Tubs or showers?
Administrators outlined Phase I plans for Central Campus to a gathering of student leaders Thursday night and asked for feedback on a number of upcoming project decisions-even on small details, such as bathroom features.
"Right now we're trying to get closure on the master layout, begin to get architectural design and simultaneously look at [construction sequencing]," said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs.
Moneta and Provost Peter Lange, using slides from the presentation recently given to the Board of Trustees, highlighted changes and issues that have been areas of focus since last spring.
Lange announced that administrators are aiming to limit the utility consumption for Phase I to the levels of the current Central, even though the renovated campus will have more facilities.
"Those [current] buildings are phenomenally inefficient," he said.
A more efficient bus route between campuses, increased impetus for pedestrian and bike travel and protection of natural wetlands will contribute to the goal of sustainability.
"It's a great commitment, and it sounds like they have some really useful ideas," said Chris Oishi, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in ecology and a representative of the Graduate and Professional Student Council.
Central will serve as a residential campus for a diverse mix of University community members.
Concentrated near the Sarah P. Duke Gardens will be one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments for 1,200 upperclass undergraduates, allowing clusters of friends to live together.
"This is where you're going to live, in anticipation that your next living conditions will be New York or Washington," Moneta said.
Other regions on the campus will provide housing for 300 graduate students, faculty and visitors.
A recreational center and two parking garages will also be on location.
One of the administration's concerns is making sure the renovated Central, though residential, remains vibrant throughout the day.
"This can't be a suburb," Moneta said. "The worst thing we could do for Central is have it be a place where people left in the morning, left it vacant during the day, abandoned it at night for other functions and slept there."
In addition to apartments, Central will be home to academic programs in the arts, languages and international studies, as well as the International House and the Office of Study Abroad.
Classroom space, a library, an arts-themed cafe, a 250-seat film theater and a stage theater of equal size will anchor the academic foci.
Many of these venues will be in an airy "Center of the Center," located at the intersection of Anderson Drive and the new bus route.
Other amenities will include diverse dining options, a small bookstore, an Uncle Harry's-like grocery store and the relocated Duke Store.
Retail space, a point of concern among Durham community members at the recent city Zoning Commission meeting, will be limited in size and will be geared toward University community members.
"The presumption is that 90 percent of what happens in Central campus is for Duke students, Duke faculty, Duke employees," Lange said.
Community interaction will likely revolve around the arts venues, he said.
In planning so many improvements for Central, administrators said they are being cautious not to detract from East and West campuses.
"One of our great hopes is that people are migrating across the three campuses-that there's life throughout," Lange said.
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