Campus

The site where a college, university, or institution is located. A campus is an assemblage of separate buildings for academic, residential, recreational, administrative, and other purposes, often in a park-like setting. The term traditionally applies to an academic institution but is not strictly limited to them. With the creation of the Academical Village, Thomas Jefferson established a basic trait of American higher education from the Colonial period to the twentieth century, namely the concept of the college as a discrete community. American college campuses, thus, are unique in the way they provide an excellent opportunity to examine the ways in which architectural design is shaped by the character of a particular place, time, and institution.