Duke University French Family Science Center

The main quad of Duke University, designed by Horace Trumbauer and the Olmsted Brothers in the early part of the last century, established a character of planted quads framed by thoughtfully shaped and scaled buildings set within a wooded and varied topography. Much of the remaining campus, including that of the Science Center, has not followed the same design approach. The opportunity and challenge posed by the Science Center landscape is to reinterpret the quality and organization of the historic campus in a contemporary manner that creates a sympathetic landscape and repairs the fragmentation of this area. OLIN worked closely with the project architects, Moore Rubell Yudell, to develop an integrated concept for building and open space. A significant aspect focused on providing landscape connections from the Science Center landscape to the historic quadrangle. To do this required an understanding of this topographically varied campus, its master plan, and the particular needs of pedestrian and vehicular circulation in this area of campus. Proposals were made for reconfiguring vehicular access and drop-off that maintained appropriate and efficient access to the various service areas and building entrances and reestablished the pedestrian movement as the primary means of circulation on campus.

Location
Durham, NC

Owner
Duke University

Status
Completed 2007

Key Team Members
Laurie Olin, Partner-in-Charge
Richard Newton, Associate