Strategic Framework
How might the Brown campus grow and change over the next decades to accommodate its ambitious strategic and academic goals?
That question was posed to the architectural firm of Kliment & Halsband, which was hired to develop a master plan for campus that would support the Plan for Academic Enrichment, particularly its provisions for an expanded faculty. Architect Frances Halsband led an analysis of existing buildings, land use, open space, campus history, and zoning provisions followed by extensive reviews the Brown community.
The resulting findings are documented in the Strategic Framework for Physical Planning, which provides a set of interelated planning principles that will be used to guide future decisions about campus planning.
Halsband and her colleagues examined more than maps and zoning to arrive at their recommendations. Her group conducted hundreds of interviews, explored how people get to campus, and once here, and how to create a sense of place.
One area that offers great potential for Brown is the area between Angell Street and Meeting Street now dubbed Dumpster Alley, but is envisioned as “The Walk,” will finally connect the historic campus with the former Pembroke College campus by creating a series of interconnected green spaces. The underutilized space surrounding “The Walk” has the potential to become the site of new buildings that would transform the north-south route into a more formal pedestrian avenue.
The framework also envisions a campus that includes significant facilities beyond College Hill, perhaps in the Jewelry District and/or connected to the University's Hospitals. The City of Providence’s development map notes areas that will become available once Route 195 is relocated.
