2006 SCUP/AIA-CAE Awards

Honor Award for Excellence in Institutional System, District Component or Restorative Planning

The Master Housing Development Plan at Tulane University with Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company from Norfolk, Virginia

Click to view a pdf presentation of the project.

The goal of the Master Housing Development Plan was "to provide Tulane's residents with comfortable and secure accommodations that create intellectual communities, to foster and enhance the learning environment of the University."

Prior to the plan's development, Tulane's student life facilities were in dire need of upgrading. But physical improvements alone would not yield the changes needed to reposition the university's ability to attract and retain top-tier students.

A holistic approach was required, a comprehensive plan that thoroughly responded to the needs of students, the assets and liabilities of the existing housing stock, the academic mission, the campus plan, and the bordering neighborhoods.

There were two primary goals of the plan. The first was to transform the living experience at Tulane by creating a quality environment to attract and retain students.

The vision was a qualitative not a quantitative agenda because prior to the plan, on-campus retention was declining.

The second goal was to create intellectual communities, which foster and enhance the learning environment of the university. The plan established and implemented a strategic quantity and distribution of academic programs in the residential environment. The planning model also included resident faculty, which had a significant impact on the success of the community.

Since 2002, housing applications increased by 20 percent, with demand outstripping supply. Secondyear students represent a 25 percent increase in housing applications, exceeding the oncampus retention expectations of the University.

The most recent project to open was Wall Residential College, Tulane's first traditional residential college. Wall College opened its doors at 8 am on August 27, but by 1 pm, students were evacuated in preparation for Hurricane Katrina.

The most profound evidence of the plan's success was the return of 88 percent of Tulane's students in January 2006 to a campus and city still recovering from the hurricane. Students were dispersed far and wide to other institutions throughout the country in the aftermath of the storm. They could have decided not to disrupt their lives again by transferring back to Tulane, but they moved back into their residences and temporary housing facilities even while cleanup work continued.

The success of the community development that was an integral part of the physical plan not only has survived, but will be the catalyst for sustaining the institutional vision. Tulane University President Scott Cowan and the Board of Administrators unveiled a "bold plan for survival and renewal" in the months leading to the reopening of campus.

"It's nice to see good planning and good architecture all in one package," said jury chair Margaret Helfand.

The resulting plan was distinguished by an investment of more than $120 million by the University, new and innovative residence programs, and the physical introduction of academic and faculty spaces, including resident faculty and teaching spaces.

The physical planning concept reinforced McAlister Drive as the activity spine of the campus, creating vibrant and functional linkages along the primary east / west passage of Central Campus. The plan included populating the street with activity, creating social and building edges along the street, the placement (and in some cases the reorientation) of building entrances to foster well-populated civic spaces, and intentional thinking about the street's character both day and night.

The plan also included an implementation strategy to make an immediate difference in the lives of students. In addition to new construction, renovations emerged bringing existing facilities into the forefront and creating an unprecedented demand in the renovated facilities.

Project Team

Yvette Jones
Tulane University
yjones@tulane.edu

Jane Cady Wright
Hanbury Evans Wright
Vlattas + Company
jwright@hewv.com