Temple U. Releases Draft Campus Plan

PHILADELPHIA—Temple University released a draft campus plan late last week that included recommendations for vast green space at a large central quad at its main campus, a new library and a new interdisciplinary sciences building.

The plan recommends phased implementation of various projects, some within the next five years and others over the next decade or longer. Details on a landscape master plan will be released later this month.

“This crucial strategic framework for planning and development touches on practically every aspect of university life, spans all domestic campuses and is nothing short of transformational,” Temple president Neil D. Theobald says. “It reflects input from the Temple community and shows the depth of our commitment to building Temple University into a place that is worthy of our past and well-positioned for the future.”

Among some of the key recommendations from the draft campus plan include a state-of-the-art library at the core of campus on the current site of Barton Hall between Liacouras Walk and 13th Street and a central green space—the size of a full city block—to provide the main campus with its first-ever true academic quad. The green space (bounded by 13th Street, Polett Walk, 12th Street and Norris Street) would expand north from the current space after the planned demolitions of Beury Hall and the Biology-Life Sciences Building. Also planned are a new interdisciplinary science building, an expansion of the College of Engineering, a consolidated home for the College of Public Health (formerly the College of Health Professions and Social Work), which is currently divided among several buildings and the renovation of existing buildings for more flexible, contemporary learning spaces, including the $11.5-million renovation of Wachman Hall, future renovations of Ritter Hall and Ritter Annex, and a repurposing of Paley Library after the new library is built.

Other recommendations include further growth of research space at the Health Sciences Campus; investing in Temple's Center City campus to increase street-level visibility (renovations are underway for a new ground-floor café and bookstore); and maintaining Temple's presence at the School of Podiatric Medicine's campus at 8th and Race streets and in Harrisburg, PA.

The plan suggests moving operations at Temple Fort Washington to the Ambler Ccmpus and for making improvements at Ambler, such as enhancing facility use and renewing student and faculty amenities.