[ Master Plan ]

Key Elements

The Master Plan calls for developments and improvements in eight broad categories:

Academic Facilities
Student Residences
Athletic Facilities
An Improved Campus Core
Clear Connections
A Model of Sustainable Design
The Campus in the City  
A Thoughtful Approach to Parking 

Academic Facilities
The current campus has substantial, well-maintained academic space. Thus the plan focuses initially on upgrading existing classrooms, laboratories, and faculty offices to provide for growth in enrollment and for the increase in student expectations that accompanies an enhanced academic reputation.

In the longer term, the plan calls for the expansion and renovation of the Arthur J. Schaible Science Center, built in 1966. The project calls for the addition of extensive wet labs and the upgrading of the center’s classrooms, laboratories, and equipment for student and faculty research. These upgrades will provide Elmhurst with the resources it needs to serve its students more effectively and compete with peer institutions in the sciences.

The campus also needs new space for the performing arts. The existing facilities—in particular, the Mill Theatre, a converted millwork—are inadequate. The plan provides over time for the addition of a new studio theatre, concert hall, and support space.

The performing arts facilities will not only enhance the campus fabric but also strengthen the connectivity between the College and the larger community. Their prominent location—at the corner of Prospect and Alexander on the northeast edge of campus—creates a physical link to the Elmhurst Public Library and the other cultural destinations in Wilder Park.

Finally, the plan calls for the eventual construction of two academic buildings to front a new quad south of Alexander Boulevard.     

Individually and collectively, the planned academic improvements will enhance the College’s ability to attract, retain—and effectively instruct—high-achieving students, especially those intending to major in the liberal arts, prepare for the health professions, or both.  
 
Student Residences

An Elmhurst education is about much more than courses and credits: it is about joining a spirited community that offers many opportunities to grow. The College seeks to support the ongoing strength of this community by expanding the campus’s residential capacity by 50 percent, to 1,200 students. 

The campus plan enables the College to offer its students a more diverse and attractive set of living environments. It proposes the construction (now underway) of a residence hall west of the chapel. It notes the possibility of building additions on both sides of Schick Hall, a classic student residence built in 1922. It plans apartment-style buildings for juniors and seniors on the northwest side of campus, and reserves for residential use a proposed building on a new quadrangle south of Alexander Boulevard, where Langhorst Field now stands.

The assorted styles and locations of student housing across the campus provide the College with the flexibility it needs to serve future undergraduates. By continuing to situate student residences alongside academic and student life facilities, the plan enhances the vitality and connectedness of the campus in both the day and evening hours.   

Elmhurst Terrace, an apartment complex west of campus, will continue to meet the housing needs of some students in the short-term, and will provide swing space for students during renovations of existing residence halls.   

Athletic Facilities

The maintenance of a strong athletic program is vital to Elmhurst’s efforts to provide students with a complete college experience. It also is critical to the institution’s ability to compete with other small colleges for highly qualified and motivated students.

The plan calls for the expansion and renovation of R.A. Faganel Hall, the existing athletics facility, and the construction of a new NCAA-standard track and field, to be located north of Alexander Boulevard. This development will improve competition space and address a pressing student need for additional practice, training, and recreational space. It also will enable the College to host larger convocations and athletic events.   

An Improved Campus Core

The best college campuses mix the old and the new, the stately and 
the state-of-the-art. Buildings like Old Main—built in 1878, inscribed in the institution’s original language (German), and listed on the National Register of Historic Places—give body to the sense of time and tradition that permeates the Elmhurst campus. In the same way, new places and spaces provide room for growth and give evidence of an investment in a promising future.

The master plan clarifies the campus’s traditional organization while providing for future expansion. It preserves the integrity of the existing academic, residential, and recreational buildings. It connects the College Mall more gracefully to newer areas, both existing and planned. 

The Mall itself—a classic space first envisioned in the campus plan created in 1926—will continue to afford students with a pleasant venue for outdoor activities. The plan provides for the development of the Mall’s beauty and of its ability to enhance campus flow and connection.   

Finally, the relocation of Langhorst Field north of Alexander Boulevard will facilitate the creation of a core campus that is—at once—larger, more integrated, and more appealing.   

Clear Connections

Learning, in part, involves making connections among disparate elements. The campus plan embodies this idea. A primary goal is to better connect the College Mall with other parts of the existing and prospective campus.  

Building on the campus’s current organization, the plan proposes the creation or extension of five campus paths. Lined with trees and featuring identical paving, the paths will provide unity and harmony to the landscape, will create impressive new campus vistas, and (most obviously) will plainly connect one end of campus to the other. The result will be a campus that is not only compact but also highly integrated and accessible. 

Two paths will run north-south. One will extend from the Science Center north through Alumni Circle to the proposed performing arts center. The other will extend from the College Mall north along the west side of North Hall and Circle Hall and across Alexander Boulevard to new campus development, including a parking garage and expanded athletic facilities.

Three paths will run east-west. The two paths that run on either side of the College Mall will be lengthened beyond the chapel to a new residence hall. Enhanced landscaping will extend the campus feel to the west. Finally, the path on the parking-lot side of the trio of halls on the Mall’s north side—Goebel, Lehmann, and Niebuhr—will offer a pedestrian connection to the proposed new quadrangle where Langhorst Field now stands, as well as a more formal entrance to St. Peter’s Cemetery, a link to institutional history.

The master plan also incorporates new secondary and tertiary paths that further clarify the organization of space and offer increased connection and pedestrian flow throughout the current and proposed campus.

A Model of Sustainable Design

The plan treats the arboretum campus as a significant asset that can form the foundation for an even broader institutional commitment to the natural environment.  This commitment is embodied in the plan’s call
to develop the campus as a model of sustainable design—that is, design that minimizes the negative impact on natural resources, on the well-being of the campus community, and on the environment.    

The plan calls for the use of a number of environmentally friendly building techniques. For example, the new surface parking lot west of the chapel features permeable paving and bio-swales. These control water and runoff at its source, without engineered piping systems, and improve the lot’s aesthetic value. The plan also proposes rain gardens, perforated piping buried under green spaces, and green roofing techniques to reduce water runoff and to naturally enhance campus beauty.

The Campus in the City  

The master plan seeks to create a more a formal and prescribed identity for the campus within its suburban neighborhood. Six gateways, located at strategic intersections, will establish a clear demarcation of campus boundaries and a more prominent set of campus entrances. These elegant elements will relate visually to the iron entrance gates on Prospect Avenue. Together with complementary landscaping, the gates will add visual unity, underscore the campus’s historic character, and strengthen its sense of collegiate identity.   

A city street, Alexander Boulevard, bisects the College grounds, presenting an obstacle to campus cohesion. The master plan reshapes Alexander with a gentle curve, thus integrating the boulevard more gracefully with the campus. Along with paved crosswalks and other traffic-calming techniques, the curve also will slow traffic through the grounds. Finally, the curve will allow space for a new track north of Alexander. 

A Thoughtful Approach to Parking 

The plan meets the College community’s current and prospective parking needs. At the same time, it makes the campus a more gracious setting for pedestrians.

The construction of a new parking garage is planned in two phases. It will be located on the north end of campus, immediately south of the railroad tracks. The garage will act as a sound barrier, protecting the new stadium and the campus as a whole from the noise of passing freight and commuter trains. By situating the bulk of campus parking in a concentrated space, the deck frees precious acres of campus land for redevelopment, and reduces the impact of vast stretches of blacktop on the environment.

The College will continue to provide some surface parking, including handicapped spaces, across the campus.