Master Plan - Kickoff and Process

October 2, 2017

VCU is beginning a campus master planning process that will draw its direction specifically from the priorities and initiatives in VCU's new Strategic Plan and build off recent and ongoing studies. The goal of this planning effort is to develop a comprehensive and flexible plan that addresses the needs of the university over the next 10-15 years. The plan will be a coordinated roadmap for the University and Health System. The five-phase planning process is scheduled to occur over a 15-month period. The Planning Team is led by Ayers Saint Gross, an internationally recognized architectural, planning, and design firm. The team also includes a number of consultants, some local to Richmond that will focus on campus heritage, landscape architecture – open space and streetscape, civil engineering, cost estimating, and financial feasibility. 

 

The planning process is based on a series of intensive, monthly workshops conducted over multiple days. During each workshop, the planning team will engage members of the VCU community in dialogue, fact-finding, and decision-making. Each workshop spans multiple days and includes interview sessions, walking tours, and concept development. Workshops tend to be a blend of listening and interpreting information and presenting ideas back out to groups to continuously evolve the plan’s development.

This is the beginning of the planning process. The first workshops are focused on the physical aspects of the campus—how the campus is functioning today and how it can be improved. A large cross-section of stakeholders are invited participate to in the process of determining how the physical campus can better support the mission and vision of VCU. Future meetings and open forums will summarize campus observations, present options, and share the final plan before it is adopted.