Researcher(s)
- Catherine Boettger, Landscape Architecture, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Catherine Morrissey, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware
Abstract
This paper discusses the evolution of the United States College Campus. First, addressing historical origins that helped shape academia as we know it today. Exploring the introduction of designing for the human scale, taking into consideration future expansion and ideals that allowed for the growth of young adults. The introduction into philosophy and what a college campus can truly become, not just a collection of buildings but a playground for expansion. It was land availability, the pursuit of new fields of study, and increased availability of higher education that allowed the U.S Campus to differentiate itself from Europe’s monastic styling. Different eras have brought their own challenges; architecture is a brick-and-mortar history book that reflects what was most important at the moment of construction and can be studied as such. A college campus has developed into more than simply a place of learning, pushing the envelope on what the word academia has become. A university is a place for growth in advancements-scientific, cultural, and societal. Colleges are able to mirror current events, and this paper stresses the importance of how architecture culminates the strongest beliefs of an age and is a form of history that must be preserved.