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CONWAY, Ark. (Jan. 13, 2005) – Hendrix College, a private liberal arts college located in central Arkansas, has teamed up with renowned urban planners Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company to help determine its future growth.
For eight days beginning Jan. 20, Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., will turn its focus toward the future, envisioning the campus of 2015, 2025, 2050 and beyond. The college is inviting the community to participate in this process, conducted by the DPZ team of nationally acclaimed architecture and urban planners.
Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd has asked Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), best known for its development of Seaside, Fla., to assist the college in updating the campus master plan that was first developed by the firm in 1995, looking at long-term academic and residential needs and interactions with the city. President Cloyd is also asking neighboring residents and city leaders to join in the planning process.
DPZ and Hendrix will host a series of public meetings on campus called “charrettes” to create a forum that encourages open and meaningful dialogue in the form of intensive planning sessions. Students, faculty, alumni, staff and trustees are invited to attend the sessions, alongside city officials, business leaders and residents. Through presentations, meetings and pin-up sessions, the the firm will keep the community continually involved and informed as the plan unfolds.
The final meeting on Jan. 27 will be a public unveiling of the draft of the master plan.
Part of the planning process will determine placement of new Hendrix facilities, including a $14 million wellness, health and athletics center set for groundbreaking this May and a new campus center that will provide facilities for Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning, a new component of the college’s curriculum.
“The DPZ charrette is an extremely effective means of transforming vision into reality,” said Cloyd. “We envision dynamic charrettes that will involve numerous forums in which the off an on-campus community will gather to share ideas and respond to drawings presented by DPZ.”
Rod Miller, associate professor of art history and chair of the Hendrix art department, and Rock Jones, executive vice president of Hendrix, are co-chairing the charrette planning committee.
“Our goal is to integrate Hendrix’s long-term growth with the future growth of Conway, while preserving the historic beauty of our campus,” President Cloyd added.
“Founded in 1876, the college has a 19th century campus with a number of high quality Gothic buildings,” according to Duany, who will lead the charrettes. “Over the years, however, the campus has been subjected to numerous architectural and urban interventions, with varying levels of success.”
As a result of a three-day 1995 planning session with DPZ, Hendrix added five new academic and residential buildings that maintained the architectural traditions of the colleges and blended well with the natural campus landscape and surrounding neighborhoods.
Andres Duany, pioneer of the New Urbanism, is co-founded DPZ with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk in 1980. Since its founding, DPZ has designed more thean 200 new towns and community revitalization projects for existing cities, towns and neighborhoods. These designs have had a major influence in the practice and direction of town and urban planning in the United States.
The Miami, Fla.-based firm’s projects have received numerous awards, including two national American Institute of Architects awards and two Governor’s Urban Design Awards for Excellence. DPZ’s early project of the town of Seaside, Fla., was the first authentic new town to be built successfully in the U.S. in the past 50 years. In 1989, Time Magazine selected Seaside as one of the 10 “Best of the Decade” achievements in the field of design.
A significant aspect of DPZ’s work is its innovative use of planning regulations, including the Urban and Architectural Codes that accompany each design. The projects not only address the manner in which buildings are formed and located to create well designed public spaces, but they also codify the local architectural traditions and building techniques. Abroad, DPZ projects are under way in Canada, Germany, Belgium, Australia, the Philippines, Mexico and Turkey.
Hendrix is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college that emphasizes experiential academic experiences in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college, which enrolls 1,049 students, has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information about Hendrix and about the charrette, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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Contact: Judy Williams, Hendrix Director of Media Relations
Office: (501) 450-1462 or 450-1225 ·Cell: (501) 626-3043 ·Fax: 450-4553
E-mail: news@hendrix.edu · Hendrix news releases on-line at www.hendrix.edu/news/
Or Galina Tahchieva, DPZ Project Manager, (305) 644-1023 |
