Campus Planning : David Mayernik Ltd

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Two Case Studies:
A Spanish University | TASIS

Campus Planning involves the experience and goals of the client and the talent and expertise of the architect in addressing the long-range needs of schools. Many schools face the same constraints as commercial development projects, and indeed the history of campus design and town design has many parallels. In addition, schools have complex functional requirements that are often not well-solved by monolithic institutional buildings. David Mayernik brings his experience in village design to campus planning, creating academic ensembles where the space between the buildings is as important as the buildings themselves.

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

A New Small University

On a hillside outside of the historic town of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, this project creates a phased master plan that will be organized around a central Plaza. The new university campus derives its character from local architectural traditions, and the seat of the original university in Santiago itself.

TASIS The American School in Switzerland
Montagnola, Canton Ticino, SwitzerlandAn Academic Village:

THE CAMPUS MASTER PLAN

The campus of TASIS The American School in Switzerland is set along the slope of the Collina D'Oro, overlooking Lake Lugano, within the Comune of Montagnola and adjacent to the village of Certenago. Fortunate to have grown over forty years around several significant historical buildings, the School commissioned a Master Plan for its future development that seeks to integrate its historic fabric and new structures into a harmonious whole that will be a positive addition to the natural and cultural landscape of the Collina D'Oro.

The urban character of the small academic village around the existing dormitory "Monticello" will create a more open, green character for the campus center, while maximizing the potential of the hillside, but it also represents an academic philosophy that uses this community model as a preparation for the students' entry into adulthood. The responsible life of shared public space, public activities and private life is directly inspired by the traditional European urban model. It is the School's firm conviction that the intelligence and beauty of this kind of urban life is one of the principle reasons parents choose to send their children to TASIS from all over the world. It is their hope that the sensitivity and respect the students learn in this environment is the best preparation for their future responsibilities.

A fundamental intention of this Master Plan is a clear logic applied to each of the three development sites: Monticello has its uniquely urban or village character; Belvedere is developed as a series of two terraced villas stepping down the hill; and Hadsall House is completed as an arts complex organized around a newly defined courtyard between Hadsall and its coach house, with a new theater under a terrace on the east side of Hadsall, and additional studio space in a garden pavilion.

Between the new Gymnasium and the new Administration Building below Belvedere, the new Lawn, replacing the former gymnasium and outdoor basketball courts, will become an open, green focus for the entire campus community.

TASIS THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN ENGLAND
Town & Country:

THE TASIS ENGLAND CAMPUS MASTER PLAN

The TASIS England campus, beautifully set in the heart of Thorpe village in Surrey, has sought over the last two decades of its growth to build on that unique village character, and respect its privileged position in the London Greenbelt. Anticipating an up-coming accreditation review and taking stock of its functional needs in providing competitive standards of facilities for its 750 students, the School prudently decided to do a Master Plan Study, projecting its long-term needs and seeking to beautify the under-developed areas at the center of the campus in order to create a more harmonious, sensible, and secure environment.

In fact, the conception of the Master Plan might be considered a "completion" of the existing village and estate patterns on the campus - reinforcing, clarifying, and strengthening where appropriate those patterns to provide a more coherent vision of the campus for first-time visitors, students, faculty, and administrators, while responding to both the character and position of the adjacent architecture off-campus, and the constraints of the London Green Belt.

The campus of TASIS, in the historic village of Thorpe, presents unique challenges for planning growth. The intention of the Master Plan is to treat the campus as a microcosm of the Green Belt idea, with new buildings concentrated in the heart of the campus (and therefore Thorpe) in order to preserve most of the campus' 36 acres as open green space.

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David Mayernik Ltd Design Consulting, Internationally