Wait no longer, North Quad is back. Nine months after the regents sent the original design back to the drawing board, the academic complex has emerged with a new look. And North Quad version 2.0 is better.
The upgraded schematic design, approved by the University Board of Regents last week, is a response to the University’s desire for an impressive campus gateway. When the first scheme did not meet expectations last March, administrators wisely delayed the project, expanded its budget and requested a redesign.
A vast improvement over the original, the revamped design is more coherent and more accessible. North Quad is not merely a building – it is a residential and academic complex conceived to integrate student living and learning.
The rejected design created a hodgepodge of disjointed materials and forms by allowing the project’s diverse programs dictate the structure’s exterior. In the new design, North Quad has a clear internal organization that relates to its surroundings.
Where the Frieze Building now stands, a 10-story residential wing and a 7-story academic wing will line the block’s perimeter and interlock around a central courtyard (think of two misaligned Tetris L-shapes).
To the northwest, the courtyard becomes a plaza that spills into the intersection of Huron and State.
A stately tower accents the complex’s southeast corner, which greets students arriving from the Diag. The Carnegie Library fits snugly into the residential wing and acts as the anchoring center piece of the north fa