In 2017, Washington University in St. Louis will begin the largest capital project in the recent history of the Danforth Campus, transforming the east end to align with the university’s core academic mission of groundbreaking discovery, research and teaching.
The east end is the last major area of the Danforth Campus available for significant development. This project will create two new academic buildings, two multi-use pavilions, an underground parking garage and a transformative landscape. These enhancements will give the university capacity to expand key academic programs, create opportunities for greater interdisciplinary interaction and transform the entrance to campus — fostering a deeper programmatic and physical link with the rest of the campus and Forest Park.
Through this project, the university is converting an area that has been dominated by parking lots into a hub for state-of-the-art research and academic facilities and a vibrant green space.
The Danforth Campus is integral to our 162-year history and intertwined with the history of St. Louis. Since 1905, its east end — topped by iconic Brookings Hall — has been the university’s front door.
In May 2017, a comprehensive landscape and architectural plan will spring into action, with particular focus on academic expansion and the overall campus experience.
With its planning history as a foundation, the enhancements to the east end of the Danforth Campus will include a focus on improved physical connections to Forest Park, inspired by the 1895 Olmsted plan. This east end plan also maintains the ceremonial entry of the Brookings Allée created by the 1900 Cope & Stewardson plan.
The east end plan will include new major buildings for the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, providing capacity to meet evolving needs and cultivating more collaboration between disciplines.
A. Welcome Center and the Hub: two new interdisciplinary pavilions framing Brookings Hall
The Welcome Center and the Hub multi-use pavilions will allow people to get to know Washington University and make important connections, whether on a first visit to campus or at lunch with classmates and colleagues. Both facilities will welcome visitors throughout the day.
The Welcome Center will offer all visitors a home base for their campus experience, and it will house Undergraduate Admissions for assisting prospective students and their families.
The Hub, open to the campus and broader community, will bring together dining, an outdoor café, alternative transportation support and academic programming, which will likely include the environmental studies program and the Office of Sustainability.
B. Henry A. and Elvira H. Jubel Hall: a new building for the School of Engineering & Applied Science
Set to house the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, Jubel Hall will offer infrastructure and research facilities that are key to fostering the interdisciplinary nature of engineering. At Washington University, engineering faculty and students collaborate across converging disciplines to focus on medicine and health, energy and the environment, and security. In this building, mechanical engineers will work closely with physicists, chemists, biologists, and chemical and biomedical engineers to promote the convergence of mechanics, materials science and nanotechnology.
C. Anabeth and John Weil Hall: anew building for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Weil Hall will be a symbol of the university’s commitment to creativity in the 21st century and identify the Sam Fox School as a leader in design practice and education. This new front door to the Sam Fox School will express the important roles for art and architecture in a research university and will help guide the future of these disciplines. Beautifully crafted and fundamentally sustainable, Weil Hall will be an inspiring place for advanced scholarship, creative activity, innovative research and bold experimentation as faculty and students seek solutions to critical social and environmental challenges.
D. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum: a new lobby & additional gallery space
An addition on the north side of the Kemper Art Museum will establish a transparent and welcoming entry for the community as well as create additional gallery space to showcase a larger portion of the museum’s world-class collection. The project will include renovations integrating the Florence Steinberg Weil Sculpture Garden into the landscape of the east end of the Danforth Campus.
The east end of the Danforth Campus will bring people together, whether they are working on an academic project or attending a public event. The Central Green space will be the heart of life on the east end. The Welcome Center, the Hub, the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall and the Kemper Art Museum, supported by a new underground parking garage, will draw visitors and help foster an active public space.
A welcoming entrance
Landscaping will honor the historical design of the Danforth Campus and reflect the character of Forest Park, offering an enhanced, tree-lined frame of Brookings Hall.
Pedestrian access will be improved into and across the Danforth Campus. The landscape design will bring nearly all of the east end to the same elevation, offering a more accessible entrance to the university. It also will offer enhanced visibility of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and public programs at the Brown School and other campus venues.
A nearly 800-space underground parking garage will include two campus circulator shuttle stops. This garage, which will allow for the removal of surface parking and vehicular traffic from the east end, will make it possible for the building and landscaping projects to proceed and will ensure a safer and more pleasant pedestrian experience across campus. Vehicles will be able to enter the new underground garage from Forsyth Boulevard and Forest Park Parkway, and a vehicular drop-off area will be accessible from Skinker Boulevard.
Places to gather, celebrate
At the heart of the development of the east end of the Danforth Campus will be a beautiful and inviting new gathering place, the Central Green.
New terraces near the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will connect to the Central Green. This expanded green space will offer a tree-framed view of Brookings Hall and easy connections between the engineering and Sam Fox schools. Art and sculpture will be thoughtfully integrated into the landscape design.
Buildings facing the Central Green will have “active edges,” blurring the line between indoor and outdoor spaces through window-filled, ground-level floors and the placement of shade trees and movable furniture.
The east end will truly be transformative, creating a more collaborative, welcoming space. Stay tuned for more in the months to come.
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