Lorton Performing Arts Center, TU

[SXSW]

I was at TU yesterday and took a couple of pics of these projects.  

The Lorton Performing Arts Center looks finished, have they had their grand opening yet?


And Rayzor Hall is nearing completion with Stephenson Hall under construction to the east along 5th


Samson Plaza will be a new green space between Rayzor, Stephenson and Keplinger Halls


After a period of near-constant construction on campus it seems to be winding down.  I've heard though that TU is interested in building a new student union to replace the ACAC on the parking lot north of McFarlin Library, and then ACAC would be torn down to make way for new engineering and science buildings next to Rayzor and Stephenson Halls with a larger Samson Plaza and the law quad to the north.  I also know TU wants to renovate the Mabee Gym and aquatics center...it definitely needs it.

[TheArtist]

Some nice looking structures.  Starting to give TU a more fleshed out, Ivy League look.  

I would hope that if they were to redo the Activity Center that they would consider doing something to make an area look "Street like".  For example, have the campus bookstore, a TU gift shop, the cafeteria, a laundry, etc. that could all be in one building, but have the front facade lined up along a sidewalk with outdoor seating, look like its made up of several buildings, so that you have a cozy but lively, old world streetscape, where the students can hang out on campus.

[Conan71]

Some nice looking structures.  Starting to give TU a more fleshed out, Ivy League look.  

I would hope that if they were to redo the Activity Center that they would consider doing something to make an area look "Street like".  For example, have the campus bookstore, a TU gift shop, the cafeteria, a laundry, etc. that could all be in one building, but have the front facade lined up along a sidewalk with outdoor seating, look like its made up of several buildings, so that you have a cozy but lively, old world streetscape, where the students can hang out on campus.

Give those buildings 100 to 150 years of patina and I might agree.  What appears to be stucco between areas of manufactured stone simply doesn't ring "Ivy League" to me, just more contrived university dreck.

[TheArtist]

Give those buildings 100 to 150 years of patina and I might agree.  What appears to be stucco between areas of manufactured stone simply doesn't ring "Ivy League" to me, just more contrived university dreck.

Thats still a lot of expense they are putting into the stone that is on the buildings, and beats the dickens out of what they had been doing for decades.  The library expansion looks just as good as what was there originally.  Show me another university in this region that is doing better "Ivy League" construction.  I'd say its not bad at all or a tiny, private university in little ol Tulsa Ok.   

[rdj]

I think it is great for that part of town.

Not a university, but Chesapeake seems to be doing a nice job of creating an Ivy League look for their campus in OKC.

I'm a big fan of OU's Cherokee Gothic architecture.  The new buildings they are building are very sharp.

[ZYX]

I agree rdj, can you imagine if TU built something like this:

[DTowner]

I think the ACAC opened in 1988.  Surprising that TU would tear down a relatively newer building.

[carltonplace]

Give those buildings 100 to 150 years of patina and I might agree.  What appears to be stucco between areas of manufactured stone simply doesn't ring "Ivy League" to me, just more contrived university dreck.

They should grow ivy on the drivit.

[SXSW]

I think the ACAC opened in 1988.  Surprising that TU would tear down a relatively newer building.

I think that is more of a long range plan and not something we'll see anytime soon.  They definitely want a larger engineering/science quad in that area.

A student union north of the library makes sense though.  That parking lot sees a lot of through-pedestrian traffic and is at the heart of the campus where a union ideally would be located.

Still hoping TU someday decides to lead an effort to redevelop 11th by campus into mixed-use student housing instead of building another apartment complex.  OU is doing that along Lindsey in Norman with the Sooner Center pictured the first phase of a major redevelopment of older student housing on campus.

[DTowner]

A student union north of the library makes sense though.  That parking lot sees a lot of through-pedestrian traffic and is at the heart of the campus where a union ideally would be located.

As I recall, that was the location of the old student union before ACAC.  I has always looked odd to me as a parking lot.

[ZYX]

I think TU has the potential to be a really cool university with an Ivy League/ Eastern feel, they just have chosen not to be for so long. If they would stop building cheesy suburban bleck, such as the student apartments, and start building more new buildings like the ones pictured above, I think they could get there. Just think, if they decided to build something like OU's Sooner Center, how much that would change the feel of their campus, and the whole neighborhood in general. Then if they built several more buildings out to the street, and with the classic university architecture, 11th St might start feeling like a little college town. It would also make TU seem bigger than they are, and possibly attract more students, which would be a benefit to not only the university, but the whole city as well. It just seems like a better long term investment to really build up a campus that feels permanent and enhances the neighborhood around it, than to build something that they expect to tear down in twenty years.

[SXSW]

I think TU has the potential to be a really cool university with an Ivy League/ Eastern feel, they just have chosen not to be for so long. If they would stop building cheesy suburban bleck, such as the student apartments, and start building more new buildings like the ones pictured above, I think they could get there. Just think, if they decided to build something like OU's Sooner Center, how much that would change the feel of their campus, and the whole neighborhood in general. Then if they built several more buildings out to the street, and with the classic university architecture, 11th St might start feeling like a little college town. It would also make TU seem bigger than they are, and possibly attract more students, which would be a benefit to not only the university, but the whole city as well. It just seems like a better long term investment to really build up a campus that feels permanent and enhances the neighborhood around it, than to build something that they expect to tear down in twenty years.

Agree completely.  I've said this for years that TU is a major anchor for the city and especially this neighborhood and could have an even larger impact if the university were more like peer institutions like TCU, SMU or even Vanderbilt.  Imagine the impact TU would have with double the number of students and faculty/staff/researchers; that would be over 10,000 people who would bring more life to midtown and downtown.

TU has done a lot of great things on their campus, and is a Top 100 university for a reason.  But they could do some things better (such as the apartments) and could really make an impact on the surrounding area with more of a presence along 11th.

[TheArtist]

 Hey, at least they have the apartments now so that was a BIG step up imo.  I also hear that they don't want to be a bigger university, but want to keep their student numbers at about 5,000 and focus on improving their quality, rankings, etc.  Perhaps after they get to the quality they want, they will begin inching up their student numbers.

[SXSW]

Hey, at least they have the apartments now so that was a BIG step up imo.  I also hear that they don't want to be a bigger university, but want to keep their student numbers at about 5,000 and focus on improving their quality, rankings, etc.  Perhaps after they get to the quality they want, they will begin inching up their student numbers.

There is plenty of quality at similar private research universities with 10-15,000 students.  Look at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Baylor, Tulane, Wake Forest, etc.  All higher ranked than TU with larger student populations, especially graduate students.  TU ideally would be the size of TCU at 8-9,000 students, roughly double the current student population.  And ideally many of those extra students would be living in new apartments along the south side of 11th over sidewalk-facing restaurants and retail between Harvard and Delaware.

[TheArtist]

There is plenty of quality at similar private research universities with 10-15,000 students.  Look at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Baylor, Tulane, Wake Forest, etc.  All higher ranked than TU with larger student populations, especially graduate students.  TU ideally would be the size of TCU at 8-9,000 students, roughly double the current student population.  And ideally many of those extra students would be living in new apartments along the south side of 11th over sidewalk-facing restaurants and retail between Harvard and Delaware.

Indeed there are larger universities with higher rankings.  But you would likely want to pursue some sort of well thought out process by which you would achieve being both larger and of higher quality.  Your going to have to attract more high quality students, professors, build up a good quality campus structure, top notch research facilities, high quality and well known curriculum, low student to professor ratios, attract high quality professors, etc.  They are still working on getting up the rankings with the students and "infrastructure/abilities" they have.  Just opening it up for more students alone won't help that, could actually harm. My supposition is that right now they are keeping the student body about the size it is, while focusing on quality and moving up the rankings, then once they achieve that they can feel more secure with adding more high quality students.