Stand by Your Plan

After its first year following the fulfillment of a 1997 master plan, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is a reinvigorated and well- honed tool for teaching that connects students and faculty to one another and the university as a whole. By adhering so faithfully to the master plan, Fuqua has greatly enhanced its identity and position as one of the nation’s top-tier business schools.

Across 14 years and the tenure of three deans, one might think there would be major deviations from the master plan that Perkins + Will conceived to accommodate the school’s original wish list:
• Increase the capacity of the school as a global, seven-day-a-week learning destination.
• Connect the school physically, visually, and aesthetically to the rest of the Duke campus.
• Upgrade the electronic connectivity of the facilities to meet and exceed student expectations.
• Prepare for future directions in business education.

In fact, the original master plan and school campus as it now exists align perfectly. In maintaining a long-term adherence to this plan, it helped that the university’s project management was consistent throughout, says Design Principal Jim Merriman, AIA, of the Perkins + Will Charlotte office. It also helped that the original vision was strong and self-evident as it was passed along from dean to dean.

Breedon Hall, top, provides a clear entry point to the business school. Here, the central mall continues the connection inside, introducing abundant light and views to the forest.

A few plan elements were based on the Duke context of a Collegiate Gothic campus in the forest. The business school had always been closely tied to the Duke Forest, but they wanted also to match the campus more closely stylistically. They also wanted to re-orient to Science Drive to create a stronger entryway and establish pedestrian connections to the rest of the campus.

The school also recognized that it needed a master plan for both growth and consolidation. “They were spread all over Durham, not just on campus,” Merriman says. “So they wanted to be in one place. I would say the sheer need for physical place drove them more than anything. Within the site, the school successfully added facilities in three separate areas over time.”

As the school grew—from 750 daytime students to 1,000—certain elements remained constant, such as the teaching model of 60- or 120-seat classrooms facilitating face-to-face student-faculty interaction. Teaching methods, though, changed significantly, Merriman says, referring to the gradual introduction of computer-linked video capabilities, small-group work areas, and research facilities.

The plan

From the Magat Center, here, to the Fox Center Winter Garden, below left, each phase derived from the plan's core purpose. (Photo below left by Les Todd, all others by James West.)

The 1997 Fuqua master plan mapped out four elements of expansion, all of which Perkins + Will subsequently designed: the addition of the Magat Academic Center for faculty office and support space, infill renovations, the addition of the Fox Student Center to support student activities and computer facilities, and the addition of Breedon Hall to expand classroom space and provide a stronger school identity via a stone entrance tower on Science Drive.

Elements of the Fox Center emphasize the business school’s commitment to global learning through electronic media. Abundant natural light, views to the adjacent woods, a dining area, a student lounge, an indoor winter garden, outdoor terraces, changing rooms with lockers and showers, and a student communications center all contribute to the facility’s draw, attracting students year-round. The center also connects to an administrative tower that includes the dean’s suite.

Breedon Hall, completed in the summer of 2008, subtly merges Modern precast forms with the new stone entrance tower on Science Dr. Its three-story atrium extends the existing mall and emphasizes the entryway. The building features an 18,000-sf library, three state-of-the-art lecture rooms, two large executive lecture rooms with telecommunications capability, a 28-team room suite, two multipurpose rooms that share a roof terrace, and three floors of staff offices. The building was designed to meet LEED® Silver certification requirements.

Continue to look to the future

“The very last enhancement the school undertook under this plan was to update the tele-presence suite,” Merriman says. “We worked with a very capable construction management firm to get that work done over a Christmas break so the changeover was seamless to the students and faculty.”

Even the dining facilities have become part of the overall learning environment, although it was the only thing that Merriman could think of that wasn’t dead-on with the original program. “Food service is always an issue,” he says. “Plus, with this facility, we faced the question: ‘How do you get a 1,000-seat dining facility to feel okay when there are only 50 people having coffee early in the morning?’ And there always seem to be real surprises that require facility updates when you study how people move through the serving area. I don’t know if anyone will ever solve the complexities of those interactions perfectly.”

The students approve wholeheartedly, though, according to an account from the April 2006 Duke Magazine: “The Fox Center [provides] a central place where people naturally congregate [in a] dining room with tables, chairs, and sofas that double as seating and workspace; an indoor patio used for receptions; a food-service area; and a 24-hour snack bar. ‘This isn’t designed as a dining area,’ observes [business-school student Joe] Spies, glancing at his surroundings. ‘This is a social space that happens to have dining … a place where people intersect, chaos occurs, and great ideas are generated.’”

For the future, Merriman says, the master plan continues in force as the school evolves. A need has been identified for another office wing, for example, as well as some renovation to a living facility and daytime center that provides space for conferences.

For now, though, this is one master plan that proved itself a win-win business proposition.