VSBA worked with Brown University to strengthen the quality of student life on campus in order to help make students’ academic and educational experience better and their time at Brown more memorable.
The University encourages involvement in a medley of activities outside classes because “the educational experience extends to all aspects of students’ lives and…. the academic mission and program of the University have an important complement in the broad educational framework that students find outside the classroom.” Therefore “the range of activities on-and off-campus, the resources and the spaces, are all understood as a rich and complex educational whole.”
Evolving models of learning and teaching underscore the value of social spaces in helping to broaden university education. Cybercafés in libraries, study halls in student centers, coffee lounges in labs — these encourage interdisciplinary interactions and extend the scope of education beyond the classroom.
VSBA’s broad study encompassed a range of social and community facilities for dining, fitness, study, meeting, gathering, and performing. Our task was to help Brown identify community needs; recommend what, if any, type of campus center or organization and scales of programs would be good for the University; and determine what type of campus center or precinct makes sense for Brown. We also analyzed ways the University can enhance its campus facilities to tie them into educational, administrative, and financial plans and policies.
During the study it became clear that several basic questions would need to be answered before the University could make decisions on the type of student and campus life facilities it should promote:
- What aspects of campus life need further support and enhancement at Brown? Would a campus center be a vehicle for this enhancement?
- Should new campus life facilities — such as fitness and dining — be located in association with “sub-nuclei” such as residence halls or be organized as part of a centralized facility on campus?
- What site options should be considered? How do different sites address campus life needs? What campus center activities and configurations does each site support?
- What would be the right size and location for a new campus center?
Our planning and analyses revealed a current lack of a large, centralized facility offering co-curricular activities and services, such as spaces for student activities, dining, and studying. We also completed a feasibility, programming, and conceptual design study for a campus center incorporating the existing four-building Metcalf complex. This historic complex could become a unique, and uniquely Brown, campus center.