The Australian National University (ANU) campus will become a network of new hubs linked by landscaped promenades, with strongly marked connections to the city under a new Master Plan launched today.
Announced by ANU Chancellor and Chair of the Campus Planning Committee, Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC QC, the plan will guide the comprehensive physical renewal of the ANU campus over the next 20-30 years.
Professor Evans said the plan was the product of intense consultation with staff, students and the ACT Government over the last 18 months, and close attention to the standards set by the world's greatest universities.
"Its implementation will fundamentally transform the look and feel of the campus, taking much more advantage of our magnificent natural bushland setting, better recognising our Indigenous heritage, more successfully integrating architecture and landscape than we have in the past, making the campus much more pedestrian and bicyclefriendly, and building around it more centres of communal vitality like Kambri," Professor Evans said.
"The starting point in preparing this Master Plan was to recognise that we needed one. "For all the formidable achievements of ANU as Australia's and one of the world's leading universities in research, teaching and learning, and policy engagement, we had to recognise the need for comprehensive campus renewal.
"This new plan will spearhead that renewal by addressing three critical needs for the ANU campus: more coherence, more connectivity and more vitality.
"And through its seven design principles, the Master Plan will impose a sense of structure across the whole campus - visible bones and joints - which we have never had before.
"Communal interaction, both in working and living, is central to a great university experience. It's also clear that residential accommodation built into the fabric of different parts of the campus is a great way of enlivening spaces. But place-making, of the kind we have achieved with Kambri, doesn't just happen: you have to work at it."
A distinctive feature of this Master Plan, is that it contains a detailed implementation strategy, identifying capital works in three separate streams, Professor Evans said.
The first stage of projects will be delivered between 2019 and 2023, with a second phase extending for many years beyond that. The Plan identifies a third stream of "opportunity projects" which can be undertaken at any stage as resources permit.
"Of course these lists can and will change over time, but they give plenty for our planners and administrators to get their teeth into right now," Professor Evans said.
The Master Plan is based on seven key principles: clearly defined hubs; landscaped promenade links; a vehicle restricted heart; strong city connections; harmonious ANU-
distinctive design; vibrant living and working environments; and environmental sustainability.
A copy of the Master Plan, photos, renders and FAQs are available at the following link: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/cfccuqeBF6
