Site Analysis

UNCG's campus is growing more with each semester, and with a higher student population there is a need for more student housing, parking, classrooms and other needed facilities to support this educational network. Currently the south end of campus is marked by the railroad tracks between Spring Garden Street and Lee Street, and there is a chain-link fence blocking access to the tracks, i suppose for safety reasons. UNCG is planning to purchase the land on the other side of these tracks along West Lee Street to use for overflow of campus needs. This land is literally and figuratively, "On the other side of the tracks" and isn't viewed as safe or appealing by many of the students and locals.

I am working in the Site Analysis group and there are a handful of things we are investigating and measuring about our site.
We want to consider the other edges of campus that seem more integrated into the surrounding community. Things such as landscape and pedestrian accesses help them feel like a part of the community and not fenced off or separated. The overall curb appeal has a lot to do with this as well; how wide are the streets, sidewalks, medians? are there trees and plants that make people want to walk down the street and feel safe and comfortable?
The land has a clear gradation, starting level with the RR tracks at the west end, and sloping down at the east end, so that the tracks are higher than the land. This topography is important to understand as we develop our site, and will shape where we place our building, and the form that it will take. We need to also consider different ways to protect students and faculty from the RR tracks without fencing them off, causing a separation to the rest of the campus.
Pedestrian access from this plot of land across the tracks to the rest of campus is going to be a challenge we will face in the design process and needs to be considered early on.

The City of Greensboro and the University both have developed masterplans for this land and its use. The both have a distinct idea of what types of buildings or parking etc. should be placed here, and what style they will have. Once we acquire those documents it will help us make more decisions regarding our project and its development.