Landscape Information
This roughly 500-acre campus was envisioned by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller as part of the state’s post-WW II expansion program. Located between Washington and Western Avenues, three miles west of downtown, the site was first studied in 1961 by architects Harrison and Abramovitz and architect Edward Durrell Stone, who then produced a master plan. During construction (1964–1971), Stone collaborated with landscape architects Clarke & Rapuano, updating the site plan. Durrell’s son, landscape architect Edward Durrell Stone, Jr., served as a master planning consultant.
Surrounding the campus is a curvilinear perimeter drive, limiting vehicular access to the periphery. The campus design is dictated by a uniform grid, anchored by four 22-story dormitory towers, each of which has a companion courtyard. At the center of the grid is a rectangular, colonnaded building, named the “Academic Podium,” which stands on a raised plinth.
Accessed from the north, the podium is reached by a circular drive surrounding a monumental lawn. On the principal axis, views unfold of a rectangular entry plaza. A colonnaded, covered walkway surrounds the podium, the center of which houses upper and lower courtyards. The latter is animated by a fountain and a 248-foot-tall cylindrical campanile that is both carillon and water tower. On the upper level, raised square beds—planted with maple and pine trees—reinforce the intended grid. From the podium, axially oriented, linear walkways enclose rectangular lawns and groves of oak and pine also on the grid. Beyond this central core are a naturalistic water feature (Parker Pond), athletic fields, and a gymnasium oriented on the principal axis.
Since the 1990s rehabilitation efforts have been guided by subsequent plans, including a master plan (1998) by the Hillier Group (now Studio Hillier) and a landscape master plan (2008) by landscape architects Trowbridge & Wolf (now Fisher Associates). In 2008 Thomas Balsley Associates (now SWA/Balsley) rehabilitated the entry drive and entry plaza, including the addition of an at-grade fountain.
