Fredrick Law Olmsted Design Campus Buildings

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In 1850, Fredrick Law Olmsted introduced park like campus design principles which were especially prominent in the land-grant institutions which embodied the new air of a democratic education versus the previously portrayed elitism of institutions of higher education (Turner, 1987-1988). Olmsted designed number of campuses in America including at Cornell University, Stanford University at California, Yale University, University of California at Berkeley and many others. His aim in designing these campuses was to improve students’ overall learning experience (Berry, 2009). With the increase in U.S. population in the 19thand early 20thcenturies, university campuses began to evolve and expand. During this period, the construction of new buildings …show more content…

Furthermore he talks about number of factors which can influence people in an urban environment. Some examples of these are campus building height, accessibility, visibility, the location and number of entrances, crowd density, and modes of transportation in and around the space (Gehl 1987).Marcus and Francis agree in their book People places, which was published in 1997, provides a large number of recommendations for designing a campus planning and landscaping. Using different colleges and universities, as a study model Marcus and Francis outlined successful and unsuccessful features. According to Marcus and Francis, outdoor learning area is as important as classrooms. If designed appropriately, places for outdoor reading and studying will be actively used in appropriate seasons (Marcus and
Francis …show more content…

They are not designed as user-friendly spaces. Well-designed campus landscape, which has number of activities for users, attracts people. Campus landscapes contribute to attract and sustain the students, faculty and staff. Campus landscape connects the whole campus together into a fabric of landscape and buildings. Campus landscape gives unique quality to campuses. The users’ perception of the campus landscape space is closely tied to human activities as well (Manning and Coleman-Boatwright 1991). Research also indicates that, in a setting such as a university campus with a wide range of users from young freshmen to faculty and staff and active retiree, landscape spaces need to span from active/urban to passive/natural and large open lawns or hillsides to secluded spaces (Abu-Ghazzeh 1999).
2.2.3 Design Elements of Campus Landscapes
Campus landscape elements and character creates sense of place and sense of belonging for users’. Some elements in campus landscapes whether it is the special fountain, a distinctive building, or students interacting in a park- like setting somewhere on campus, such pictures entice students to consider this place home for the next number of years (Yahres & Knight, 1995).
The users’ perception of the campus landscape space is closely tied to human activities as well (Manning and Coleman-Boatwright

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