JAYWalking To a Campus Beat

By Sandy Clary

NBBJ worked to minimize construction costs by judiciously using stone and concrete pavers as accents in high visibility areas, working with and maintaining existing pavements where possible, and creating the "manmade stream" to manage storm water runoff without the cost of drainage pipe structures. The Ohio Concrete Block Association recognized JAYwalk for its innovations.	From Sandusky Street on the east to Washington Street on the west-- the JAYwalk links the Memorial Union Building (proposed site of a future fine arts center), Mowry Alumni Center, the Hamilton Williams Campus Center, Beeghly Library and Chappelear Drama Center. Along the JAYwalk, "outdoor rooms" relate to the functions of each respective building.

James A. Young was a great friend of Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU)-- an accomplished alumnus, enthusiastic parent, energetic volunteer, generous donor and dedicated trustee. So it was only fitting that upon his unexpected death at the age of fifty-eight, the university wanted to create a lasting memorial to him.

The architecture, design and planning firm of NBBJ was called in to create the James A. Young Memorial Walk-- JAYwalk, for short. The results have captured the attention and the admiration of those within the university as well as Landscape Architecture professionals.

JAYwalk is a multifaceted pedestrian boulevard composed of a lacework of walkways, gardens, groves and gathering places at the heart of Ohio Wesleyan University. An inviting entrance to the campus, and park-like environment, the JAYwalk is a "main street," connecting the residential and academic sides of the campus. It also serves as the hub of college life, an area where academics, co-curricular life, social events and leadership activities overlap, exemplifying the goals of liberal arts learning.

NBBJ's creation of JAYwalk supports University goals by creating a high quality campus which links the academic areas with housing and provides appropriate settings for campus activity; providing spaces which promote collegiality and social interaction; creating an attractive first impression of the campus; and providing a venue for academic botanical programs and outdoor performances.

A vacated street in the heart of OWU provided an opportunity to create this pedestrian environment. Existing conditions included a thirty-foot road with curb side parking which extended the length of the project area, and disjointed patios/terraces immediately adjacent to the library and campus center. Vehicles and asphalt visually dominated the site. In addition, the buildings appeared to crowd each other and the street with little or no shared design vocabulary and inappropriate scale relationships.

NBBJ was hired to analyze assets and liabilities of the campus core and to develop a master site development plan. The design team-- lead by a Landscape Architect-- included an architect and graphic designer, who worked with a design advisory task force. The task force included students and directors of each department of buildings facing the street. The design team used goal-setting workshops, clearly written design principles and imagery of other campus cores such as The University of Virginia's Quad and The Ohio State University's Oval to broaden everyone's vision for the future. As a result, a design concept evolved which focused on providing an interactive series of outdoor rooms linked by a continuous walkway, doubling as service and emergency vehicles access.

NBBJ further developed plans including construction documents and construction administration services. Through the goal setting workshops, master planning, construction document and construction administration, the Landscape Architects provided the client with a much needed environment that far exceeded their original expectations. What started as a project to replace a road with walkway, evolved into the creation of a new campus core. The JAYwalk responds with multiple solution servicing many goals and objectives.

The Landscape Architecture team created this series of plazas, walkways and landscape enironments to respond to such critical issues as: uninterrupted movement of pedestrians; collegiate experiences fostered by a diverse range of seating and meeting venues; historic axis of circulation and view from the core toward Sandusky Street; diverse architectural imagery with land forms and scale; dramatic topography; security through manipulation of the ground plane and overhead canopy to maintain visibility; and a series of separate-yet-linked design components which created multiple, identifiable "sponsorable" projects with a range of financial need.

JAYwalk also received honors from the Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The space was recognized for the richness and the complexity of the design, the balance of hardscape and green space and the creation of the dry bed stream for storm water management. "The design artfully balanced the needs of through pedestrian movement while creating a variety of intersecting outdoor rooms," stated the competition judges.

"The Landscape Architects' creativity has resulted in an outcome we couldn't have thought of ourselves," enthuses Bob Holm, Vice President of University Relations at OWU. "Their creativity and exciting solutions complement our mission and our buildings. They gave us much more than the walkway that we asked for; they created a campus with a heart." LASN

All illustrations provided courtesy of NBBJ.