Since 1925, the University of Louisville has called Belknap Campus home. As the university grew over the past 100-plus years, its home expanded to three campuses – all of which have distinct characteristics and functions to meet the needs of the university’s 23,000-plus students, more than 7,000 employees and many community partners.
While the development and growth of each campus is inevitable, it must be strategic as well. Efforts are underway to create a 10-year master plan for how the university will invest in its physical infrastructure. Between now and spring 2023, UofL will work with the Boston-based architecture and campus planning firm Sasaki to develop recommendations for that plan.
“The integration between new and old architecture is paramount to successful assimilation for the future of education,” said Meg Campbell, UofL’s vice president for University Planning, Design and Construction. “Our students are our priority, and with that comes the responsibility of providing collaborative environments that not only encourage learning but stimulate the imagination. The built environment plays a huge role in this endeavor, and we take this both seriously and personally.”
The Campus Master Plan will begin with an investigation of campus history, current conditions and key issues. Critical to this phase is the feedback that plan developers receive from the UofL community through a survey, which is available on the UofL Campus Master Plan website. All university faculty, staff and students are asked to use the survey to share their ideas and experiences on how to (literally) build UofL’s future. The survey will be available until Friday, Nov. 11, 2022.
Based on their own efforts and research as well as survey feedback, plan developers will explore options to best accommodate campus needs and support strategic aspirations.
“We want our university’s physical environment to support our vision of being a great place to learn, work, discover and connect,” said UofL Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “It’s exciting to see so many opportunities on our horizon.”
Learn more about the UofL Campus Master Plan and take the survey here.
Want to learn more about UofL’s campus history? Sarah McNabb’s master thesis, “A History of Campus Planning at the University of Louisville,” can be consulted onsite in the University Archives and Records Center, at the Art Library or in Ekstrom Library’s Microfiche Collections.
