Sprawling open green space in front of the Palestra. A bustling Locust Walk environment extending west to 43rd Street. And a cohesive pedestrian path stretching to Drexel University. This is the University's vision for what Penn's campus should look like in 25 years, and dozens of administrators, architects and professors have pooled their efforts to orchestrate the Campus Development Plan to put this into reality. Officially unveiled at February's Board of Trustees meeting, the plan enumerates six goals to guide the development of Penn's campus landscape over the next 25 years. However, the plan does not include many specific projects, instead presenting a broad overview of the direction campus construction should take. In addition, the University has not yet pinned down the exact cost of the plan, and a distinct timeline for the project has yet to be formulated. After two years of development, the plan was compiled by the Olin Partnership, an architectural firm led by Penn Architecture Professor Laurie Olin, with the consultation of administrators, faculty and students. According to Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik, the plan is the largest architectural program that Penn has undertaken in the last 40 years. "There were more than a hundred people involved in that effort for two years," he said. "Probably, there are some people who are still upset about this or that, but in general, it was a very productive and effective planning process."
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At the forefront of the development plan is an evaluation of Penn's current campus landscape. The Olin Partnership and a team of consultants found that Penn's graduate and professional sectors, on the periphery, were not linked to the historical core of campus. They further noted the deterioration of many campus buildings, and the unequal distribution of campus resources in maintaining campus open spaces. Finally, they found fault with the quality of Penn's circulation, both pedestrian and vehicular. The result of these findings is a rather broad, overarching vision for campus. Goals include strengthening Penn's identity as a campus and enhancing the residential community surrounding Penn. Blaik said he believes the vague nature of the six-goal plan allows the University to take advantage of the often sporadic nature of donations and expansions. "What we are providing here is a framework that when those opportunities present themselves, and when Wharton wants to expand, or the School of Engineering, we have given them a road map on how they can accomplish that," Blaik said. But not everyone sees the vague nature of the plan as a benefit. "Personally, I find it rather disappointingly underambitious, in the sense that there's nothing that I've read here that is more than a general statement of a goal," Penn Professor of Architecture Patricia Conway said. Conway, who was a planning consultant to the University from 1987 to 1990, says that institutions often feel pressured to create plans for the future, but are noncommittal so that they are not held to any specific direction. "What you do is you periodically hire a consultant to create a plan that's hopefully as vague as possible, and then you throw it on the shelf with the rest of the plans," she said. Conway added that she is not entirely pessimistic about Penn's particular plan, adding, "maybe this time it will be different." However, History Professor George Thomas -- co-author of Building America's First University, a book that chronicles the history of Penn's campus -- disagreed that the desire for vagueness is a bad thing. "Penn has always mistrusted master plans as an institution," he said. "It has had the realization that a too-specific master plan locks an institution into a future that it can't predict." According to Thomas, the current plan fits the last 20 years of construction at Penn, while expanding construction to accommodate the growing size of campus. "What it does is it systematizes it and drastically expands it," he said. "To do that and to make that effective is the next big step."
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While the core of the plan is rather vague, the team of planners did isolate several specific projects Penn should strive to complete. The University hopes to connect Locust Walk to Center City with a footbridge and develop the land along the Schuylkill River, which are currently held by the United States Postal Service. According to Carl Dranoff, president of Dranoff properties -- the company that built the Left Bank luxury apartment complex at 31st and Walnut streets -- a connection with Center City is very feasible. "It would be a true benefit for Penn and Center City because they're are no real pedestrian links today," Dranoff said. "There are no physical impediments, and the location is excellent." Perhaps the most noticeable change to the Penn campus will be the development of the riverfront, a space currently owned by the Postal Service. If these lands can be acquired, the University plans to construct residential and commercial buildings and spaces, as well as providing room for academic and athletic expansion. James Corner, chairman of the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department at Penn, endorsed Penn's dreams to soon overtake the postal lands. "I think it is very feasible and bound to happen within the next few years," he said. According to Hank Bishop, a senior associate with the Philadelphia architectural firm Wallace, Roberts and Todd, the development of the Schuylkill riverfront could create significant access to the University. "Having a riverfront as part of your edge would be a wonderful opportunity," he said. Bishop went on to add that "creating a more attractive university for prospective students, particularly in an urban environment where there may be some rough edges." University President Judith Rodin agreed that developing the riverfront needed to be a priority. "The view is that all of that [the abandoned buildings along the river] really would be transformed," she said. "From the time that you crossed over the bridge from Center City, you wouldn't feel that you had fallen off the edge of some abyss." And Paul Steinke, president of the University City District -- which oversees the development and upkeep of University City -- said that the western elements of the plan will be good for the West Philadelphia community as well. "It represents improvements that all of us as residents can enjoy," he said. One of the major goals of the plan includes extending the feel of Locust Walk westward to 43rd Street by adding more lighting and better landscaping, among other aesthetic improvements. Woodland Walk will also be expanded through Hill Field to connect to Drexel's campus, and 36th Street Walk will be extended from the University City Science Center to the Civic Center. Also, the area by the Palestra currently occupied by tennis courts will be turned into an outdoor area called Palestra Green, and the tennis courts would be moved elsewhere on campus.
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But the costs of the plan have yet to be pinned down, and administrators are hesitant to project the price tag. Blaik estimates that the master plan will include a total of about 40 projects. According to Vice President for Finance Craig Carnaroli, the various projects will reflect a mix of the wishes of large donors as well as the plans of the University. "There will be a healthy balancing of priorities for the University and donors wishes," Carnaroli said. "I think it will be our job to sell [the master plan] to potential donors." Carnaroli also said that finding money to undertake such a massive project will not be accomplished all at one time. "The Campus Master Plan is a long term project, and I think that the financing of it will happen as the various phases are rolled out," he said. Furthermore, Rodin explained that the implementation of the plan will depend on resources being available as each project is considered. "This depends on resources because this is a master plan and not a capital budget," she noted. Executive Vice President John Fry said that some financing will begin to be discussed next June. Fry stressed that much of the money will come from outside donors. "We will definitely go to third parties and seek their capital," he said. "You can view it as a series of deals like the one we did with Carl Dranoff." Carnaroli said that he expected finances would not be a barrier to the implementation of the plan. "I think that [all the projects] are very feasible provided we have a long enough time perspective," he said.
