University at play : revitalization of the spirit

Abstract

Designing an optimal environment to support the educational mission is important to the success of a university. Ball State University (BSU) is a renowned institution that has a strong sense of place. Today, Ball State struggles to find that optimal environment, which requires a balance between academics and mental-physical health. Ball State has lost sight of the important role that passive and active recreational places for its students play in its pursuit to be ranked in the educational world. As a result, Ball State has become a university with a lost sense of identity and a place that does not have an appropriate arrangement of relaxing environments for those who work and study within it.Campus design has deep roots in the profession of Landscape Architecture. Currently, the Board of Trustees, University Officers, and others have come to realize the importance of sound design in higher educational environments. A balance in passive and active leisure activities is important to everyone's well being. In realizing this need, BSU has hired Landscape Architects to improve the quality of life on their campuses.During the course of the past 10 years, Rundell-Ernstberger and Associates has become a key consultant in the master planning of Ball State University's campus. This is due to the company's awareness of the needed higher quality of life on the campus. In 1981, Rundell-Ernstberger & Assoc. updated a plan written in 1970 to organize and systemize planning for future campus growth. The focal points of the plan were to begin locating future building sites and to identify improvements along McKinley Ave. corridor. This plan also provided initiatives to guide the university and its development into the beginning of the 2151 century. However, in the opinion of the researcher, the Board of Trustees and the University Officers have failed to recognize the need for a variety of passive and active recreational outlets for the students and faculty.The recreational master plan for passive and active leisure activities will be located on Ball State University's 950-acre residential campus in Muncie, IN, which includes more than 50 major buildings and a physical plant. Ball State provides more than 140 undergraduate programs, 72 master programs, and 15 doctoral programs for approximately 18,000 students and 836 fulltime faculty. Resident halls provide 6,800 students with housing, and 580 units are provided for married students and families. The remaining students live in surrounding neighborhoods or commute from nearby communities. The facility is currently being master planned for future placement of buildings, which is causing the central focus of the campus to move northward. Ball State's campus was examined for a variety of possible leisure activities using insight from the future plans of the campus's several open spaces, unused plazas, and potential unused pockets of space. In this case study, I applied professional design guidelines and employed potential unutilized pockets of land within the campus boundaries for leisure activities. The ultimate goal was to improve the overall quality of life on the campus of Ball State University.