LSU is in negotiations with Seattle-based NBBJ to hire the firm to create an updated master plan for the flagship Baton Rouge campus.
NBBJ was selected for the job from among four master planning firms that responded to a request for qualifications and made public pitches last month.
“Although the 2003 master plan still serves as the guiding principle for all development on campus, building on the framework of that plan with a more comprehensive and strategic master planning effort is certainly in order, and I am very excited to move forward with this important planning effort for LSU,” says Roger Husser, director of LSU planning, design and construction, and a member of the master plan support and facilitation committee, in a prepared statement.
Several components of the master plan, including residential life, parking, dining, infrastructure, space analysis and classroom utilization, as well as College of Science space studies, are in progress or have been recently completed. LSU says these studies will be used by NBBJ to ensure the new plan is related to the future space needs on campus.
“Development on campus has progressed rapidly since 2003, and the current and upcoming development is unprecedented,” says Husser. “Whereas the 2003 master plan identified how the campus might look in 50 years, we need to know how we should strategically grow in the next five to 10 years. An updated master plan for LSU that is developed by the campus community to meet expected outcomes will certainly serve the university well.”
Completion of the comprehensive and strategic master plan is expected to take 18 to 24 months, and LSU says several meetings with internal and external stakeholders will be scheduled to gather opinions and suggestions on future campus growth. Other master planning firm finalists who were vying for the work were Cannon Design, Perkins + Will and Sasaki.
With 11 offices worldwide, NBBJ has more than 750 employees and its previous clients include Alibaba, Amazon, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Boeing, Cambridge University, Cleveland Clinic, GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, Reebok, Samsung, Stanford University and Starbucks, among many others.
LSU has more details on today’s announcement.
