabilities and opportunities that may serve these programs, and to assemble a “landbank” under VCU’s control that will suit this needed development. Criteria should be established to buy or not buy properties within the campus boundaries.

•

Left: VCUHS Bed Tower Concept Image Right: City of Richmond District Plan

• Coordination with the City of Richmond As a pair of urban campuses, VCU figures prominently as a part of the larger environment of Richmond.

The University has contributed significantly to the economic development of downtown Richmond

and has enjoyed a cooperative relationship with the City in planning, construction, traffic and parking management, infrastructure and public safety. The Master Site Plan process included communication with City staff and leadership, and the plans are representative of initiatives which may be jointly and/or cooperatively developed with the City. Ongoing coordination with the City is anticipated for: streetscape planning, design and development on and adjacent to the campuses; traffic initiatives; parking; programming and improvements within Monroe Park; and community relationships.

•

Coordination with the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park Master Plan Created as a partnership of VCU, the City of Richmond and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Biotechnology Research Park provides resources for the commercialization of bio-science technologydriven products and services. Relying heavily on the research capabilities present on the MCV Campus, its life is very much a part of VCU. Adjacent to the MCV Campus, its facilities include a campus of nine buildings and over 575,000 gross square feet. The essence of the master plan for the Park has remained intact since its inception in 1992, although changes in the development landscape of downtown Richmond have eroded areas indicated for the Park south of Leigh Street. The Master Site Plan integrates the master plan of the BioTechnology Park in its evolving form and emphasizes stronger potential connections between the Park and the larger areas of the MCV Campus to the east. A redeveloped Leigh Street has the potential to be the “front door address” for the BioTech Park and also the connecting artery, rather than the dividing barrier between the Park and the MCV Campus.

Left: Broad Street, looking northeast Right: Biotech One

34

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN B R O A D T H E M E S

Initiatives of the VCU Health System’s “Strategic Facilities Plan 2004” : • Vertical growth, horizontal connectivity.

• More convenient parking.

• A succession of demolition and new construction coordinated with existing operations and new services.

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PLANNING ISSUES

The Medical College of Virginia Campus occupies a dense, urban setting in the heart of downtown Richmond. The MCV Campus occupies over 4.2 million gross square feet, of which 1.4 million is occupied by the VCU Medical Center. The Campus serves over 3,600 students as of Fall 2003. The VCU Medical Center, among the largest academic health centers in the nation, is the most comprehensive in Virginia. The Campus, composed primarily of 4to 10- story urban structures, is centered in one of the oldest neighborhoods of the City and is home to several historic institutions including the White House and Museum of the Confederacy, and the Valentine Museum. The Campus traces its beginnings to 1838, and a number of the MCV Campus’ structures and neighbors are on the national register of historic places.

Recent Development New investments in the MCV Campus since the 1996 plan include renovation improvements to academic and research facilities and the redevelopment and expansion of clinical facilities serving the VCU Health System. The construction of the Gateway Building at 12th and Marshall Streets provides a prominent, attractive and integrated entrance to the Hospital. A major addition to the Massey Cancer Center is under construction on the former site of the building previously known as Randolph-Minor Hall.

This addition will increase the Center’s available research space by one and one-half times. Smaller scale projects for the MCV Alumni Foundation, with an addition to the Alumni House, and the MCV Foundation’s additions and renovations of the Beers house have contributed to the historic environment of the campus.

Progressive renovations are on-going throughout several facilities: Sanger Hall, to support research activity and the School of Medicine; Wood and Lyons Buildings for laboratory and instructional space in the School of Dentistry; West Hospital and A. D. Williams Clinic for swing space and maintenance; and Tompkins-McCaw library for study and distance learning spaces.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

37

The MCV Campus has grown in a context of historic, 18th and 19th century structures and is interspersed with properties and small districts from this period.

MCV Campus programs require close adjacencies between functions and significant parking capacity.

The MCV Campus is essentially landlocked between Interstate 95 on the north and east, Broad Street and Capitol Square on the south, and the City of Richmond and Courts complex on the west. This combination of factors has produced a very dense campus with few remaining development options that do not involve demolition of existing structures.

Key acquisitions include the Hospital’s gaining the old Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital. Also, VCU acquired the Virginia Treatment Center for Children building site as well as the recreation area site north of Leigh Street.

The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park added three additional structures and has two more in planning. Taken together, the Park will soon be a campus of nine buildings.

Architectural Guidelines The MCV Campus General Plan Campus Analysis The MCV Campus remains a challenging urban environment, especially in view of the great density of its structure and activities, and its mission to be a place of health and healing. The MCV Campus possesses a disciplined urban plan not commonly found in medical complexes. This gives the MCV Campus its peculiar charm, its peculiar problems, and its potential.

The district possesses an abundance of pre-existing buildings of very high architectural and historic values. The necessary persistence of these buildings ensures a measure of quality, scale, and cultural continuity for the contemporary campus.

Limited development opportunities have promoted dense urban buildings that define the space of the street in a way that would not happen in a more relaxed suburban environment. As a result, architectural style becomes complementary to the urban environment.

This urban enclave is continuous with other important districts in the heart of downtown Richmond. The student life area, especially, has a latent quality of seclusion that is potentially “campus-like.”

The General Plan identified needs to improve elements of the physical environment, including: • More and better quality open space.

• More appropriate landscape and paving.

• Less unnecessary traffic through the district.

• More connections between the student life area and the academic areas.

• Completion of coordinated planning parking and transportation.

• Reuse or replacement of obsolete older buildings.

MCV Campus Strategy The University’s strategy for improving the MCV Campus environment includes streetscaping and landscaping development, promoting and developing the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, and cooperating with the City and State to redevelop the remaining areas adjacent to the campus.

The VCU Health System’s MCV Hospitals occupy 950,000 assignable square feet, serve over 30,000 admissions, and generate 205,000 patient days annually. The Hospitals have a capacity of 779 licensed beds.

Left: MCV Campus, before the Kontos Medical Science Building Right: VCUHS Children’s Pavilion (Former Eye and Ear Hospital)

MCV Campus Actions The following ten actions will be implemented as part of the Master Site Plan Update: 1. Cooperation with the City to devise a system that eliminates “cut through” vehicular circulation and produces “traffic calming” through measures such as special pedestrian crossings and four way lights.

2. A detailed parking and circulation study with the goal of maximizing the width of sidewalk areas similar to that in front of the Valentine Museum.

3. Development of the public space on the sidewalks with an integrated system of curbside street trees, brick paving, benches, and trash receptacles such as that on 12th Street.

4. Defining the edges of the MCV Campus District through a combination of signage, banners, and gateways.

5. Reorganization of the space in front of Larrick Student Center as a campus quadrangle by revising the landscaping, relocating the physical plant, and completing the spatial definition with buildings of appropriate size.

6. Restructuring of the landscape and paving along Turpin Street south of Larrick Student Center and the MCV Gymnasium to serve as the “Main Street” of this district.

7. Promotion of the development of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park and encouragement toward guidelines consistent with those of the MCV Campus District.

8. Cooperation with the City and/or State to encourage the development of Leigh Street as an urban boulevard rather than a highway connector.

9. Cooperation with the City and/or State to appropriately develop and landscape other adjacent sites not owned by the University.

10. Development of a detailed way-finding strategy and signage system that begins well outside the MCV Campus District, and development of a visitors’ center.

Right: Clay Street

38

THE MCV CAMPUS

EXISTING DEVELOPMENT

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

CAMPUS CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENT

Open space The open space diagram reveals the density of the urban fabric on the MCV Campus and the great premium necessarily placed on existing spaces. The urban buildings, most of which fill the blocks, and the network of streets consume the highest percentages of site area. There are approximately six well-developed open spaces within the campus, two of which belong to other institutions, and one of which is a City street, Clay Street. One is cloistered within the School of Dentistry. None of them is connected or related to one another or to the overall circulation patterns of the campus. Because of the sheer number of people present on the campus, even lower-quality spaces are put to high use, demonstrating resourcefulness on the part of campus residents seeking respite from the indoors or the streets.

Civic Space The MCV Campus civic space illustration shows the potential for creating an integrated network of exterior campus open spaces, joining courtyard spaces to one another via streets and crossings developed in accord with the campus amenity and streetscape guidelines. When coordinated and developed, this network will accommodate a pleasant pedestrian passage from Broad Street to the westernmost edge of the Biotechnology Park. The yellow lines indicate the public concourse system of the Medical Center as it would be integrated with this exterior space network.

Other open spaces that exist are residual around a few buildings, or the larger underdeveloped spaces in the Student Life district, or those associated with the green cliffs that plunge to the Shockoe Valley at the Interstate on the eastern border of the district. There are limited opportunities to create new outdoor open spaces within the high-density environment of the MCV Campus. However, new construction planning should consider how to enhance, connect, and extend the open spaces that exist, a form more cohesive to civic space for the Campus. The university should also pursue a policy of creating new “indoor open space� opportunities when renovating or constructing new facilities on this campus.

Campus Districts The MCV Campus districts are based on areas of functional association and structural similarity. The VCU Medical Center is an overlay that spans and unites the Broad/Marshall and Middle and Support Districts, generally oriented east/west. The academic functions of the Health Sciences are generally distributed and flow north/south along 11th and 12th Streets. To the Health Sciences functions of the Medical Center, the Hospital is both a seam, and a barrier, whose permeability should be maximized.

40

THE MCV CAMPUS VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

39

N MCV CAMPUS

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Successful Open Space Under-utilized Open Space

CIVIC SPACE PLAN Green Space / Open Space Brick Pavers VCU Medical Center Concourse

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A. D. Williams Clinic, has also stood as an obstacle to the pioneering, efficient, cost-effective development of a contemporary 21st Century Medical Center.

The General Plan and Guidelines recommended the following for Broad Street and Marshall Street:

A formal agreement between VCU and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in 1992 chronicled the challenges presented by these and other structures in the district and documented a succession of actions, including these buildings’ demolition, that were judged to be reasonable and acceptable to the Department. After 10 years of exhaustive efforts to investigate alternative uses, development options and renovation costs for these important historic structures, it has been determined that they must be demolished to make way for buildings which can be developed and configured to serve the modern requirements of Health Sciences education and research.

Broad Street • Development on the Nursing Education Building site should conform to the building set-back lines of the other structures along Broad Street. All

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While the University has made investments in the preservation of the historic structures in this district, including the Beers (Newton) house and the proposed renovation of Hunton Hall, new construction has continued to supplant structures no longer viable, suitable or equitable to operate for Health Sciences or Medical Center activities. The building formerly known as Randolph-Minor Hall, an outdated patient care wing, is being replaced by the new Massey Cancer Center research building addition. The old School of Nursing building will soon be replaced by Medical Sciences Building II.

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The site at the prominent corner of Broad and 10th Streets is not owned by VCU and is in use as a surface parking lot. Plans to construct a six-story, 500 car parking deck (possibly with street-level retail) are underway for the site to serve the high demand for parking from Old City Hall, the Capitol complex, and City Hall. VCU will lease 340 spaces for MCV Campus parking. The University has identified the open site as an area of future consideration. Should this development not take place, VCU should again attempt to acquire the property for future expansion of the MCV Campus. At such time the specific use of the site will be determined in concert with the prospect for continued use of the present Children’s Pavilion as the preferred site for delivery of pediatric services. Tenth Street is the seam between the MCV Campus and the Biotechnology Research Park area.

A “signature” structure on this site could anchor the corner of the MCV Campus and bring it into alignment with the civic structure of Richmond and the State Capitol.

West Hospital has long stood in this Broad and Marshall district as an icon of the MCV Campus and its heritage of healing and public service. This structure, along with George Ben Johnston Auditorium and the

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buildings between Sanger and Randolph-Minor Hall are isolated, independent buildings, and any new structures should reflect this convention.

The exterior walls should rise vertically from the street without step backs for at least 100 feet.

Exterior materials should be stone or light colored brick. The surface should be 50-75% solid, and horizontal openings should not be permitted.

Sidewalks should be brick paving, and street trees should be considered along Broad Street.

Banners identifying the University should be provided on light poles along Broad Street.

N MCV CAMPUS

DISTRICTS Broad and Marshall Street District Support District Middle District Student Life District Research Park District

42

THE MCV CAMPUS

An important site at Broad and 10th Streets is not owned by the University and is currently occupied by surface parking.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

• Broad and Marshall Streets District The section of Broad Street between College and 10th Streets is of incalculable urban and historic value.

The south side is defined by a continuous enfilade of high quality, monumental civic buildings that screen Jefferson’s State Capitol and the Capitol Complex.

The North side is MCV Campus’ civic face, one that relates it to both Capitol Square and, potentially, the Monroe Park Campus to the west. Approximately one-half to two-thirds of its length is lined with buildings of high architectural and / or historic value.

Left: Broad and 12th Streets, looking west Right: Children’s Pavilion / Sanger Hall

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

• Support District This utilitarian sub-district accommodates the service and parking needs of the Medical Center. Duval Street terminates in this area at 13th Street, providing access to or egress from the large Visitor’s Parking Deck and D-Deck. Service vehicles accessing the Clinical Support Center can enter from Duval Street or from Marshall Street under the Main Hospital.

The parking and utility structures in this district face out toward the interstate highway, lending a quasiindustrial view to passing travelers, but also revealing the possibility of dramatic views out from the Campus along this edge.

The old chiller plant occupies a prime development site behind Main Hospital. Challenges in the existing site conditions will be addressed by any new work.

• Middle District This district is a mix of functions but is largely oriented to the Health Sciences. It is organized north/south along 10th, 11th and 12th Streets. As “transverse” streets, 11th and 12th Streets are the most pedestrian friendly of the MCV Campus. The renovated portion of 12th Street is particularly successful and should be used as a model for the other streets. Tenth Street is important to the MCV Campus as it forms the edge of the medical area and connects directly to the student life area. It should be reconfigured to eliminate the extra lane and should be developed as a tree-lined boulevard terminating in the student life area. The district includes the Tompkins-McCaw Library and the Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy and will soon include the new School of Nursing, School of Allied Health Professions and School of Public Health facilities. It includes the Ambulatory Care Center of the Medical Center and several research facilities.

The district is home to prominent cultural and historic resources, including the White House and Museum of the Confederacy, and the Valentine Richmond History Center. Each of these sites possesses small, but very high-quality, public garden spaces. The one block

station of Clay Street between 10th and 11th Streets is a model for the development of the rest of Clay Street as well as the entire MCV Campus. Indeed if the University acquired more property along this street, and if the site of the City of Richmond Public Safety Building were developed in a manner supportive to a passage, Clay Street could be a pedestrian-scaled amenity from Court End to 10th Street and a new park beyond. The Virginia Treatment Center for Children occupies a large site at the junction of this district with the Student Life and Research Park areas. This site is underdeveloped in its current form and function, and represents an opportunity for more dense and synergetic development. Development objectives in this district should include: • Improvements to the pedestrian environment of the streets; • Site development that facilitates more convenient patterns of movement through the district, southeast to northwest, from the Broad and Marshall District to districts across Leigh Street; • Demolition and replacement of smaller and outdated non-historic facilities with more appropriately scaled development; • Renovation and refurbishment of existing Health Sciences academic buildings; and • Review of vehicular movements to the Emergency Room and the Visitor’s Deck to support better traffic flow.

• Student Life District This district has always had the most “campus like” character. It includes the only housing at the MCV campus in one high-rise and a series of low-rise dormitories, and also student activities and dining spaces at the Larrick Center. Recreation facilities are provided that serve the students, faculty and staff for

the whole campus. The physical plant shops occupy the extreme northwest corner of the district. The planning effort raised several issues to be addressed with this district: • The type of housing provided is inappropriate to the graduate and professional students who make up the largest portion of the student body on this campus (as a consequence it is used for undergraduate students).

• New buildings should form quadrangles within the blocks.

• The physical plant shops should be moved to an alternative location to permit supportive development on this valuable site.

• The quadrangle in front of Larrick has the potential to be a more successful open space.

• The district needs greater and safer connections across Leigh Street to the rest of the campus.

• The student center and dining services are too remote to effectively serve the majority of the Campus, and should be reprogrammed to more

44

directly serve a new residential population.

• Research Park District The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park is gradually transforming these recently vacant acres north of downtown into a vibrant and activated research center.

Buildings are generally being developed after urban patterns, meeting the street/sidewalk and minimizing areas given to surface parking. The Park’s master plan indicates continued development after these patterns.

What the Park district needs to develop includes: • Effective physical connections back to the rest of the MCV Campus.

• A “front door” presence and address within the downtown area.

• Adequate site area to develop parcels south of Leigh Street.

• Adequate structured parking to meet proposed occupancies.

Left: Steam Plant

Left: Larrick Student Center

Right: Tompkins-McCaw Library

Right: Biotech Two

THE MCV CAMPUS

THE MCV CAMPUS

43

Attitudes toward development in this district should be patterned after the following: • While recommending that new development be as sensitive and attractive as possible, as they define, in part, the public image of VCU to the Interstate highways, the objectives in this area should be efficiency, serviceable operations, safety, and economy.

• Investments in streetscape or landscape development in this district are not recommended.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

The Medical Center continues to operate the Children’s Pavilion for pediatric care but is evaluating options for the function of this building and/or its potential redevelopment. The Virginia Mechanics Institute (VMI) building to the north of Marshall Street is another structure being evaluated along with options for the Children’s Pavilion Site.

Development in this district should: • Continue to establish a prominent entrance and landmark presence on Broad Street; • Design ways to connect the new and the historic structures and fabrics; • Create more opportunities for pedestrian movement apart from the streets; • Enhance and respect historic structures that will remain; and • Provide spaces functionally integrated to the hospital, the Health Sciences and research enterprises.

TRAFFIC AND PARKING

HISTORIC RESOURCES AND CONTEXT Other historically registered structures on the MCV Campus, not owned by the University, include: • The Wickham-Valentine House • The White House of the Confederacy • The Richmond Academy of Medicine • Monumental Church

There are no designated historic districts on the MCV Campus. It is adjacent to the Capitol Square Complex which is eligible for designation. There are numerous structures within the MCV Campus that are on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

Although these facilities are of priceless value, their utilization can be limited by the exterior constraints established by their historic status.

The University occupies eight of these facilities: • The Samuel Putney House • The Stephen Putney Houses • The Egyptian Building (A National Historic Landmark) • Old First Baptist Church (Hunton Hall) • Old First African Baptist Church (RandolphMinor Hall) • Beers (Newton) House • William H. Grant House • Benjamin Watkins Leigh House

Historic Buildings on the MCV Campus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Old First African Baptist Church (Randolph-Minor Hall) Monumental Church * Egyptian Building * Old First Baptist Church (Hunton Hall) White House of the Confederacy * Richmond Academy of Medicine Samuel Putney House Stephen Putney House Wickham-Valentine House * William A. Grant House Benjamin Watkins Leigh House Newton House (Beers House)

The MCV Campus is highly accessible and wellserved by adjacent Interstate and US highways (Broad Street, US 250, Interstate 64 and 95). The MCV Campus has a high population and a corresponding high traffic volume required to service its academic and research functions as well as patients and visitors to the Hospital. As a result, almost every street and crossing on the MCV Campus represents a pedestrian and vehicular conflict. While parking decks are located on the perimeter of the campus, as good planning would dictate, the vehicular access to these decks is directly through the center of the campus since there is no access along the eastern border at the Interstate. Duval Street is an effective perimeter

feeder street to the decks but is nearly loaded beyond capacity. Lack of any access from Leigh Street to 12th Street routes more traffic onto 10th Street. The lack of a curb cut in the median of Leigh Street at 12th Street further complicates circulation for drivers who cannot turn left and find themselves headed east over the Martin Luther King Jr. bridge with no convenient means of turning around.

Pedestrian crossings are particularly problematic at Leigh Street at the N-Deck, and at Broad Street and the Interstate. Within the campus, one-way streets make pedestrian crossings less complex, but heavy on-street parking, while slowing traffic, creates obstructions to visibility and pedestrian safety.

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MCV Campus Traffic Issues • Improved pedestrian accommodations on both 11th Street and 12th Street (north of Clay Street); • Construction of an emergency-only access on Leigh Street at 12th Street; Improved pedestrian crossing • accommodation at the intersection of Leigh Street with 10th Street; A potential roadway • connection between westbound Leigh Street and 7th Street with the Biotech Park and the City of Richmond; • Improved pedestrian accommodation on Broad Street at the I-95 on-ramp and off-ramp; The use of parking incentives • or directed parking assignments to make more efficient use of satellite parking; On-campus parking; • Improving parking options • in Shockoe Bottom to serve the parking lots now used by VCU Medical Center staff and students.

N MCV CAMPUS

HISTORIC RESOURCES VCU Buildings Historic Structure, Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources;

VCU OWNED/OCCUPIED BUILDINGS VIRGINIA BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH PARK BUILDINGS PARKING DECK

N MCV CAMPUS

VCU Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings VCU Parking Decks

EXISTING CIRCULATION Parking Lots Vehicular Circulation Pedestrian Circulation Circulation Conflicts

CAMPUS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION Functional Use The MCV campus as a whole traditionally has been a shared environment between the Hospitals and the health sciences educational and research programs.

The functional use zones diagram demonstrates some of the structural patterns and disconnects in the existing campus. In a generalized view, it indicates the heaviest concentrations of research along Broad Street and on the opposite side of the campus at the BioTechnology Park. The VCU Medical Center’s clinical functions are concentrated in a zone along Marshall Street spanning east to west. The Health Sciences Academic Spaces flow through the Clinical zone from Broad Street to Leigh Street.

Schematic Diagram The MCV Campus Schematic Diagram illustrates the primary urban planning concepts to be achieved by the Master Site Plan. Development in the Broad and Marshall Districts will facilitate the integrated midblock walk from the Massey Cancer Center to the site west of Sanger Hall. An integrated series of public spaces, denoted by the yellow stars, will connect the Health Sciences to the Student Life District and the Biotechnology Park. Continued development of the Biotechnology Park will bring the Park into a more physically integrated position with other new

Support functions are on the perimeter, while the Student Life district shows the small proportions of housing and recreation spaces on the campus.

VCU research facilities and unite the Campus across Leigh Street. Support functions will continue to be developed to the northeastern side of the Campus.

48

THE MCV CAMPUS VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

47

N MCV CAMPUS Academic Clinical Research Residential

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FUNCTIONAL USE DIAGRAM Athletics / Recreation Support Parking

MCV CAMPUS

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Academic Clinical Research Residential

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM Athletics / Recreation Support Parking

Existing Gateway Gateway Opportunity Icon Opportunity Gathering Space

MCV CAMPUS CURRENTLY PLANNED DEVELOPMENT Future Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Structures School of Nursing

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New Construction • (1) School of Nursing For many years the University worked with the School of Nursing to plan and program renovations to West Hospital to serve the School. It was determined, however, that the renovation of the building for academic or research functions is technically infeasible and cost-prohibitive. A new School of Nursing facility is now being planned for a site within the old VTCC recreation area, north of Leigh Street.

This will locate the School in line with the academic facilities of the campus that stretch north and south from Broad to Leigh Streets, functionally bridging

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MCV CAMPUS

MCV Campus Aerial with Currently Planned Development Lower left: School of Nursing Concept Illustration by VCU

THE MCV CAMPUS

6

The current development plan includes projects actively in planning, projects in the Six-Year Capital Plan as well as proposed projects identified through preplanning studies, and sites and institutions for which a current master plan has been approved.

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THE MCV CAMPUS

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Medical Sciences Building (MSB) II

1 2 3 4 5 6

School of Nursing Woods / Lyons Renovations McGuire Hall Renovation Tompkins-McCaw Renovation Robert Blackwell Smith Building Renovation Sanger Hall Research Renovation

7 8 9 10

Hunton Hall Renovation Medical Sciences Building II Randolph-Minor Hall Renovation West Hospital School of Allied Health Professions Renovation

1. SCHOOL OO O OF NURSING 2. WOODS/ W O LYONS RENOVATION 3. McG McGUIRE c HALL RENOVATION 4. TO TOMPKINS PK McCAW RENOVATION 5. ROBERT BER BL BLACKWELL SMITH BUILDING RENOVATION 6. VCUHS B BED TOWER N

CURRENTLY PLANNED DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings New Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Renovations

• (6) Sanger Hall Renovations continue in Sanger Hall to upgrade academic and research spaces and equipment in a floor-by-floor refitting of the structure. Emergency power will be added at select locations throughout the building for research space needs.

• (9) Randolph-Minor Hall This historic structure, formerly known as the First African Baptist Church, will be renovated to serve conference, classroom and meeting space for Health Sciences programs.

Improvements • (10) West Hospital (short-term) Renovations of a temporary nature have been underway in this facility continually, addressing maintenance and repair needs and interior modifications to house a changing mix of administrative offices, Medical Center offices, and academic programs. Renovations of this kind will support the building’s role in providing critical swing space for projects at the Medical Center and for the Health Sciences. A capital renovation project is currently underway to co-locate several programs of the School of Allied Health Professions.

The garden in the courtyard of the building has been recently landscaped. Renovation plans should include site development to connect this garden to a future new outdoor space to be developed beside McGuire Hall.

• (3) McGuire Hall This historic structure will be renovated to continue supporting academic health sciences intructional, research, and administrative functions. The renovation should also consider the building’s future disposition and independent operation when its annex is demolished in the future.

• (7) Hunton Hall The historic old First Baptist Church, long used for a variety of student and auxiliary services, has traditionally been the campus home of the medical students. A complete renovation of the historic structure will enable it to serve the entire student body of the MCV Campus with a high-quality student center commons, complete with dining and vending services.

Upper middle: Medical Sciences Building II Illustration

Upper left: McGuire Hall Courtyard

Lower left: Sanger Hall

Lower left: Lyons Building

Lower middle: West Hospital

Right: Hunton Hall (foreground)

Lower right: Blackwell Smith Building

52

THE MCV CAMPUS

Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Master Plan Changing development plans of other entities in the area of the Biotech Park have necessitated some adjustments in the Park’s current master plan.

Nevertheless, complete development of the area is anticipated as illustrated. Reference Page 69 for further descriptions of the Park’s development.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

51

• (8) Medical Sciences Building II (MSB II) This 120,000 square foot research facility is scheduled to be completed in 2009. The laboratories and integrated researchers’ offices will provide a stateof-the-art environment for meeting the University’s increasing research space needs. The building is sited south of MSB I and its architecture will be complementary to the existing structure. The building will enclose a section of the “past-to-future walk” between the Egyptian Building and the proposed new School of Medicine.

•

• (2) Wood/Lyons Buildings Ongoing renovations have modernized many of the simulation teaching and clinical laboratories in the building as well as administrative and student support spaces. The buildings are in need of complete systems upgrades and interior renovations.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Leigh Street and beginning to center the Library within the assembly of academic buildings. The 70,000 square foot facility will provide an integrated delivery of the nursing program that was difficult to achieve in the older and smaller existing nursing building.

• (5) Blackwell Smith Building While it is one of the newest academic buildings serving the Health Sciences, the Smith Building is over 20 years old and inadequate to address the changes in teaching, research, and technology for a contemporary School of Pharmacy. Complete renovation of the building is planned.

PARKING INVENTORY IMPACT Development

Lot

Residential

A Lot B Lot Q Lot K lot F Lot J Lot O W

CAMPUS PLANNING AND DESIGN INITIATIVES The program of new development provides a dramatic reinvestment in the structure of the campus, for both the Hospital and the Health Sciences. To support these new structures and enhance the existing fabric of the campus, the planning initiatives can be described in relation to a number of major infrastructure developments: •

53

Providing additional parking- accessible from the perimeter of campus.

To successfully compete in the health care and education marketplace, the MCV Campus must provide an adequate level of parking for patients, visitors, faculty, staff and students. The new Massey Cancer Center Addition provides an additional 104 parking spaces. The plan includes a new parking deck on the perimeter of the campus that will increase the inventory by almost 1000 spaces. Private development of a deck at Broad and 10th will contribute 325 spaces to the Hospital’s inventory. Traffic improvements are proposed that will permit access to the Visitor’s Deck from Leigh Street or the north end of 12th Street rather than the center of campus. Improvements to shuttle and security services are planned at remote parking locations including the I-lot and the potential acquisition of the large lot in the Shockoe Valley north of Broad Street.

widening of the sidewalks to make the streets more pedestrian-friendly should be evaluated when new buildings are planned and new parking spaces are built.

•

Joining the campus from Broad Street to the Student Life District providing diagonal courtyards- a network of interconnected public open spaces.

Pedestrian movement through the Middle District is one of its challenges. The district accommodates much of the internal and through-traffic vehicular circulation on the campus, yet should continue to be developed, to the greatest extent reasonable for pedestrians.

Because the pedestrian capacity of the sidewalks will always be limited, and compromised to a certain extent by on-street parking and service entrances, the Master Site Plan designs another series of interconnected

public open spaces that cross through this district on a generally southeast to northwest, or diagonal, path.

This path connects to the Broad and Marshall Streets district through the Gateway Building, crosses Clay Street to a courtyard at the McGuire Hall/School of Public Health site, crosses 11th Street to a new campus quad to be developed on the VTCC site and finally crosses Leigh Street, connecting circulation from the N-Deck, and then to an additional series of quads in the Student Life District. Functionally, this creates a more campus-oriented path to support pedestrian circulation between Broad Street, and the center of the MCV Campus, and the Research Park and its related activities.

Dentistry Expansion Research Facility Biotech Park Expansion

Inventory 31 11 100 41 35 8 44 40 310

Loss New Parking 8th and Duval Deck Massey Cancer Center N-Deck Infill D-Deck Infill Research Site School of Medicine New Proposed Parking MCV Campus Inventory 6/30/2004 Master SIte Plan Inventory Net Inventory Gain/ Loss

Reduction Reduction

1028 104 200 220 200 100 1852

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54

New Parking

THE MCV CAMPUS

Improved Pedestrian Accommodations

Diagonal Courtyards New Parking

Continuing the development of consistent streetscape extended throughout the campus.

Clay Street between 10th and 11th Streets and the redeveloped areas of 12th Street between Broad and Marshall Streets remain excellent models for the application of brick-paved sidewalks, street trees, and other amenities throughout the campus. Continued evaluation of areas of on-street parking and potential •

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

New Parking

Interconnected series of public open spaces

N MCV CAMPUS VCU Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Non-VCU Buildings Left: N Deck Right: Diagonal Courtyards Illustration

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN CONCEPTS Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings: New Construction Area of Future Consideration

•

Developing an interconnected series of public open spaces, a “past to future walk” between Marshall and Broad Streets The demolition of West Hospital and A. D. Williams makes possible, for the first time, an integrated, pedestrian-oriented site development plan in this district. This path, uniting the historic, symbolic places of MCV to the newest, state-of-the-art

teaching and research spaces of the Health Sciences, will provide places that accommodate the kind of collegiate meeting and interaction that is, in part, the reason for a comprehensive medical center. A new School of Medicine, on the site of West Hospital and A. D. Williams, will have a central commons, or atrium space, connected to a similar space between MSB I and MSB II. This common path will join with

the site area behind the Monumental Church and the MSB Plaza, and continue past the Egyptian Building to a main entrance at the Massey Cancer Center. On the other end of the walk, the School of Medicine will open to the crossing of 12th Street, to Hunton Hall, to the garden outside Sanger Hall, through Sanger Hall and to the Children’s Pavilion Site. The mid-block walk is also integrated with the elevated circulation

concourse of the Hospital. The walk does not abandon the street, but gives space and scale for the quality of interaction that will always be more difficult on the busy streets of the Medical Center.

56

THE MCV CAMPUS VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

55

Past to Future Walk, exterior Illustration

Past to Future Walk, interior, School of Medicine Illustration

•

Coordinating planning for traffic and parking needs The plan addresses the list of issues identified in the analysis with the following recommendations: • 11th Street between Broad Street and Leigh Street should remain one-way to serve the volume of traffic at the Ambulatory Care Center.

• Improved pedestrian accommodations should be considered on both 11th Street and 12th Street (north of Clay Street).

• A new intersection should be developed to provide general and emergency access on Leigh Street at 12th Street. If necessary, a

traffic signal should be provided.

Improved pedestrian crossing should be provided at the intersection of Leigh Street with 10th Street.

A potential roadway connection between westbound Leigh Street and 7th Street should be explored with the Biotech Park and the City of Richmond to improve access to the interstate and reduce through traffic in the Student Life District.

The intersection of Duval Street and 7th Street should be improved in coordination with the City of Richmond to provide more effective access to the interstate.

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On-campus parking should be considered wherever possible.

Consideration should be given to improving parking options in Shockoe Bottom by providing frequent transit/van service to serve the parking lots now used by VCU Medical Center staff and students.

Traffic circulation study is suggested to examine the flow of people, services, and cars in and around the Campus.

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Proposed Traffic Light Pedestrian and Crossing Improvements Intersection Improvements Proposed Turn Lanes

TRAFFIC ANALYSIS VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings VCU Parking Decks Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings NOTES 1 Monitor and enhance satellite parking services, support and security to VCU and selected private lots.

2 Proposed Parking Deck by others. Provide on-campus parking where possible.

3 Proposed Parking Deck.

8th Street Parking Deck

MCV CAMPUS NEW DEVELOPMENT

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• (3) Residential Quad The low rise dorms, in need of renovation, embody an outdated and inappropriate form of the housing for the graduate and professional students of the MCV Campus. They will be demolished and replaced with apartment style housing, providing approximately 320 beds in a pair of mid-rise buildings that enclose a new public/residential quadrangle located on the diagonal path.

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VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

• (2) Residence Life Commons The Larrick Center, originally a facility designed for an exposition, has outlived its usefulness to the Student Life District and will be replaced by a facility

designed to meet the particular needs of the graduate and professional students expected to occupy housing in the area.

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THE MCV CAMPUS

10 • (1) 8th Street Parking Deck Projected parking demands dictate additional parking deck construction on the campus. These facilities are best sited on the perimeter to avoid increasing traffic through the campus. The physical plant shops structure on this site will be relocated and consolidated with the facilities serving the Monroe Park Campus. A 5-level structure housing approximately 1,000 spaces will enclose the north side of the Larrick quadrangle and better define this public space. Pedestrian circulation will flow from the deck on the diagonal pathway across the campus.

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N MCV CAMPUS

MCV Campus Aerial with New Development

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8th Street Parking Deck Residence Life Commons Residential Quad N Deck Addition Research Facility School of Dentistry Addition Research Facility

8 9 10 11 12 13

Parking Deck Infill School of Allied Health Professions / School of Public Health Richmond Academy of Medicine School of Medicine Area of Future Consideration Area of Future Consideration

NEW DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings New Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Acquisition Campus Boundary Area of Future Consideration

of capacity in the deck’s single entrance to allow for expansion of an additional 200 parking spaces.

• (5) Research Quad The VTCC has a relationship to the Health Center but does not need to be immediately adjacent to it. It will be relocated to another site/facility. The site will be redeveloped, potentially in two phases, with 300,000 square feet of research space and 200 underground deck parking spaces. The Vivarium should be planned on this site as part of this development with integration to the campus tunnel system. As we develop research facilities, there is an increasing requirement for a vivarium and specialized support space for animals that support research.

• (8) Parking Deck Infill The support district lacks any developable site area, but the existing Visitor’s Deck and D-Deck structures suggest the development of an expanded parking structure in the air-rights over 13th Street. Up to 220 additional parking spaces could be provided at this critical center-campus location, without impacting other sites or open spaces.

•

(9) School of Allied Health Professions/School of Public Health Facility The School of Public Health is now the sixth Health Sciences school on the MCV Campus. This new school is being developed initially within the School of Medicine. The new school is being created, in part, from existing VCU units which will be brought together into one facility. It is also expected to more than double in size during the next five years. The School of Allied Health Professions is currently housed in multiple buildings on the MCV and Monroe Park Campuses and occupies a significant portion of West Hospital, the eventual site for the new School

of Medicine Building. A new facility is planned on the existing McGuire Hall Annex site to house both the School of Allied Health Professions and the School of Public Health. The Annex is one of the more inadequate and outdated research facilities and will be demolished as soon as new research space is constructed in other facilities. The new building will “trade places” with the Annex, occupying the prominent corner and defining the street edge, while opening a courtyard behind. This courtyard, enclosed

by McGuire Hall on the east, could connect north to the public outdoor spaces of the School of Dentistry.

It will be the first of the series of new spaces on the diagonal path toward Leigh Street.

• (10) Richmond Academy of Medicine The Richmond Academy of Medicine Building is on the corner of 12th and Clay Streets in the center of the MCV Campus. Should the Academy relocate from this site, the University should pursue acquisition of the building for expansion of the Tompkins - McCaw Library.

•

(11) New School of Medicine to be constructed on the site of the existing West Hospital and A. D. Williams Clinic The older buildings on this site have long stood as landmarks for the MCV Campus, symbolizing its historic past. However, the buildings cannot be effectively adapted to contemporary uses for the University and are cost-prohibitive to renovate.

The program for this building will include up to 200 parking spaces and a component of physicians’ offices to replace those relocated from Old City Hall and A. D. Williams and West Hospital. Distinctive physical elements from the existing structures will be incorporated into the construction of the new building.

These include the decorative bronze art deco screens and reliefs. As the existing West Hospital has long been a landmark symbol for the MCV Campus, the new School of Medicine building should be a similarly distinguished landmark piece of architecture, marking the gateway presence and spirit of the MCV Campus on Broad Street.

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THE MCV CAMPUS

• (6) School of Dentistry Addition While the Wood and Lyons Buildings will benefit from complete renovations, it is expected that program needs will require an addition to the facility. From a planning perspective, this will enable the School of Dentistry to have a unified elevation that completes the street front on Leigh Street and a recognizable image and accessible front door at this gateway to the campus.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MCV CAMPUS

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• (7) Research Facility The existing Strauss Lab is a very small and inefficient research facility. Demolition and redevelopment of the site would permit over 50,000 gross square feet of space to be constructed, resulting in a net increase of 19,000 gross square feet over the existing building, in an efficient, modern and collaborative plan for reasearch space.

Left: Wood Building Right: School of Allied Health/ School of Public Health Illustration

School of Medicine Illustration

the University would be interested in addressing by the potential acquisition of this property. These include providing a reliable shuttle service to reduce or eliminate the need for the pedestrians to make the dangerous crossing of I-95 and its on and off ramps along Broad Street; new paving, drainage, lighting, fencing, and other site improvements; security callboxes, increased VCU Police patrols and other security improvements.

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Site Improvements • Streetscape and Landscape Development Campus Wide The incremental development of the landscape, streetscape, and open space should be addressed through Capital Outlay requests in each biennium throughout the life of the Master Site Plan Update.

Phased funding and execution is essential to develop a unifying context and quality environment for the Campus and to create a “sense of place.”

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(13) Shockoe Bottom site bounded by Broad Street, Interstate 95 This existing 3.3 acre site is currently occupied by an underdeveloped private surface parking lot that serves many students, faculty and staff at the MCV Campus. As one of the most convenient and least expensive off-campus parking options, the lot is a popular choice. The use of this lot presents a number of potential hazards and qualitative deficiencies that

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THE MCV CAMPUS

THE MCV CAMPUS VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

This block is currently shared by the Children’s Pavilion of the VCU Health System. The building was acquired from the old Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital and converted to the Children’s Pavilion in 2002. The Health System continues to evaluate the future location of its pediatric services. At such time as the Health System makes determinations about the future course of pediatric services, the balance of the block should be reevaluated for renovation or redevelopment for parking, academic, or clinical care uses.

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traffic impacts, and stacking and turning movements for the parking deck.

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Key projects to be developed include: • Streetscape enhancements on 10th, 11th, 12th and Leigh Streets.

• Street crossings on the “diagonal path” at 11th , Leigh and Turpin Streets.

• The quadrangle north of Cabaniss Hall.

• Courtyards within individual projects should be funded, planned and developed integrally with the projects.

16 14 17

18

13 Illustrative Plan Key 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

12

8th Street Parking Deck Residence Life Commons Residential N Deck Addition Research Facility School of Dentistry Addition Research Facility Parking Deck Infill School of Allied Health Professions / School of Public Health Richmond Academy of Medicine School of Nursing Medical Sciences Building II (MSB II) School of Medicine Area of Future Consideration Area of Future Consideration New VCUHS Bed Tower New Cancer Hospital New and expanded facilities for Clinical Support

OA

D

ST .

N

VCU Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Non-VCU Buildings Right: MCV Campus Plan detail of diagonal courtyards

15

BR

MCV CAMPUS

Left: VCUHS Children’s Pavilion (Former Eye and Ear Hospital)

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Areas of Future Consideration • (12) Surface lot on the corner of 10th and Broad Streets.

Private interests have long worked toward the planning and construction of a structured parking facility on the south side of the block, as there is intense demand for parking to serve City Hall, the Old City Hall Office Building, the State Capitol and other functions in the area. The University would strongly endorse ground floor retail space fronting Broad Street in this proposed development. This location should be carefully evaluated in relationship to Old City Hall,

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings: New Construction Area of Future Consideration

THE

VCU

HEALTH

SYSTE M

BACKGROUND The VCU Health System (VCUHS) enjoys the reputation as a leader in medical advances, technology, and overall quality and image. Yet maintaining these distinctions while building toward a vision of national recognition for specialty care and innovative research requires a new commitment of carefullybalanced strategic investments in human resources, information technology, capital equipment and facilities. Redevelopment and renewal of facilities are major components of future investment. In concert with the VCU Health System Strategic Plan, the VCUHS Strategic Facilities Plan targeted Medical Center-wide redevelopment.

While each of the following projects will be refined as the Institution makes future decisions, improvements in these fundamental program areas represent the essence of the Master Plan. Phasing of the projects is operationally complex and will involve detailed planning by the Health System.

A listing of the six benchmark projects belies the complexity of the ten-year Medical Center renewal undertaking. Each of the projects has several possible variations in scope and approach, even as they are visualized at this early stage of definition.

65

(1) A New Bed Tower This project will be built on the site of the old VCU Steam Plant north of Main Hospital. It will connect floor-to-floor with Main and provide enough new “replacement” beds to allow many patient care units to vacate North Hospital and West Hospital. This 11story building will have 280 beds. The objective is to replace the ICUs on Main Hospital 4th Floor, the NICU on Main 6, the Department of Corrections Secure Unit in West Hospital and a majority of the bed services in North Hospital. In addition, the New Bed Tower will provide space for expansions of Surgical Suite and Emergency Department, and replace the hazardous “Gerbil Tube” ramp with an enclosed and level lobby connection from the Visitor’s Parking Deck. New beds will be in single occupancy patient rooms. Reducing the Hospital’s percentage of double occupancy and semi-private rooms will increase competitiveness and operational efficiency. The New Bed Tower construction is projected to be complete in 2007. The project will also permit the succession of renovations throughout the Health System that are necessary to modernize the facilities, including the

7 6 10

2

9

12 8

66

1 11 3 5

The Health System recently completed a strategic plan,

The following projects are at the core of the Strategic

identifying seven major themes including:

Facilities Plan:

•

Strategic Clinical Programs

•

New Bed Tower

•

Health Care Workforce

•

A New Children’s Hospital

•

Information and Technology

•

A Renewed Main Hospital

•

Quality and Performance Improvement

•

New Cancer Hospital

•

Clinical Capacity and Service Process

•

New and Expanded facilities for Education and

•

Capital Resources and Facilities

•

Finance

Support •

SYSTEM

THE SIX BENCHMARK PROJECTS

T H E V C U H E A LT H

SYSTEM

THE VCU HEALTH SYSTEM STRATEGIC PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

T H E V C U H E A LT H

4

New and Expanded facilities for Clinics and Parking

Successful pursuit of preeminence will depend on wellorchestrated and complementary progress in each of the strategic areas.

N MCV CAMPUS 1 2 3 4 5 6

New VCUHS Bed Tower Potential New Children’s Hospital site Renewed Main Hospital New Cancer Hospital New and expanded facilities for Clinical Support Expanded facilities for Parking (joint development with VCU)

7 8 9 10 11 12

Parking Deck E/S: Patients/ Visitors Gateway Building Nelson Clinic Ambulatory Care Center Cllinical Support Services Building Parking Deck D: Faculty/ Staff (joint use with VCU)

VCU HEALTH SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings VCU Health System Buildings New VCU Health System Buildings

T H E V C U H E A LT H

SYSTEM

(3) Renewal of Main Hospital Sometimes described as a reconstruction-in-place, this project envisions a thorough upgrading of engineering, support and communication systems throughout Main Hospital – including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, telecom and data systems. In addition, the interior will be reprogrammed to contemporary standards of space, equipment and amenity. The

The project may not be limited to cancer-related programs however, and this plan recommends a multi-use project. As the North Hospital site represents the last opportunity to integrate new facilities with existing, the use of the site should be maximized to address multiple future facility needs.

The recommended project is a “new Bed Tower II’

Above this construction, a tower is proposed to house office-type functions including administration, classrooms, physician/faculty offices and many Hospital administrative functions that now must be housed in leased space off campus. This supporttower facility would have about 18,000 square feet per floor. At eleven stories above the CSC base, it would approximate the height of Main Hospital (based on office space floor to floor heights) and provide 200,000 SF of the projected future support space requirement.

(6) Expanded Facilities for Clinics and Parking Consultants have recommended that ambulatory care services be consolidated in the Nelson Clinic and Ambulatory Care Center. Some Pediatric ambulatory clinics have recently occupied the building now known as the Children’s Pavilion (formerly Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital). If the recommended consolidation is accomplished, it will be a temporary arrangement.

The need for clinic spaces and associated training facilities is sure to grow, and patients will require parking as a condition of their choice of VCUHS for outpatient care.

(5) New and Expanded Educational and Support Facilities The need for clinical support surpasses the growth in service volumes; as hospitalized patients are sicker, their needs become more intense. Administrative functions grow even faster as reporting and record keeping demands of the business of medicine grow.

More than one project will address these needs, but the most visible will be an expansion of the Clinical Support Center (CSC) building. The expansion is

The projects for clinic and parking expansion have not been sited at this time, but several proximate locations with the potential for connection with existing Hospital circulation-ways deserve consideration. These include the Children’s Pavilion site, the proposed new “multiuse” Medical School building on the A.D. Williams / West Hospital site and the McGuire Hall site1. These considerations will be developed jointly with VCU. Another recommendation extends the Visitors’ Deck and D-Deck structures in the air rights over 13th Street.

1. “A Strategic Facilities Plan—2004,” by Douglass Planning and Architecture with Baskervill Architects.

Left: Main Hospital Right: Ambulatory Care Center

Left: The Gateway Building

68

SYSTEM

(4) A New Cancer Hospital This project will be developed on the footprint of North Hospital. From a timing perspective, a minimum requirement of the project will be to replace the oncology beds in Dalton Clinic as well as other services. Its further purpose will be to enhance the comprehensive capabilities of the Massey Cancer Center as a fully integrated multidisciplinary Center of cancer research, with facilities for clinical development, patient care, education, and administration. One possibility is that it might begin after the renewal of Main Hospital is complete. An “early start” plan envisions demolishing the North Wing of North Hospital, while retaining the South and East wings for continued use (about 208 beds are retained this way). This will make available a site about the size of the New Bed Tower footprint for this construction project.

67

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

project will require vacating large sections of Main Hospital for approximately six months at a time. This will be facilitated by the use of vacated portions of North Hospital as “swing” space for the temporary relocation of Main Hospital beds and services. The project will begin upon completion of the New Bed Tower and relocation of North Hospital services to the new building. The Main Renewal project is planned for completion four years later, in August of 2011.

In addition to beds and clinics, the location is ideal for a Conference Center on the order of that originally proposed for the Gateway Building. The Hospital Concourse can be extended through this project to link the new facilities and the Massey Cancer Center, and interconnect with a planned VCU pedestrian network.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

(2) A New Children’s Hospital Efforts to develop this project are under way and are likely to result in construction of a new Children’s Hospital in Richmond – at an unknown location. It is assumed that 56 of the Pediatric beds now licensed at VCU Medical Center would move to the new hospital, leaving the VCU Medical Center licensure at 723. The location and scope of this project are yet to be determined pending further study. The project is considered a benchmark development on the MCV Campus, because it will relocate the focus of Pediatric care and teaching and will allow at least one nursing unit in Main Hospital to be converted to a different use.

envisioned in two directions. The CSC Building will be extended horizontally along its eastward axis, toward Interstate Highway 95. This six-story plus basement expansion will house a new mechanical plant to accommodate the new construction planned for the Eastern VCUHS Campus, as well as extensions of the CSC floors for material management and logistic services. At about 18,000 square feet per floor (not counting the mechanical level), it could provide about 100,000 square feet of the future projected need for support space.

T H E V C U H E A LT H

that will include about 160 beds, enough to replace the services remaining in North Hospital and allow all remaining VCUMC adult semi-private rooms to become privates. The opportunity exists to extend the floor-to-floor contiguity accomplished by Main and the New Bed Tower to be patient floors of this “New Bed Tower II.”

internal, floor-by-floor renovations of Main Hospital and the eventual demolition and replacement of North Hospital.

THE VIRGINIA BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH PARK BACKGROUND

MASTER PLAN

The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park is a prominent neighbor of the MCV Campus and the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions in research will carry over to the quality development of their shared district in the City of Richmond.

The 34 acre park consists of 23 developable acres north of the Coliseum complex and west of the MCV Campus in downtown Richmond. Ultimately, it is expected that the Park will contain 1.5 to 2.0 million square feet of space and employ up to 3,000 scientists and support personnel. Over 3,000 structured parking spaces are planned in several decks.

The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Master Plan is intended to be a guide for establishing appropriate building densities, functional relationships and development aesthetics and includes infrastructure, transportation and parking recommendations. The Park’s Master Plan proposes development of 3- and 4-story buildings. The buildings front the street and define the blocks and a pedestrian environment is

encouraged. Primary access is at the gateway from the interstate highways at 5th Street.

The eight-year-old Park is one-third developed. Its tenants, housed in eight buildings, fill nearly 600,000 square feet of space and employ more than 1,300 scientists, researchers, engineers and technicians in fields that include drug development, medical diagnostics, biomedical engineering, forensics and environmental analysis.

8

69

The Master Site Plan illustrates opportunities to connect the Park to the civic space of the MCV Campus at the Student Life District. The Park is the westernmost destination along the path of diagonally connected courtyards, which would provide an effective campus connection between the Park and the Health Sciences spaces on the southeast corner of the Campus. The Park’s evolution also suggests a more prominent public face and a “front door” should be developed along the Leigh Street Corridor.

5 3 9 9

4

10

7 9

BIOTECHNOLOGY R E S E A R C H PA R K

9 The Park is not limited to its 34-acre downtown campus. Partnerships with neighboring Henrico and Chesterfield counties extend the reach of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park to satellite parks that could accommodate larger companies on suburban campuses in the Greater Richmond area.

9 9

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE VIRGINIA

6 9

70

THE VIRGINIA BIOTECHNOLOGY VCU MASTER SITE PLAN R E S E A R C H P A R K

The Research Park project is a partnership of the City of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Park works cooperatively with VCU, other academic institutions, business, government and not-for-profit organizations to facilitate technology transfer and business development to create new jobs and companies in the life sciences and to promote the Greater Richmond area as a center for industry advancement. The park’s proximity and inter-relationship with the MCV Campus, through technology, research, and facilities, is essential to its success.

2

1

9

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N MCV CAMPUS 1 Biotech Center 2 Biotech I 3 Biotech II 4 Biotech III 5 Biotech IV 6 Biotech V 7 Biotech VI 8. Biotech VII - UNOS 9. Future Research Buildings 10. Parking Facility

VIRGINIA BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH PARK VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings New Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings New VCU Construction

Biotech One

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Number 194 197 201 204 205 206 207 209 210 211 212 214 215 216 217 218 220 221 H 222 223 224 226 228 229 230 231 235 236 237 238 239 241

Building 700 E. Franklin Street 824 W. Broad Street Moseley House, 1001 Grove Avenue Wright Property I (Belt & Hose Bldg),103-113 S. Jefferson Street Wright Property II (2 St. Aluminum Siding Bldg.), 108-114 W. Canal St. Wright Property III (1 St. Brick - 5 Bay Bldg.), 108-114 W. Canal St. Wright Property IV, (2 St. Brick Bldg.), 108-112 S. Adams Street 614 N. Lombardy Street Trani Center for Life Sciences, 1000 W. Cary Street Sports Medicine Center, 1300 W. Broad Street Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center, 1100 W. Broad Street Survey Evaluation Research Laboratory, 912, W. Grace Street West Grace Street Student Housing, 701 W. Grace Street College Station, 920-928 W. Grace Street Laurel Street Carriage House, 207 N. Laurel Street 1715 W. Main Street Bowe Street Parking Deck, 609 Bowe Street Scott Carriage House, 909 ½ W. Franklin Street (rear) Moseley House Garage, 1001 ½ Grove Avenue 1213 W. Broad Street 1215 W. Broad Street 911 W. Grace Street Shafer Court Dining Center, 810 Cathedral Place Broad & Belvidere Student Apartments, 600 W. Broad Street Capital Garage Apartments, 1301 W. Broad Street Cary & Harrison Parking Deck Oliver Hall- Physical Science Wing Annex, 1000 W. Main Street 1401 W. Main Street William W. Brandt Hall, 720 W. Franklin Street 304 W. Cary Street VCUnet Storage Facility (Media General) 933 W. Broad Street Student Housing

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EXISTING DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned/Occupied Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction New Leased Housing

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

Number 058 H 059 H 060 H 064 H 067 H 068 072 075 H 081 H 096 H 102 H 103 H 112 H 113 115 116 H 120 H 121 123 H 124 138 139 149 150 H 157 160 H 163 164 166 167 171 172 174 175 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188

102

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Building Williams House, 800 W. Franklin Street Franklin Street Gymnasium, 817 W. Franklin Street Founders Hall, 827 W. Franklin Street President’s House, 910 W. Franklin Street Ginter House, 901 W. Franklin Street Anderson House, 913 W. Franklin Street Kearney House, 921 W. Franklin Street Scherer Hall, 923 W. Franklin Street Anderson Gallery, 907 ½ W. Franklin Street Ritter-Hickok House, 821 W. Franklin Street Grace Street Theater, 934-936 W. Grace Street T. Edward Temple Building, 901 W. Main Street McAdams House, 914 W. Franklin Street 1315 Floyd Avenue Hibbs Building, 900 Park Avenue Shafer St. Playhouse, 221 N. Shafer Street LaFayette Hall, 312 N. Shafer Street VCU Music Center, 1015 Grove Avenue Stark House, 915 W. Franklin Street Education Annex, 109 N. Harrison Street Younger House, 919 W. Franklin Street Student Commons, 907 Floyd Avenue 917 Green Alley 1312 W. Main Street Bowe House, 917 W. Franklin Street Thurston House, 808 W. Franklin Street Meredith House, 1014 W. Franklin Street Meredith House - Carriage House, 1014 W. Franklin Street(Rear) Johnson Hall, 801 W. Franklin Street Lindsey House, 600 W. Franklin Street VCU Police, 938-940 W. Grace Street Millhiser House, 916 W. Franklin Street 916 W. Franklin Street (Rear) Sitterding House, 901 Floyd Avenue 102 N. Linden Street 104 N. Linden Street 106 N. Linden Street Facilities & Financial Services Building, 700 W. Grace St. 301 N. Shafer Street White House, 806 W. Franklin Street Internal Audit, 944 W. Grace Street

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VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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CAMPUS CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENT

EXISTING DEVELOPMENT

The Monroe Park Campus (formerly named the Academic Campus) encompasses over 78 acres of owned and leased property just west of downtown Richmond. It is the eastern origination of the streets that form the residential Fan District and the Campus adjoins the perimeter of historic Monroe Park. The Campus is tangent both to the Broad Street Corridor to the north and to Cary Street and Oregon Hill to the south.

Recent Development New investments in the Monroe Park Campus since the 1996 plan include the planning and construction of four major facilities in the Broad Street Corridor, adding the Broad and Belvidere Student Housing, the Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center, the Sports Medicine Center and the Bowe Street Parking Deck to the other three university facilities: the Siegel Center, the School of the Arts Building and the West Broad Street Parking Deck.

The Campus is composed of six sub-districts. They are Monroe Park, including the Park and the blocks surrounding the park, the Academic Core, due west of the Monroe Park area and bordered on the south by Cary Street, and three districts associated with primary thoroughfares through the Campus: Franklin Street, the most historic, identifiable and successful urban area, of the Campus; Grace Street, made up primarily of commercial functions; and the Broad Street Corridor. When developed, the Monroe Park Campus Addition will be the campus’ newest district.

to the Student Commons, the new Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences and another perimeter parking deck on Cary Street. With associated site, streetscape and open space improvements, these projects served to reinforce a growing high-quality campus environment. Closing and redeveloping Linden Street between Main and Cary effectively extended the main pedestrian path from Shafer Court to Cary Street.

The development of VCU along Broad Street presents a strong urban design initiative, connecting VCU with the most significant artery of Richmond’s downtown.

The Broad Street development begins to formulate the Monroe Park Campus’ physical correlation with the MCV Campus, giving physical manifestation to the impact and significance of VCU’s presence in Richmond.

Concurrent with much of the Broad Street development were major projects within the Academic Core, including the Shafer Court Dining Center, an addition

74

The University has continued to acquire property, primarily to the north and east of the campus, respecting the boundaries with the surrounding neighborhoods established in the 1996 master plan. A number of properties in the Grace Street Corridor, most notably the former Metropolitan Hospital and office building, have been acquired as well as smaller scale retail spaces. Properties acquired east of Belvidere around 327 West Main Street will allow future development of the Monroe Park Campus Addition.

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

PA R K C A M P U S

The districts of the Campus are gradually increasing in specific character and identity. Although the Campus image and environment still require greater definition and continuity, incremental investments in landscaping, streetscape, lighting and signage are beginning to identify the Campus District within its community. The appropriate development of prominent corners of the Campus have reinforced the effects of this infrastructure.

Housing construction on the campus has been extensive, adding 1,459 beds since 2000. The Brandt Residence Hall at the corner of Laurel and Franklin Streets will add 640 beds in the fall of 2005. Additional housing is under construction on Broad Street at Shafer Street, a facility that the University will lease and manage similar to the recent arrangements made to lease the Capitol Garage facility at Broad Street and Ryland Street.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MONROE

73

The Campus occupies nearly 2.4 million assignable square feet in a collection of 116 buildings, of which 103 are owned and 13 are leased facilities. Over half of the structures are historic or located in historic districts.

Since its founding, VCU’s most typical images have been that of the historic Franklin Street Corridor and the more contemporary Academic Core area. In the past 10 years, however, the development of Broad Street has created a new center in what is now VCU’s most prominent public face with a nearly continuous enfilade of new structures for the University. The construction of the School of Engineering located adjacent to Monroe Park will be a bridge to future development to the east. Increasingly, areas of the Campus have acquired a collegiate character as a result of street closings, landscaping, and paving improvements. As a result, more students stay on or near campus between classes and feel a greater sense of connection to the institution. The Campus served a headcount of over 24,000 students as of Fall 2004, and the University currently employs over 4,600 fulltime and part-time faculty and staff on the Monroe Park Campus.

projects for many of the academic and administrative facilities on this campus. These can be characterized by a wide range of scope and scale from the fine grain of the restoration of the historic Scott Carriage House to the reprogramming and renovation of the Business School Building.

The immediate years ahead are scheduled with an aggressive list of renovation and redevelopment

Upper right: Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center

Left: Linden Street pedestrian walk

Lower right: Shafer Court Dining Center

Right: Sports Medicine Building

PLANNING ISSUES

The General Plan identified needs to enhance elements of the physical environment, including: 1. Better open space planning.

2. More appropriate landscaping and paving.

3. More overall identity and sense of place.

4. More continuity with the surrounding community.

5. Completion of parking and transportation planning.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

PA R K C A M P U S

THE MONROE

75

VCU’s significant infrastructure investments have done much to elevate the overall quality and function of the Campus even while the rapid growth in enrollments has created new challenges in density and activity for the urban context to accommodate.

The Campus continues to be blessed by largely stable surrounding communities of exceptionally high architectural and urban quality: the Fan, Oregon Hill, Carver and Monroe Ward. This context provides a specific “envelope” for the development of the Campus that can be viewed as a mechanism for highquality infill and appropriate expansion within the campus boundaries, as opposed to a limitation to development.

Strategy The development of the Monroe Park Campus will focus on opportunities along the campus district lines and on four prominent corners. A coordinated and completed landscape and streetscape plan will be used to unify and identify the Campus.

The “identity” of the institution should not preempt continuity with the surrounding neighborhoods. The edge of the institution should be a seam rather than a barrier. Appropriate landscaping of the street edge, and the continuity of the streets perpendicular to the edge, will tend both to promote a seam between community and campus even if the buildings do not.

The objectives and strategies identified in the 1996 plan focused on the development of the four prominent corners of the campus. These objectives have been largely achieved at three of the corners by: •

The Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences at Cary and Harrison

•

The Siegel Center and Academic Deck II at Broad and Harrison

•

The School of Engineering at Cary and Belvidere

The Student Housing at Broad and Belvidere establishes VCU’s presence at this important civic intersection. Completion of this gateway awaits VCU development on the southeast corner site .

76

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

Campus Analysis The history conveyed by the spaces and structures of this campus, both in VCU’s facilities and in its neighboring civic institutions, remains rich in character and quality. The origins of the Monroe Park Campus are the small scale domestic buildings along Franklin Street. This area still provides one of the more positive physical images of the Campus.

Franklin Street has an abundance of buildings with high architectural and historic value. The larger academic buildings of the late 1950’s continue the urban fabric of the area in a coherent and compatible way.

Monroe Park Campus Actions The following actions will continue to be implemented as part of the Master Site Plan Update: 1. Restoration of the spatial continuity of streets internally and with the surroundings through streets, trees and paving.

2. Co-development with the State, City, businesses, and neighborhoods to clarify and reinforce the edges of the campus with buildings, landscaping, and paving along both sides of Harrison, Cary, Belvidere, and Broad Streets.

3. Filling out the urban fabric of the campus with buildings that fill unoccupied blocks and sites.

4. Clarification of the center of the campus by development of a new academic quadrangle between the business school and the student center.

5. Co-development of Shafer Street with the City as a north-south pedestrian-oriented spine between Cabell Library and the Fine Arts Building.

6.

Co-development of Broad Street with the City and representative businesses and community groups as a mixed use, tree-lined boulevard containing housing, parking and commercial uses.

7. Co-development of the major intersection at Broad Street and Belvidere Street as an urban landmark.

8. Development of appropriately-scaled multi-use initiatives along Grace Street.

9. Co-development with the City of a strategy for “calming” traffic as it passes through the campus, especially on Main Street.

10. Promote the importance of Monroe Park as the focus of a larger “University Park” community.

Trani Center for Life Sciences Courtyard

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Architectural Guidelines The Monroe Park Campus General Plan

Upper left: School of Engineering Building Lower left: Aerial view of Monroe Park

Open space The open space plan reveals an expanding network of streetscape development that is beginning to bring a unity and identity to the campus environment. It also reveals an increasingly integrated sequence of paths and public spaces moving north to south through the campus generally along Linden and Shafer Streets. However, it also shows the weak links and disconnects in this system, most notably at Linden Street between Park and Floyd Avenues and between the Academic Core and Broad Street. The geographic prominence of Monroe Park as a potentially effective,

Civic Space The Monroe Park Campus civic space illustration shows Monroe Park at the center of an expanding network of campus streets, each developed in accord with the University’s amenity and streetscape plans.

The Park is a critical point of pedestrian connection between the Campus and the Monroe Park Campus Addition. The Plan shows the nearly continuous and integrated pedestrian path to be completed as part of the Master Site Plan along Linden and Shafer Streets from Main Street to Broad Street. Additional connections are to be enhanced and developed to join Franklin Street to Broad Street through the Grace Street District.

unifying, symbolic, and functional open space is well demonstrated. All open space is not effective space, although the “green” space provided can be a welcome respite from the dense urban environment.

New development should channel open space to do both: providing paths of travel, and green spaces for relief, refuge and interaction, while helping reinforce the urban texture of the campus. Particular attention should be given to the interconnection of these spaces for pedestrian movement and collegiate interaction.

Campus Districts As an extensive urban campus, the Monroe Park Campus is not a unified composition, but instead consists of districts built over time and under differing circumstances. Each has distinctive qualities of history, scale and function that give it definition and should also maintain these same qualities in future development in the district.

As a diagram, the Monroe Park District and the Academic Core District have effectively subsumed and incorporated the Cary Street area and are bordered to the north by three “street-centered districts” defined by the east-west orientations of Franklin, Grace and Broad Streets. The Monroe Park Campus

78

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

PA R K C A M P U S

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MONROE

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Addition will soon form a new sub-district to the east of Belvidere Street.

commons and the new dining center. Streetscape and landscape improvements have substantially upgraded a “campus-like� setting through much of the area.

Cary Street has been effectively incorporated into the campus at this district by the completion of the Trani Center for Life Sciences and the Cary and Harrison Parking Deck.

• The Academic Core District This area is the most densely-populated, active student area of the Campus. This is the traditional center of the campus, but with the development of Broad Street and the Addition, it is now one of several campus centers.

Its location is well-suited to its functional organization with its key generators of student services and activity in the academic buildings, the library, the student

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an articulate mass (possibly a new entrance) that terminates at Shafer Street.

Buildings will be a minimum of 30’ high and have a maximum of 50’ high. Buildings should “face�, or address, the street, be brick masonry with punched windows, and have defined ground floors.

Curbside street trees will be planted continuously throughout the area. Spacing should vary between 20’ and 40’ depending on species.

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consistent with the guidelines, defining the edge of the street and presenting entrances to the street. Sites at the existing tennis courts and the basketball courts to the east of the Cary Street Gym will be available for development.

The use of Cary Street Field as the solitary and consequently important outdoor recreation space for the campus.

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Development objectives in this district should include: • Greater urban character by infilling surface parking sites and building other infill structures to the street line. • Urban infill construction to simultaneously redefine and enhance high-quality civic open spaces. • Continued landscape and streetscape improvements, including pedestrian improvements that reinforce and extend existing and new paths. • Traffic improvements to minimize pedestrian and vehicular conflicts. • Developing infill sites along Cary Street

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VCU should continue its regular investments in the architectural preservation of the historic properties on the street. Interior renovations and renewal will continue to enhance the efficiency and function of these buildings.

VCU should continue the following approaches to this area: • Acquire properties as they become available and are deemed suitable to the University’s needs • Repair and maintain streetscaping including brick pavers and trees, in cooperation with the City of Richmond • Establish a more prominent gateway at Harrison Street

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FRANKLIN STREET DISTRICT MONROE PARK DISTRICT

• Franklin Street District Franklin Street is nearly complete and should be preserved. Its local and civic qualities are priceless.

Even the spaces off the alleys are of high quality and should be utilized without major modification. The intermittent pattern of curb-side street trees and brick paving should be completed.

MONROE PARK CAMPUS

DISTRICTS Broad and Marshall Street District Grace Street District Franklin Street District Monroe Park District Academic Core District Monroe Park Campus Addition

Upper left: Gladding Residence Center Lower left: West Franklin Street Right: West Franklin Street

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81

• Grace Street District Grace Street, noted as being in a delicate state of balance in the 1996 Plan, has stagnated, neither slipping into decline nor gaining momentum as a vital community or VCU resource. Both the University and the community have made investments in the district: objectionable tenants have departed, new anchor tenants have arrived, dilapidated properties have been removed, and others have been acquired

•

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VCU should invest in this district in a cooperative way to support its development as a mixed-use retail “college street” to serve the University and the community.

Vacant sites should be programmed for appropriate redevelopment to lend a critical mass of population and activity that the area lacks.

VCU should acquire property throughout this district.

VCU should populate Grace Street with upper story housing to give more life to the district.

Connections should be created and enhanced to help this district serve as a connection between Broad Street and the rest of the Campus. Shafer Street is of particular importance. Improvements to Laurel Street will be increasingly important as development takes place.

Grace Street should remain a two-way street through this district to facilitate support of the commercial establishments and general campus circulation.

On-street parking should be retained and supplemented with additional parking structures.

• Monroe Park District Monroe Park, surrounded by urban housing including three VCU residence halls and monumental institutions, remains an underutilized resource for the University and the community. It possesses all

Left: Bowe Street Deck Right: Rhoads Hall and West Grace Street Student Housing

the characteristics necessary for a distinct district: a clear edge, clear center and a consistent texture.

The perimeter of the Park is fully developed with the exception of the sites on the east side of Belvidere.

VCU supports and participates in the work of the Monroe Park Advisory Council to develop an appropriately maintained landscape environment and a suitably programmed design that complements the historic character of the Park and promotes a wide variety of contemporary uses and activities.

As the literal and symbolic center of the University district, Monroe Park should be renovated to a high level of quality and public use.

Monroe Park Guidelines • The University and the City should cooperate to improve the quality and use of the park.

• Buildings fronting the park should fill the site to the sidewalk line and have major public entrances from the park side.

• Belvidere Street should be developed as a treelined boulevard in coordination with the City.

A campus gate should be constructed on the west side of Belvidere Street at Main Street. This would indicate the edge of the Campus and contribute to “calming” the traffic on Main Street as it passes through the Campus.

• Cary Street forms the campus edge at the boundary with Oregon Hill to the south. VCU development at the Trani Center for Life Sciences and the Gladding Residence Center III has improved the quality and definition of the street on the University side. Private development has filled in a number of sites in Oregon Hill to the southgiving a clearer definition to this boundary.

• New development at the School of Engineering should be consistent with the Guidelines.

The Corner at Cary & Belvidere Streets The northwest corner of Cary and Belvidere Streets is one of the most conspicuous sites on the Monroe Park Campus. The general intent is that the perimeter of the site along Pine, Cary, Belvidere and Main Streets should be built up, while the interior of the block along the alley could be picturesque and irregular.

• The frontage on Belvidere Street and the frontage along Cary and Main Streets are the most important to establish. The corners should be given special architectural emphasis.

• The entire perimeter should be landscaped during the first phase of development.

• Under no circumstances should a building be located in the center of the site, nor should one have a diagonal relationship to the site and streets.

Service and parking access should be from Pine Street, but not from Cary Street.

• Park development is addressed in the discussion of New Development for the Monroe Campus.

• Monroe Park Campus Addition Virginia Commonwealth University is expanding its Monroe Park Campus east of Belvidere Street between Main Street and Canal Street. Named the Monroe Park Campus Addition, this 10.6 acre expansion will derive its architectural tone from the City’s Monroe Ward District and should be developed to achieve a distinctive, cohesive collegiate environment of the highest quality. This district should have the look and feel of a traditional college campus while respecting and taking advantage of the benefits of its urban context.

• •

• • •

VCU should reach a balance between buildings and open space.

An identity should be created that is compatible with, but distinct from, the existing Monroe Park Campus.

Frame views and vistas.

Address matters of appropriate scale, color, texture , symbolism, and form.

Respond to pedestrian, vehicular, and bicycle traffic patterns.

In general, the university should create an environment representative of the energy and quality of the academic programs. The architectural language should be one of permanence and dignity, similar to the nearby Jefferson Hotel and Commonwealth Club.

School of Engineering

82

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

• Broad Street District The Broad Street District has progressed from an assembly of vacant parking and auto sales lots to a well-defined urban district as identifiable with VCU as is the historic Franklin Street District. New development is restricted to a few remaining sites, including the prominent southeast corner at Broad and Belvidere Streets that should be programmed for a suitable prominent University function.

• The University should evaluate and pursue acquisitions and joint development throughout this district as it serves the University’s purposes and needs.

• Additional development in streetscaping and landscaping, including the median, is critical to softening the large scale and traffic congestion of this district.

• Pedestrian crossing improvements should be made at all intersections. Pedestrian crossings not at intersections should be actively discouraged.

• Multiple pedestrian connections between this district and the Grace Street District, Franklin Street District and the Academic Core beyond should be developed and enhanced.

and activated with administrative or retail functions.

A combination of the transience of many universityoriented commercial establishments and the particular scale, or module, of many of the existing structures appears to have discouraged the evolution of the area. It has lacked the critical mass of retailers and anchors necessary to generate a consistent market of shoppers/patrons. There is no larger area of vacant or underdeveloped property remaining within the boundaries of the Campus. As such, this district represents the University’s largest potential space bank for contiguous development in this Master Plan.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Beyond these objectives, the University should consider two additional initiatives: • Parking and traffic calming changes that could enhance this street as a “campus” street.

• Potential recasting of the functional orientation of the area, from an administrative to a more fully academic and residential district, to support other models of collegiate interaction.

increased safety at Linden and Main Streets. Similar improvements are underway for Shafer Street at Franklin Street.

Four major parking decks now provide over 3,300 structured off-street parking spaces to serve the Campus. All four decks are located on the perimeter of the Campus, minimizing the impact on internal traffic congestion. The network of streets within the campus interior provides adequate access to buildings and services but accommodates a traffic flow that results in pedestrian and vehicular conflicts at a number of locations including Harrison Street, Floyd Avenue, and Linden Street. Traffic calming features and other administrative solutions should be explored to decrease these conflicts.

For pedestrians, the streets provide effective means of movement east and west, movements that will continue to be enhanced by sidewalk and streetscape improvements. The north and south movements are interrupted by the streets and part of a developing but still disconnected network. Pedestrian circulation to and through Monroe Park is expected to increase dramatically with the development of the Addition.

Improvements at Cary and Belvidere Streets are recommended as the primary crossing point as the intersection permits greater visibility for pedestrians and vehicles and more conventional turning movements.

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Monroe Park Campus Traffic Issues: Conversion of Grace Street • to one-way flow between Belvidere Street and Lombardy Street is not recommended; Northbound left-turn lane • on Belvidere Street at Main Street; The Broad Street median • within the Monroe Park Campus; City improvements to Broad • Street at Belvidere Street; Conversion of Franklin Street • to two-way traffic flow between Belvidere Street and Lombardy Street (Stuart Circle); Access to the proposed • parking deck on Grace Street near Belvidere Street; The construction of a • roundabout or other alternatives on Idlewood Street at the I-195 eastbound off ramp ; Conversion of Laurel Street • to one-way southbound traffic flow between Frankin Street and Grace Street ; Elimination of I-195 on-ramp • from northbound Belvidere Street (as part of the Monroe Park Campus Addition) ; Traffic calming features on • Floyd Street and Cathedral Place; Closure of Shafer Street • between Franklin Street and Grace Street; Pedestrian crossing • improvements on Belvidere Street at both Cary Street and Main Street.

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The Monroe Park Campus is highly accessible to the metropolitan area, with close proximity to major exits from Interstates 95 and 64 and I-195, the Downtown Expressway. The Campus is served by major arterials in US 250 (Broad Street) and US 1/301 (Belvidere Street) which have historically formed the general northern and eastern boundaries of the campus.

More challenging to the Campus are the one-way eastbound movements of Cary Street and Franklin Street that serve commuters and the one-way west bound movement of Franklin Street that serves commuters leaving the downtown area. These streets bring high volumes of traffic through the Campus at greater speeds than might be ideal. Signalization of crosswalks and other improvements have slowed some traffic, given more priority to pedestrians, and

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

The Monroe Park Campus occupies or abuts several State and City historic districts. While providing the rich historic and architectural context of the Campus, the constraints imposed by the historic qualifications of the districts and buildings must be accounted for in the planning and utilization of campus structures.

The Monroe Park district is at the campus center, while VCU’s historic structures line the West Franklin Street District. Residential districts include the Fan, Fan extension, Oregon Hill, Monument Avenue, Carver (noted “eligible” by the Department of Historic Resources), and Jackson Ward.

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Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Columbia Building Hotel Jefferson

HISTORIC RESOURCES VCU Buildings Historic Structure, Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources; Historic District / Eligible Historic District, Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC

MONROE PARK CAMPUS VCU Buildings Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Buildings VCU Parking Decks

N EXISTING CIRCULATION Parking Lots Vehicular Circulation Pedestrian Circulation Circulation Conflicts

CAMPUS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION As would be expected in an urban environment, land use is varied and closely-mixed within VCU’s Monroe Park Campus area. VCU’s institutional function at the center of the district is surrounded by highdensity residential developments to the west, south and north. Businesses and commercial functions line much of Cary Street and portions of Main and Broad Streets bringing commercial uses through the heart of the Campus district. Light industrial functions are found to the northeast along Broad Street and to the southeast along Cary Street. Business functions and vacant properties predominate to the northeast and beyond Belvidere Street. Although VCU is exempt

from the purview of the City Zoning Ordinance, an overlay of these zoning districts provides an illustration of the rich mix of functions which form VCU’s urban setting.

specific spaces associated with life sciences, are also highlighted. The diagram points out the existing functional separation between the Broad Street District and the rest of the Campus. It also illustrates the importance and increasingly central position of Monroe Park.

Functional Use The functional use zones diagram demonstrates the structural pattern of the existing Campus where student services facilities at the hub of the campus serve groups of academic, housing, parking and recreation functions distributed around it. Small areas of specialized functions, including public interface spaces associated with the arts and research-

Schematic Diagram The Monroe Park Campus Schematic Diagram illustrates the primary planning concepts to be achieved by the Master Site Plan. Monroe Park is at the center of

a growing concentric array of academic, housing, and support functions, including the Monroe Park Campus Addition. The campus will be united along north/ south pathways at Linden and Shafer Streets. Grace Street, a large source of opportunity, will be an area of infill development that will unite the Broad Street District to the rest of the Campus and create a “college street.� Gateways are further developed or enhanced and parking structures are placed at the perimeter of the Campus.

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New Construction • (18) Administrative Information Technology (AIT) Building A new structure located behind the Facilities and Financial Services Building will be built to serve the particular infrastructure needs of AIT. The new facility will begin to complete the streetfront of Broad Street toward Belvidere Street. It should fill the site and have a ‘storefront’ entrance on Broad Street.

(14) Biochip Facility- Engineering School Addition Programmatically, this lab will reinforce VCU’s strategy of integrating Engineering and Life Sciences for instruction and research. The building should meet the street and provide an entrance at Cary Street.

Connections to the existing building should be made at the second floor so that a pedestrian passage can be maintained between the structures. This passage will provide an important link connecting the Monroe

Monroe Park Campus Aerial with Current Development

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AIT’s present facilities located at 327 West Main will be demolished to permit construction of the new Schools of Business and Engineering on the Monroe Park Campus Addition.

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Pollack Building Renovation Scott House Renovation Scott Carriage House Renovation Ginter House Renovation Hibbs Building Renovation VCURenovation OWNED/OCCUPIED BUILDINGS Schafer Court Playhouse Franklin Terrace Renovation NEW CONSTRUCTION Rhoads Hall Renovation Music Center Renovation James Branch Cabell Library Renovation MONROE PARK School of Business Classroom Renovation Oliver Hall Renovation 20 Monroe Park Campus Addition Tower New School of Business 21 Parking Deck (underground) Biochip Facility 22 School of Engineering/ School of Business Student Housing, 400 Beds Future Expansion School of Engineering Addition Phase II 23 Student Housing Phase II Belting Building Renovation 24 Executive Conference Training Center Administrative Information Technology 25 Retail/ Student Housing Facility 26 Anderson Gallery relocation 19 Bio-Medical Engineering Renovation 27 Town House residences

21 17 N CAMPUS

CURRENTLY PLANNED DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Renovations Future Monroe Park Campus Addition Projects Underground Parking Structure

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At the same time, there is an emerging relationship between VCU’s Schools of Engineering and Business.

Park Campus Addition to the current Engineering Site, to Monroe Park and to the Campus beyond, and will focus crossings of Belvidere Street to the intersection at Cary Street. This addition will be connected to the systems serving the existing clean room and will be supported by existing infrastructure in the School of Engineering.

3.

The coincidence of mutual space needs for the schools, the timing and availability of private support, a recognition of the potential educational benefits of collocation, and the potential economies of shared space brought about a convergence of the planning of both schools.

Monroe Park Campus Addition Conceived as an academic village, the Monroe Park Campus Addition is a $199 million project east of Belvidere Street between Main and Canal Streets that will include a new School of Business, the second Phase of the School of Engineering, two residential colleges, a renovation of the historic Central Belting building to house VCU’s Ad Center, an executive conference center and underground parking for 800 vehicles.

Urban Environment Guidelines 1. Buildings should follow the general geometry of the streets closest to them to reinforce the existing urban fabric.

2. Courtyards should be created on the interior of the city blocks.

3. Public amenities such as businesses and retail should be incorporated into the development to create a dynamic environment of mixed uses.

Architectural Guidelines 1. The buildings should be designed with a cohesive collegiate architectural character to set the tone for future development, avoiding a collection of “signature” buildings.

Upper right: Concept view of Business School from Main Street Lower right: Concept view of Student Housing with First Floor Commercial Spaces Above: Monroe Park Campus Addition aerial illustration All Monroe Park Campus Addition illustrations by Smith + McClane Architects

90

5.

6.

7.

Buildings should have predominantly brick exterior walls with stone or cast stone bases and trim. Brick should be in a blended color range.

Ground floor plans of buildings should be articulate and distinct and where feasible, the interior spaces should be organized as extensions of the public spaces outside.

Building entrances should be architecturally “legible” and located along public spaces.

• (13) New School of Business The first project in planning for the Monroe Park Campus Addition, the new School of Business, is in joint development with the School of Engineering.

The new School of Business will provide a state-ofthe-art structure for business education including case study classrooms, lecture halls, multi-media

Monroe Park Campus Addition Tower concept

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

PA R K C A M P U S

A number of unique pressures and opportunities have given rise to the development of the Monroe Park Campus Addition. As noted in the Broad Themes, enrollment growth at VCU has been steep in the past decade and will continue to increase in the next five years. Additionally, VCU’s classroom and lab utilization meets or exceeds SCHEV standards placing further pressure on existing capacities.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Development of these four-and-a-half city blocks (approximately 10.6 acres)east of Belvidere Street is one of the factors giving new prominence and potential to Monroe Park. The Addition is large enough to influence the University’s operations on many fronts: academic programming, recruiting and marketing, research, student services, food services, parking, pedestrian and vehicular circulation, utility services, neighborhood, business and community relations.

Smith-McClane Architects with Michael Dennis Associates developed a master plan and design guidelines for the Addition. These are characterized by the architectural conventions of Richmond’s historic Monroe Ward neighborhood, combined with traditional patterns of urban university campus development.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MONROE

4.

Existing views and vistas should be captured or framed and new views and vistas created by the physical arrangement of buildings.

Buildings should be no less than three stories and no more than five stories in height in order to adequately define the public space of the campus.

Buildings should have a clearly recognizable base, middle, and top expressed on exterior facades.

Critical to this initiative was the availability of sufficient real estate for the proposed programs and support space. The availability of the properties in the Monroe Ward, where VCU already has substantial land holdings, will support the construction of a new campus district, the Monroe Park Campus Addition.

The State has appropriated $25 million towards the construction of the new School of Business and Engineering buildings. The remaining $174 million 87 percent of the estimated construction cost - will be funded by private donations and user support.

89

2.

teaching facilites, a trading room, a shared cafe and lobby, faculty and administrative offices and related support space. The buildings will form an integral courtyard space.

providing housing for students in the Schools of Business and Engineering as well as other disciplines on the campus. Food services and retail developments are planned to support this new area of housing.

• (20) Monroe Park Campus Addition Tower The historically expressive tower will be an iconic landmark for the Addition and the Monroe Park Campus of VCU.

•

(26) Art Gallery (Anderson Gallery expansion) The Anderson Gallery’s Franklin Street location is not ideally suited to serve large public showings, and the facility cannot be adequately renovated to meet the requirements of traveling exhibitions. The new gallery will provide a larger, accredited, accessible location with abundant convenient parking. The activities of the Gallery will further enrich the diversity of community and learning within the Addition.

More effective connection of the building’s central courtyard to the civic space of the Campus should be explored.

• (2) Scott House Renovation The University has occupied this magnificent historic structure for many years, and acquired the house and property in 2001 The house is partially renovated and will be prepared for conversion to administrative office and support functions.

• (3) Scott Carriage House Renovation The Carriage House, acquired with the House, is being restored and adapted for use as a meeting and conference space for the Board of Visitors and other campus groups. Development of the site and gardens is a part of this project.

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(22) School of Engineering/School of Business Future Expansion Two sites on the master plan are designed to accommodate future growth of each of the Schools close to the first phase buildings.

• (23) Residential College II A second residential college with an additional capacity of 400 beds is planned for the eastern part of the site. The facility will form a courtyard along with several of the other miscellaneous facilities in the Addition.

• (24) Executive Conference Training Center The Executive Conference Center will serve education, training and outreach needs of all Schools in the University.

Renovations • (17) Belting Building Renovation The only building of historic merit remaining on the site of the Monroe Park Campus Addition, the Belting Building, is scheduled for renovation as a potential home for the School of Mass Communications’ “Ad Center,” or other academic program.

Improvements • (1) Pollak Building Renovation This building occupied by the School of the Arts is scheduled for renovation in the Capital plan. Renewal and reprogramming issues should be addressed in addition to mechanical and infrastructure issues.

• (5) Hibbs Renovation Hibbs is one of the primary general classroom buildings serving the Monroe Park Campus. The building is in need of complete renovation of its mechanical and infrastructure systems. The main level dining space, replaced by the new Shafer Court Dining Center, will be developed as a Campus Learning Center supporting efforts in student tutoring and study skill development with a view toward increasing student performance and retention.

• (6) Shafer Court Playhouse Renovation The building, occupied by the School of the Arts, is scheduled for renovation. Renewal and performance equipment issues should be addressed in addition to mechanical and infrastructure issues.

• (25) Commercial Space To provide the dynamic urban environment envisioned in the master plan, development along Main Street is identified for storefront retail and business occupancies. Retail functions will closely support the nearby residential population as well as the schools.

• (7) Franklin Terrace Renovation The building, occupied by the School of the Arts, was partially renovated in 2003 and is scheduled for additional renovation. Renewal issues should be addressed in addition to mechanical and infrastructure issues.

Upper left: Concept view School of Business

Upper left: Anderson Gallery Entrance

Lower left: Concept view School of Engineering

Lower left: Pollak Building Courtyard

Upper right: Student Housing and Courtyard All Monroe Park Campus Addition illustrations by Smith + McClane Architects

THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

• (15) Residential College, 400 beds The development of residential colleges at VCU represents a new initiative in education, residence life and collegiate community. Four hundred beds are to be constructed with the first phase of the Addition,

• (27) Townhouses A row of traditional Richmond-style townhouses fronting on Main Street are planned to serve faculty, staff, and, potentially, visiting scholars, chairs, lecturers and researchers.

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• (16) School of Engineering, Phase II The success of VCU’s School of Engineering has brought about a rapid need for additional space to accommodate growth. Current enrollment of the School of Engineering is 1,018 undergraduate and 125 graduate students. Once Phase II is complete, the school will have nearly 1,600 undergraduate and an additional 200 graduate students. The Phase II building is being jointly developed with the School of Business and will share public program areas such as commons/lobbies, lecture halls and other similar spaces with the Business School. The new engineering spaces will include classrooms, laboratories (including wet labs), faculty offices and support spaces.

• (21) Parking Deck (Underground) An underground facility with a capacity of 800 cars will be constructed under the landscaped quadrangle of the first Residential College. It will be accessed from the south end of Madison Street and from Canal Street.

• (4) Ginter House Renovation Ginter House serves as one of the flagship administrative buildings for VCU. The building is a significant historic resource and should be sensitively renovated and restored. Potential re-programming of the building to suit academic functions with other facilities along Franklin Street should be considered at the time of renovation, provided that alternative student services and administrative space can be planned as well.

•

• (12) Oliver Hall Renovation for Life Sciences The relocation of the School of Education to the renovated Business School Building will make Oliver Hall available for renovation and reuse. Given its proximity to the Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences and other proposed expansion of the Life Sciences, Oliver Hall should be renovated to serve sciences programs, permitting the development of this campus area with a science and research focus.

BOU LEV ARD

• (8) Rhoads Hall Renovation This residence hall is scheduled for renovation following the completion of the Brandt Hall construction project. Improvements will address mechanical and infrastructure upgrades and renovations to the entrance and lobby areas.

Continued formation of the campus after urban patterns of development Buildings like the Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences demonstrate the effectiveness of urban style development on the VCU campus. New buildings and indicated infill projects should meet the streets and help define and enclose high-quality public, open spaces.

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• (10) James Branch Cabell Library Renovation The Cabell Library has undergone a series of minor renovations in recent years but is in need of mechanical and infrastructure improvements. Reprogramming of existing spaces should be undertaken and coordinated with the planning for the Information Commons project and the Academic Technology project described under New Development in this Master Plan. Academic Technology is currently housed in the basement of Cabell.

(11) School of Business Renovation for the School of Education/School of Social Work The building will be reprogrammed to serve the Schools of Education and Social Work, along with a complete mechanical and infrastructure renovation.

Each School will be provided with a distinctive identity and “front door” within the development.

Planning should be coordinated with the demolition of the existing auditorium wing proposed under New Development in this Master Site Plan.

•

The program of new development provides investment in new structures throughout the campus, principally for housing and academic spaces, including the Monroe Park Campus Addition. To support these new structures and enhance the existing fabric of the Campus, the planning initiatives can be described in relation to a number of major infrastructure developments: •

Grace Street- primary area of development opportunity As noted in the discussion of the campus districts, the Grace Street District represents the largest contiguous area of real estate available for development. It includes large areas of vacant property as well as properties for potential acquisition and/or redevelopment. While VCU does not intend to own or control all property in this area, the development of property currently under ownership, along with selective acquisitions, will enable planning and construction of key University facilities including housing and parking. Objectives of this development include cooperative public/private development of Grace Street as a mixed-use retailoriented “College Street” serving the University and the community, creating effective “campus-like” connections through this area from Broad Street to the Academic Core, providing additional parking and accommodating the University’s housing demand.

•

Coordinated development of “greenway” from the campus to the James River VCU will cooperate with city and private interests in the development of a landscaped pedestrian route along Belvidere Street from the Campus to the James River and to its many natural and recreational resources. This is an initiative of the Oregon Hill Association and is funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to link Monroe Park Campus and the Oregon Hill community with the recreational opportunities afforded by the James River. The Riverview trail will connect to existing trails in the James River Park System and will be designed for pedestrians, bicycles and ADA accessibility.

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• Monroe Park- New center of the campus Monroe Park should be reconceived in the thinking of the University community and the Richmond community as a vital center of civic life and activity.

• Electrical Utilities Overhead Distribution Much of the existing electrical distribution on the Monroe Park Campus remains in an overhead system (poles and wires). This tangle of exposed infrastructure detracts from the quality of the campus, is difficult to maintain and subject to damage.

Dominion Power has a program to cooperatively fund relocation of power distribution underground as part of construction projects in downtown Richmond.

VCU should review and implement this program to the greatest extent reasonable with each project.

• Chilled water mini-loops To provide efficient chilled water to buildings on the Campus, each building should be evaluated for potential connection to existing or new networks of chilled water (loops). These loops allow multiple buildings to be served by a group of chillers, permitting the most efficient sizing and operation of the individual building plants.

JAMES RIVER

Left: Franklin Terrace

Upper Left: Grace and Harrison Streets

Right: VCU Music Center

Lower left: Greenway Diagram, Riverview Access Trail

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CAMPUS PLANNING AND DESIGN INITIATIVES

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• (9) Music Center Renovation The Music Center is the historic former Grove Avenue Baptist Church. The building has been converted to serve a variety of academic, administrative office, studio, and performance space functions for the School of the Arts. Renewal, performance and acoustical issues should be addressed in addition to mechanical and infrastructure issues.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

• Pedestrian Pathways Further development of the network of paths and spaces to support pedestrian passage from north to south is important throughout the Monroe Park Campus to achieve a consistently high-quality campus experience. The impression created should be one of a pedestrian friendly place that accommodates the flow of people and encourages a wealth of “collegiate community” and interpersonal interaction.

Continuing the development of consistent streetscape extended throughout the campus.

Portions of Franklin Street, Shafer Street and Main Street are excellent models for the application of brick-paved sidewalks, street trees and other amenities throughout the campus. Existing areas of streetscape must be maintained in safe and attractive condition, and these patterns extended to other undeveloped streets. Continued evaluation of areas of on-street parking and potential selective widening of sidewalks on the secondary cross streets, to make the streets more pedestrian-friendly, should be evaluated when new buildings are planned.

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traffic flow between Franklin Street and Grace; Eliminate the I-195 on-ramp from northbound Belvidere Street as part of the Monroe Park Campus Addition. The addition of northbound left-turn lanes on Belvidere Street (identified above) at both Main Street and Franklin Street may be required to support this change; Develop traffic calming features on Floyd Street and Cathedral Place. Evaluate restricting traffic to buses, restricting hours of access to through traffic, discouraging through traffic with other means and providing a safer pedestrian crossing environment; Develop pedestrian improvement on Shafer Street between Franklin Street and Grace Street including wider sidewalks and evaluation of removal/reduction of on-street parking; Close Linden Street between Floyd and Grove Avenues and develop it as a pedestrian way; Develop pedestrian crossing improvements at Belvidere Street at both Cary Street and Main Street to support the Monroe Park Campus Addition.

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(2) Area of Future Consideration- Grocery Store Site and Surrounding Block The University will support and pursue cooperative public/private redevelopment of this block in support of the existing anchor grocery store tenant and potential mixed-use development of parking, student housing, and additional retail functions.

(3) Future University Facility- Commonwealth Cancer Center The University should acquire this site and develop it as additional student housing to complete a quad

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New Construction/ Acquisitions • (1) Future Athletic Expansion- Broad Street The demolition of the Franklin Street Gym will displace a number of Athletic Department locker rooms, administrative spaces, and equipment storage areas. The structures on this site near the Siegel Center and Sports Medicine Center should be acquired, and these athletic department spaces relocated here. This location will provide administrative efficiencies and more convenient access to transportation to the Diamond site and Sports Backers stadium.

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Future Athletic Expansion Area of Future Consideration Future University Facility VCU OWNED/OCCUPIED BUILDINGS Pedestrian Walkway Student Housing NEW CONSTRUCTION Future University Facility - TBD MONROE PARK CAMPUS Parking Facility Student Housing Student Housing 17 Recreation Sports Swimming Pool Anderson Gallery Expansion 18 Recreation Sports Outdoor Facilities Information Commons 19 Monroe Park Academic Technology / Classrooms 20 Linden Street Closure General Classrooms / Faculty 21 Area of Future Consideration Offices 22 Raleigh Building Renovation 14 General Classrooms / Faculty Offices 23 Business Bldg Renovation for School of Education and 15 Auditorium / General Classroom School of Social Work 16 Life Sciences II 24 Oliver Hall Program Renovation for Sciences

N NEW DEVELOPMENT VCU Owned / Occupied Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction Renovations Recreation Sports Outdoor Development Underground Parking Facility Area of Future Consideration

with the West Broad Street Housing development, or develop the site for other University uses.

• (4) Pedestrian Walkway- Grace Street This mid-block passage from Broad Street to Franklin Street is one that has developed informally over the years. University development at the Broad Street Parking Deck and the Grace Street Theater has enhanced this pattern, yet the existing parking lot across Grace has remained a visual, if not a functional, disconnect in this path. The University should acquire the property or develop an arrangement with its owner that will permit site improvements for a paved pedestrian walk through the parking lot. Dumpsters and other site facilities serving VCU buildings in the area should be relocated to facilitate an attractive and functional path.

• (5) Student Housing- Grace Street- North Housing on Grace Street should be developed in accordance with the historic character of development in the district and conducive to contemporary retail development. The buildings should be four stories high with the first floor designed to serve retail functions. The structures are planned to permit incremental construction of the buildings in sixty foot modules. As a development model, this gives the University considerably more flexibility as opposed to the complete real estate acquisition required for a larger project. Each module is composed of two thirtyfoot wide components with a small central courtyard.

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(6) Future University Facility/TBD Corner of Broad and Belvidere Streets The University has acquired and preserved this prominent corner for a program appropriate to its civic position and symbolic potential. A structure should be programmed to fill the block and provide an entry and architectural point of emphasis at the corner. The building could be connected by overhead walkways to the new parking deck to the south.

• (8) Student Housing- Grace Street - South Please see discussion of this housing model under the Student Housing- Grace Street north.

• (9) Student Housing- Franklin Street The obsolescence of the Franklin Street Gym has led to the decision to remove this structure and replace it with housing development that is consistent with the residential scale and texture of historic Franklin Street. The pattern of this housing would follow that of the Grace Street Housing, except that the ground floor spaces would be designed for housing instead of commercial use. The alley behind the site should be developed along with the housing to enhance circulation to the Academic Core. Athletic spaces displaced from the Franklin Street Gym will be located in the structures to be acquired west of the Sports Medicine Center on Broad Street, and in a new swimming pool to be developed adjacent to the Cary Street Gym.

• 10) Anderson Gallery Expansion A small addition is planned to support the function of the present Anderson Gallery as a venue for the exhibition of student work. The expansion will open into the garden of the Scott House and should permit gallery openings and other events to share use of the Carriage House, Scott House grounds and Park Plaza.

The development should continue to facilitate a midblock passage through the site from Park Plaza to Franklin Street.

• (11) Information Commons The Information Commons will give substance to “collegiate community” at the library by providing a place where academic study, supporting technology, collaboration and social interaction are supported and encouraged. Program features could include an expanded light-service café or coffee bar, flexible work spaces with network connections, individual and group study rooms and spaces, on-line reference materials, audio-video, conferencing and distance learning facilities.

The building should provide a prominent architectural focal point at the end of the view down Shafer Court, should have a ground floor with large areas of glass open to view from the adjacent public spaces, and should accommodate a public pathway through the building from Shafer to Linden Street in an atrium space.

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• (7) Parking Facility- Grace Street Consistent with the guidelines, this parking deck is located on the perimeter of the campus with access from the major arterial streets, minimizing traffic impact on the interior streets and pedestrian crossings of the campus. This facility would take advantage of the large available site, most of which is now in surface parking, to provide parking for 800 cars. The deck will require the acquisition of air rights over Grace Street and will span the street at its upper levels to maximize the efficiency of the parking plan. The bridge would also form a gateway for the entrance to

the Campus on westbound Grace Street. Access to the deck would be from Grace Street, from Belvidere Street to the south, and from Belvidere Street northbound via a left turn onto a two-way Franklin Street and passage north on Pine Street. Cooperative arrangements would be made with other campus neighbors in the area to support their parking needs as well. Ground floor retail or office space, such as the admissions office, should be programmed along the Belvidere Street frontage to activate the street and provide a foreground for the deck structure.

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The ground floor commercial space would open to the street through storefronts. The housing would be accessed from vertical circulation off the courtyards.

A mid-block passage should be planned as part of the development. The potential for developing part of this housing to support the Greek community at VCU has been discussed and should be further studied as part of a comprehensive housing study.

Grace Street Student Housing Illustration

Information Commons Illustration

The University’s significant enrollment growth has placed heavy demands on the College of Humanities and Sciences and the existing general classroom room programming. This demand will grow as enrollment moves towards its 30,000 student headcount upper limit. In addition, the College is developing several new Ph.D programs which will result in a change in the distribution of undergraduate vs. graduate students, as well as new research opportunities and increased extramural funding for research. To accommodate the growth in both undergraduate and graduate student enrollment, as well as the new research initiatives, over 100 new faculty are expected to be hired in the College in the planning period. The balance of the building should be planned for general classroom space and faculty offices, located in proximity to the associated classrooms. The buildings should meet the streets as indicated and form a central courtyard within the block. Properties not owned by the University on this site should be acquired for redevelopment.

• (17) Recreation Sports Swimming Pool A 25-meter indoor pool facility will be developed on the site fronting Cary Street to replace the recreational pool removed with the demolition of the Franklin Street Gym. The building’s architecture should be sympathetic to the historic gym and will be connected to the locker rooms and other support spaces of the Cary Street facility.

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(13) General Classrooms/Faculty Offices- I-lot site Reference discussion of the AT/Classroom facility that will share this site. The buildings should be designed with a consistent aesthetic with the AT/Classrooms, and could be developed in two phases as University needs and funding dictate. Parking displaced from the I-lot would be supplied by the capacity of the new deck on Grace Street.

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(14) General Classrooms/Faculty Offices- Old Business School site This project, along with the Replacement Auditorium project, will redevelop the site consistent with the original General Plan and Guidelines extending the building to define the street edges and give shape to the surrounding campus open space. It will provide additional classroom spaces to meet enrollment demands and will demolish the existing auditorium and expand the Student Commons plaza into an appropriately scaled and landscaped civic space.

• (18) Recreational Sports Outdoor Facilities Development on the site will relocate the outdoor basketball courts from the northeast corner of the site and will replace some of the relocated tennis courts north of Cary Street for recreational uses.

• (19) Monroe Park The Park should be redeveloped as a symbolic and functional open space in service to the University and the community, in cooperation with the City of Richmond and the Monroe Park Advisory Council.

The general initiatives that should be undertaken, as reflected in the Council’s master plan of 1998, include: • Development of an open piazza as a public gathering space and forecourt to the Cathedral.

• Improve and widen the perimeter walks and landscaping to define the edge of the park and develop a circulation path set back from the street.

• Create gathering spaces that invite use, and serve as “points of entry” at the major access

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(15) Replacement Auditorium/ General Classrooms Replacement auditorium spaces, programmed to suit contemporary class-size needs and incorporating appropriate educational technology, would be developed on this site.

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support the Life Sciences. Additional research space should be programmed to facilitate interdisciplinary research at this site. The existing tennis facility on this site will be relocated to a site at the Diamond.

• (16) Life Sciences II This facility should be developed in form and architecture consistent with the Eugene P. & Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences, and be programmed for additional classroom, office and research lab space to

Franklin Street Illustration

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• (12) Academic Technology (AT)/Classrooms The steady advancement of academic technology needs has continued to displace space in the Cabell Library once held for library functions. Furthermore, the spaces modified to support AT and the mechanical

and electrical systems that support them are not compatible. New development should include a new, integrated AT center with an overhead pedestrian connection to the Cabell Library.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

The library’s existing loading dock will remain below the addition and will be served by a modified service portal. Mechanical services will be relocated to the roof of the addition. The existing library building should be reprogrammed with the planning of the addition to permit rearrangement of locations of student services, control, traffic flow and common spaces.

Left: Student Commons Plaza Site Plan, Higgins & Gerstenmaier

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Site Improvements • Streetscape and Landscape Development CampusWide The incremental development of landscape, streetscape, and open space should be pursued throughout the life of the Master Site Plan Update. Phased funding and execution is essential to develop a unifying context and quality environment for the Campus and to create a “sense of place.” Key projects to be developed include: • The School of Business/School of Social Work and Commons Building quadrangle • Park Plaza at the end of Linden Street • The School of Engineering site and quad • Street crossings at Belvidere, Cary and Main Streets • Street calming improvements on Cathedral Place and Floyd Avenue • Completion of streetscape on Broad Street • Courtyards within individual projects should be funded, planned, and developed integrally with the projects.

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the form of a carillon or clock tower near the corner of Main and Belvidere Streets.

Develop alternative solutions to event parking in the Park.

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points to the Park. This is of particular importance at the intersection of Laurel and Franklin Streets, where more than 1,800 students, plus another 1,650 students within one block of the Park, will be living by 2007.

Reduce the number of paved walkways and drives crossing the park- remove curbs and replace pavement materials at paths to remain with new flush walkways.

Selectively prune, remove, and replant trees to replace mature trees in decline and to form open spaces, primarily on the west side of the park near the plaza.

Develop a crescent-shaped pedestrian promenade from Main to Franklin Streets, with a trellis to the piazza.

Develop a central paved area to support public concerts and events. Remove the existing roundhouse. Provide a covered stage and band shell.

Develop the landscaping with greater density to the eastern part of the park to partially screen noise and traffic from Belvidere Street.

Restore and retain existing monuments and historic markers, supplementing them with a new appropriately-selected/designed icon in

Top: Monroe Park Campus detail plan of Linden Street, closed, and

Top: Monroe Park Site Plan, Monroe Park Advisory Council, 1998 plan

Park Plaza

Bottom: Monroe Park Concept Illustration

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property that, in cooperation with other neighborhood interests and institutions, will serve the University’s needs for future growth as well as enhance and redevelop this area of the community.

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• (21) Area of Future Consideration The University has designated this general area bordered by Broad Street, Madison Street, the midblock south of Grace Street and Belvidere Street as an area of future consideration for development.

This area of multi-family housing and small retail establishments also has a high proportion of vacant property. The University currently owns a site at the northeast corner of the intersection of Henry and Grace Streets that is used as a surface parking lot. It is not the University’s goal to acquire all the property in this area, but to strategically acquire and develop

Future Athletic Expansion Area of Future Consideration Future University Facility Pedestrian Walkway Student Housing Future University Facility - TBD Parking Facility Student Housing Student Housing Anderson Gallery Expansion Information Commons Academic Technology / Classrooms General Classrooms / Faculty Offices General Classrooms / Faculty Offices Auditorium / General Classroom Life Sciences II Recreation Sports Swimming Pool Recreation Sports Outdoor Facilities Monroe Park Linden Street Closure Area of Future Consideration Raleigh Building Renovation Business Bldg Renovation for School of Education and School of Social Work Oliver Hall Program Renovation for Sciences

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• (20) Linden Street Closure As part of the extension and completion of the north/south pedestrian pathway through the campus, this section of Linden Street should be closed and redeveloped as a brick-paved and landscaped walk similar in part to other sections of Linden Street and Shafer Street that have been closed. The visual axis of the pathway facing north should be terminated by a vertical object or icon at the intersection with Park Avenue. The specific design of the streetscape should be integrated with Park Plaza and coordinated with development of the Information Commons and the new Academic Technology/Academic Facility to the west of Linden Street. Entrances to these buildings should be located on the street and from off the courtyard. Service to the Cabell Library’s loading dock will be accommodated within the pavement design in this area.

10

GROVE AVE.

6

8

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OA

D

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12 7

9

11

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21

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14

19

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THE MONROE PA R K C A M P U S

PA R K C A M P U S

15

W. MAIN ST.

24

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

16

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

THE MONROE

23

W. CARY ST.

17 18

N MONROE PARK CAMPUS

Linden Street Illustration

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN VCU Buildings VCU Buildings: New Construction/ Acquisition Non-VCU Buildings Area of Future Consideration

FACILITIES

VCU Medical Center at Stony Point

VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences

Located in suburban Richmond, the VCU Medical Center at Stony Point is an outpatient facility providing comprehensive medical services and information.

Specialty services now offered include: hematology, oncology, and radiation oncology through VCU’s Massey Cancer Center; radiology including CT, MRI and mammography imaging; women’s healthcare including obstetrics/gynecology, menopausal and uro-gynecological services, genetics, gynecological and breast surgical specialties, and primary care of women; and orthopedics, podiatry, general and plastic surgery, neurosurgery, dermatology and pediatric specialties.

Donated by Mrs. Inger V. Rice in 2000, The Rice Center property includes 343 acres of land and a 70-acre lake on the north bank of the James River, approximately 25 miles southeast of Richmond between Berkeley and Shirley Plantations. Located on one of the country’s most ecologically and culturally significant rivers, the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences will be both a nationally recognized living laboratory for VCU Life Sciences and the headquarters for the Virginia Rivers Initiative.

The site development plan provides a flexible, physical framework for the Rice Center that will support its mission and programming goals well into the future.

VCU focuses on the specialty needs of the community at the Stony Point facility. A goal of VCU Medical Center physicians is to provide clinical services that distinguish VCU from other healthcare providers in the community. VCU’s strategic focus at Stony Point is on women’s health, oncology, and bone and joint disorders backed by a state-of-the-art imaging center.

The VCU Medical Center at Stony Point averages 82,000 patient visits per year. The facility includes a 69,406 square foot office and clinics building and a 208-car parking deck.

The Rice Center will assume a prominent role in VCU Life Sciences, which integrates disciplines from both campuses with the VCU Health System for undergraduate and graduate programs in the life sciences. As part of VCU Life Sciences’ interdisciplinary approach to education and research, faculty in VCU’s Center for Environmental Studies, the Department of Biology, and the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, in conjunction with biomedical faculty who have an interest in environmental issues, will develop the Rice Center as a site for research, teaching, and public service.

Ultimately, the Rice Center will provide VCU students and faculty with a living laboratory in which to study the environment in a variety of ways. It will offer rich and unique learning experiences to local and regional schools and community groups as part of VCU Life Sciences’ public education program. This property, rich in natural resources and wildlife, will enable the University to create a world-class environmental life sciences program.

108

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S AT E L L I T E

S AT E L L I T E FACILITIES

107

The plan capitalizes on previously-developed areas, including the existing site road and preserves the eastern half of the property for field research, protection of significant cultural resources and educational programs.

The building program for the Rice Center has three components that correspond to its mission- research, education, and outreach. Buildings proposed for the Rice Center do not dominate the site. Instead, they frame the site and focus the view toward the river.

FACILITIES

SATELLITE

VCU Medical Center at Stony Point

Left: Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences Right: Rice Center Site Plan Lower Left: Concept Illustration, Rice Center Development

VCU School of Social Work - Northern Virginia

VCU School of the Arts in Qatar

The Governor and Virginia General Assembly approved the creation of the VCU School of Medicine - Inova Campus in 2002. Beginning in August 2005, the first group of 24 third-year medical students from the MCV Campus will receive their training at the new VCU School of Medicine Campus located at Inova Fairfax Hospital. By Fall 2006, there will be 24 third-year and 24 fourth-year medical students training at the Inova Health System Campus. Inova is constructing a new 40,000 square foot facility to house the educational and other training-related functions, including the VCU School of Medicine. The new Claude Moore Building is a five-floor, $33 million facility on the Inova Fairfax Hospital Campus.

VCU’s Northern Virginia Master of Social Work (MSW) Program is located in leased space in Alexandria, Virginia.

VCU School of the Arts is VCU’s campus in Doha, Qatar, established by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development in 1997 to provide special educational opportunities in the design professions for the citizens of Qatar, in partnership with the VCU School of the Arts based in Richmond, Virginia. These opportunities reflect traditional beliefs about preserving customs and culture as well as modern ideas about using education to achieve professional goals.

The purpose of VCU School of the Arts in Qatar is to offer students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Communication Arts and Design, Fashion Design and Merchandising, or Interior Design. Through experienced teachers and comprehensive four-year curriculum, the college nurtures creativity and innovation and develops the technical skills necessary for demonstrating that creativity. Graduates who earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree are prepared to assume careers and leadership roles in the professional field of their choice.

The VCU MSW Program currently offers a structured, part-time program of study toward a master’s degree in social work, in addition to a full-time program for a limited number of students. Students may combine their social work studies with other courses to earn certificates in aging studies, school social work, and non-profit management.

The School is located in Doha, the capital city of Qatar.

The city is the seat of government for the country, and it is also home to financial and commercial institutions, ministries, and government departments. This active environment provides support for the educational programs. The latest communication technology is built into the facility and it is connected electronically to the School of the Arts at VCU, allowing students to complement their work in the studio with instruction and guidance from teachers at the internationallyrecognized program in the United States.

110

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S AT E L L I T E FACILITIES

109

FACILITIES

VCU INOVA Health System

Top right: VCU INOVA facility at Fairfax General Hospital

Upper left: Interior view VCU School of the Arts in Qatar

Top left: Concept aerial sketch of the Claude Moore Building

Lower left: VCU School of the Arts in Qatar

Lower : Concept sketch of the Claude Moore Building, Wilmont + Sanz, Architects

Middle: Exterior view VCU School of the Arts in Qatar

ARTHUR ASHE JR. ATHLETIC CENTER THE DIAMOND RICHMOND SPORTS BACKERS STADIUM

ROBIN

HOOD

-95 RD.

In addition a competition-level tennis center has been has been planned and authorized for future construction on a site adjacent to the Diamond.

Should future opportunities become available to the University, VCU remains interested in the Diamond athletic complex to expand facilities to serve its athletic program.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

S AT E L L I T E FACILITIES

111

4/ I

HERMITAGE RD.

Construction of the skyboxes, press box and Sports Backers’ offices was completed in the Spring of 2001, putting the finishing touches on VCU’s newest athletic complex. The Sports Backers Stadium, featuring the Irwin Belk Athletic Center and Richard A. Hollander Track, officially opened in 1999. It serves as the home facility for VCU’s men’s and women’s soccer team and track and field teams.

I-6

LEV ARD

The Diamond is home to VCU’s baseball team. The 12,134-seat facility is a major-league quality ballpark with a natural grass playing surface.

PROPOSED TENNIS CENTER SITE

BOU

VCU Athletics - Richmond Diamond Athletic Complex: The Richmond Metropolitan Authority’s Diamond complex, located on North Boulevard Street approximately two miles from the Monroe Park Campus provides multiple venues for VCU intercollegiate sports.

Top: The Diamond Site, key plan Bottom: Aerial view of the Diamond and the Sports Backers Stadium

MAS TE R

SITE

PLAN

IMPLEMENTAT I O N

VISION

The Master Site Plan establishes the overall intent of the University. It defines the primary spatial anatomy (the hierarchical pattern of public spaces) of the University as well as its relationship to its surroundings. The Master Site Plan includes the “General Plan and Guidelines” which defines the general design principles that apply to the University and specific design guidelines that apply to the primary public spaces.

District Plans are the most effective tools for managing campus development. As “district” plans, they bridge the gap between the Master Site Plan and the siting and design of individual buildings. The District Plan adds flexibility and precision to the Master Site Plan and allows it to be less specific about details of development. A District Plan should be accomplished by specific design guidelines regarding the form of public open space and the architectural character of buildings.

Site Development Plans convey more specific requirements not covered by the District Plans, and should be accomplished by guidelines unique to particular buildings, sites, and programs.

PROCESS The University’s planning process must address both private and public interests. To maintain a balance, active participation and cooperation is required by several entities: the users (of a particular building project), the Physical Plant, a design authority, and carefully selected architects. While each of these participants has a focused role, each must be involved

ADOPTION The “Master Site Plan” will be adopted as University policy, and must then be implemented, monitored, interpreted, enforced, and/or modified. This requires an ongoing process as the Plan is not intended to be so prescriptive as to anticipate all future development in detail. Capital planning for the next successive Six-Year and Ten-Year Plans must reference the Master Site Plan and comply with the direction of the established plan. Development opportunities not specifically illustrated in the master Site Plan will inevitably arise. These opportunities should be carefully evaluated against the sprit, goals and intent of the district Plans, other development plans and the policies of the “Guidelines.”

FUNDING Funding for capital projects in the Master Site Plan will come from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the University, federal funding and private sources.

Funding may often involve a combination of sources on any given project. The assembly of project funding and the budget approval processes must tacitly endorse the Master Site Plan as the benchmark for evaluation of the general design and concept.

The State’s review process already references the institution’s Master Site Plan in evaluating capital requests. Joint development and subsequent leasing or management by the University should be subject to the same references. The Master Site Plan document should be used as a tool in soliciting funding for the implementation of the plan.

DESIGN REVIEW At Virginia Commonwealth University, design authority culminates with the Board of Visitors, after policy and management by the President and other University officers. On a day-to-day basis, however, design responsibility rests with the administrative staff, with advice from various groups and committees, including the Architectural Review Committee. The Committee administers and interprets the Master Site Plan and the “Guidelines”, and determines appropriate compliance with them.

112

I M P L E M E N TAT I O N

PLANS Planning should occur on three levels: The Master Site Plan, District Plans, and Site Development Plans.

with all phases of a project and accept responsibility for the implications and effects of their individual agendas. All parties involved must commit themselves to not knowingly build a bad building, irrespective of schedule, budget, and process.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

The University must be committed to the importance of the physical environment and must foster the proper relationship between academic ideals and physical realities. VCU is an urban university and its campus design is urban. Therefore, a balance is needed between the public interests of the larger environment and the private interests of the University and its internal communities. It is, therefore, not enough for the University to have an intellectual vision. The intellectual vision must relate to the community and society as a whole, and the Campus should mirror that idea.

APPENDIX Related Planning Factors

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

APPENDIX

113

Historic Structures VCU’s historic structures are among its most valuable physical resources. While they contribute immeasurably to the quality and ambiance of the campuses, they do present challenges. Preservation of these structures is expansive. Exterior alterations to the historic buildings are strictly limited and approval processes are extensive. Interior renovations, although less tightly regulated, are often limited by the disposition of the original structural elements. Typically, these buildings can only be adapted to modern programmatic functions by leaving space inefficiencies in the plan.

Demolition of older or historically eligible structures must be carefully evaluated when site constraints, program needs or economic factors appear to require such action.

Preservation / Demolition All properties considered for acquisition, renovation or development should be evaluated for their fitness to serve the mission of the University as defined in the Strategic Plan. Under these criteria, serious consideration will be given to maintaining any building or property (regardless of age) that positively contributes to the overall quality of the physical environment. Conversely, equally serious consideration will be given to replacing or modifying any building or property that does not make a positive

Efficiencies Efficiencies of space use, particularly on the Campus, are often influenced by the adaptive reuse of small, often historic or residential structures not originally designed for institutional use.

A study of a group of representative Franklin Street structures suggests that space adapted for academic and administrative uses in these historic structures on average represents 158% of the space allowed by the SCHEV space planning guidelines. This historical use factor should be recognized in the SCHEV standards for planning use of historic structures, and appropriate adjustments made for space need projections.

Utilization VCU continues to meet or exceed the SCHEV standards for classroom and class laboratory utilization. This high intensity of utilization, along with anticipated enrollment increases, supports VCU’s continuing capital requests.

Data provided by Health Sciences Administration demonstrate that combined instructional and noninstructional weekly hours of use of centrally scheduled space is intense, relative to the SCHEV guidelines.

Although space utilization in the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry is not reported under SCHEV guidelines, an overview of data for department controlled space and space occupied by these schools demonstrates intense utilization.

Peak use of the Campuses occurs in the 10:00 a.m. and 2:00p.m. hours, Monday through Thursday.

Evening use is significant, averaging about 65% of the daytime peak at the 7:00 p.m. hour, Monday through Thursday.

Landscape and Streetscape Development Site improvements should continue to be implemented on an incremental basis throughout the Campus in accordance with the recommendations of the “Guidelines”.

A more detailed comprehensive study should be undertaken by VCU to assess site improvement needs on a street-by-street and block-byblock basis. The study should guide the application of

VCU Libraries The VCU Libraries hold 1.74 million volumes, 3 million microforms, 44,000 audiovisual materials, 9,600 print and electronic journal subscriptions, access to articles from over 20,000 electronic titles, and over 4,400 linear feet of manuscripts.

Monroe Park Campus James Branch Cabell Library

171,294 asf

215,149 gsf

55,949 asf

84,547 gsf

MCV Campus Tompkins-McCaw Library

Infill Building Sites Monroe Park Campus Infill “The General Plan and Guidelines” (The “Guidelines”) analysis of the Campuses recommended infill projects intended to complete the pattern and form of each Campus. The Master Site Plan Update endorses the continuing strategy of placing parking structures on the campus perimeter and converting interior parking lots to development sites. The “Guidelines” suggests development of the following sites to provide needed building area in the campus core, provide a consistent campus texture, define edges of blocks and streets more clearly, and define and enhance the open spaces around these facilities: • Cabell Library, addition to the north.

• Business Building, relocation of Business Building Auditorium Wing to create a campus quadrangle.

• LL Parking lots in the 800 block of W. Grace Street.

• VV Parking lot at Harrison Street and Floyd Avenue for building site.

MCV Campus Infill While specific areas of the Monroe Park Campus

require greater definition, the MCV Campus generally possesses a very strong, dense urban pattern with few sites available for infill development. The MCV Campus parking strategy utilizes parking decks provided as close as possible to patient care services. As a result, new building sites must be created by demolition of existing buildings rather than development of underutilized or vacant land.

One notable exception is the Student Life area north of Leigh Street. The “Guidelines” note the high potential of this area when new development creates greater closure, protection and definition of this activity zone.

A recommended infill structure west of the Larrick Center along 8th Street is recommended along with relocation of the Physical Plant Shops. This will provide an additional building site for perimeter parking.

Capital Development Projects included in the Six-Year Capital Plan have been evaluated during the master site planning process and are incorporated into the Master Site Plan Update.

These projects are reflected in the Current Development sections of the Master Site Plan. Implementation of recommendations of past projects funded and in-progress are reflected in Existing Development sections of the Master Site Plan Update.

114

VCU Personnel Employment as of Fall 2003 Employees

University

Full Time Instructional Faculty 1,656 Administrative Faculty 401 Other Faculty and Housestaff 228 Classified 2,095 Total Full Time 4,380

Health System

Total

n/a n/a

1,656 401

581 4,876 5,457

809 6,971 9,837

Part Time Adjunct Faculty GTAs Hourly Workers Student Workers Total Part Time

897 588 988 2,109 4,582

0 0 885 n/a 885

897 588 1,873 2,109 5,467

VCU Total

8,962

6,342

15,304

APPENDIX

Renewal VCU has a significant component of 20th century buildings and many are in need of renovation.

Infrastructure needs such as mechanical systems and architectural finishes are the primary scope of renovation projects. In the case of many buildings constructed 20 or more years ago, the problems include infrastructure needs as well as more fundamental needs relating to plan arrangement, room configuration, and accommodation of technology. Classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories and staff spaces are among the specific space types requiring renewal. Reconfiguration and programmatic adaptations should have an increasing role for renovation planning. All major buildings are scheduled for at least partial renovation in the 15year cycle of the Master Site Plan Update. Priorities will be established as facility evaluations, program development and capital planning efforts continue.

the specific design standards for paving, landscaping, lighting, street furniture, bicycle racks and signage contained in the Campus Amenity Guidelines, 2004,

by Higgins and Gerstenmaier. The streetscape system for both campuses should be coordinated to provide a unified image for the University.

contribution to the overall quality of the physical environment.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

Facilities Factors

MONROE PARK CAMPUS

Infrastructure Issues Infrastructure issues represent a substantial capital investment need over the next ten years. Within a University whose historic context contains many 19th century structures, deferred maintenance, utility and mechanical systems, hazardous materials, traffic management demands, street improvements, signage, streetscapes and pedestrian-way developments require careful evaluation, planning and investment.

Historic structures require continued preservation.

The University’s 20th century structures require maintenance, renovation and/or reconfiguration to meet changing needs. Infrastructure and changing programmatic needs should be evaluated concurrently in composing the scope of renovation projects.

Utilities Development The MCV Campus is adequately served by municipal water, storm water/sanitary sewer and natural gas systems. Rights-of-way for these utilities are primarily located in the streets. Electrical power is provided by Dominion. The capacity of these systems is sufficient to accommodate the planned developments of the Master Site Plan Update. The central steam system serves all buildings currently within the Campus District. The new Steam Plant in Shockoe Valley provides capacity to accommodate all planned development of the Master Site Plan Update. The completion of the new plant permits the demolition of the existing steam plant on 13th Street and permits planning the Hospitals’ Bed Tower on the site.

Utilities Development The Monroe Park Campus is adequately served by municipal water, storm water/sanitary sewer and natural gas systems. Rights-of-way for these utilities are located primarily in the streets. Electrical power is provided by Dominion, primarily by overhead distribution. The capacity of these systems is sufficient to accommodate the planned developments of the Master Site Plan. A limited central steam system serves two blocks of the campus between Cathedral Place and Franklin Street.

Accessibility Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) prohibits state and local entities from discriminating against any qualified individual with a disability in their programs, services and activities, including employment.

Recycling initiatives need to be further advanced and expanded at VCU.

The Campus fiber optic network is provided in a tunnel or buried conduit system throughout the MCV Campus District. Extensions will be required to connect the Recreation and Aquatic Center, Monumental Church and the Beers (Newton) House.

Future connection/extension of the Campus network to the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park should be evaluated as development of the Park continues.

The feasibility of central chilled water systems is being evaluated for the Campus. New and replacement systems may be designed to serve small groups of existing and new structures. Chiller loops joining two or more systems may be employed to provide energy savings during off-peak demands.

While the utilities infrastructure is in place to serve planned building developments, VCU should evaluate relocation of existing utilities where investments in Campus open space improvements are planned at the Business School/Student Commons, Shafer Court and the James Branch Cabell Library.

The University is committed to providing access to programs, services, activities and employment in accordance with federal regulation and design requirements, and to promoting access to facilities by providing unobstructed safe paths of travel and appropriate travel surfaces. The implementation of new construction, renovation, streetscape and landscape planning projects will be consistent with these University commitments.

University Housing Occupancy Summary Residence Hall

Monroe Park Campus Ackell Residence Center Capital Garage Apts. (leased) Gladding Phase I Gladding Phase II Gladding Phase III Johnson Hall Rhoads Hall West Broad & Belvidere West Grace Brandt Hall (under construction) 933 West Broad (leased, under construction)

Design Capacity

396 142 510 348 172 516 680 412 177

The Campus fiber optic network is provided through an overhead distribution system including most of the Campus District between Cary Street and Grace Street. Expansion of the system should include a perimeter trunk line to provide additional paths and greater system flexibility and reliability.

This perimeter trunk will connect the School of Engineering, Monroe Park Campus Addition, and developments on Broad Street to the Campus network.

Fiber optic connections between the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses are currently leased. VCU should investigate the feasibility of acquiring or installing a dedicated, owned fiber connection between the Campuses.

Virginia Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act As part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Rice Center property falls under the jurisdiction of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act; VCU’s two main campuses do not.

Designed to protect the water quality of the Bay, the Act requires a 100-foot buffer to be maintained from the landward edge of adjacent waters and any wetlands contiguous to regulated waters. All of these waters constitute Resource Protection areas (RPA’s) as defined by the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act ordinance. Any land disturbance exceeding 2,500 square feet within an RPA must comply with the requirements of the ordinance.

The Rice property also contains areas known as Resource Management Areas (RMA’s) that are regulated by the Act. These include highly erodible soils and steep slopes adjacent to RPA’s as well as the 100-year floodplain.

640 170

MCV Campus Bear Hall Cabaniss Hall Mcrae Hall Rudd Hall Warner Hall

60 432 90 92 76

Total

4913

The University is committed to the purposes of the Act and proposed development is to conform to applicable federal, state and local environmental quality and code regulations.

116

APPENDIX

“The Utilities Evaluation: Academic and MCV Campuses of Virginia Commonwealth University” by Draper Aden Associates, 2004, evaluates the major utilities for existing capacity and for the ability to serve planned development for the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. These utilities critical to capital planning include water, storm water/sanitary sewer and natural gas services provided by the City of Richmond.

Electrical power service is provided by Virginia Power Company. Central steam is a University system serving selected areas of the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses and Capitol Square. Communications services, including telephone and fiber optics are provided by Verizon and the University. Extensions of services for these utilities can be expensive; however, the distribution systems for these utilities are extensive within the campuses. Minor extensions, relocations and upgrading of services will be provided in conjunction with planned development projects.

As required, the University completed a self-evaluation of programs and facilities, and developed a transition plan to identify areas where structural changes are needed to comply with the Act.

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

APPENDIX

115

MCV CAMPUS

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APPENDIX

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VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

B-3

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

APPENDIX

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N

N MONROE PARK CAMPUS B-3 B-4 M-1 R-6 R-53 R-73

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MCV CAMPUS

ZONING DISTRICTS RO-2 RO-3

Residential Office Residential Office VCU Occupied

B-2 B-4 M-1 M-2 RO-2 RO-3

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ZONING DISTRICTS R-53 Multi-Family HO Hotel-Office CM Coliseum Mall VCU Occupied Virginia Biotechnology Research Park

VCU MASTER SITE PLAN

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APPENDIX

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