As campus design and planning evolves to meet the needs of modern society, changing lifestyles, the movement towards sustainable growth and the lack of space, universities must become more innovative and be able to assess what the current needs are for the student body. While many factors contribute to the manner in which a university grows and evolves one important feature that ties all American campuses together is the idea of placemaking and the creation of a sense of place, that can be defined as a specific connection to the location and that illustrates an emotional bond to the environment.
The lasting impressions will affect those that choose to attend and those who visit the university as well. The campus becomes a tangible illustration of what the mission for that particular institution is and a representation of the institution’s identity. By understanding these historical influences and reviewing how universities have chosen to execute them, will allow planners to assess what the trends have been and what can be done to either rectify past misapplications of campus design or to better incorporate the influences to modern day approaches.
The purpose of this thesis is to extract what those specific influences are, based on the available literature, and discuss how these influences have affected two selected universities in Ohio and to make recommendations on what are potential solutions and factors that will affect universities as they continue to strive to achieve their original goals. The research is based on a historical analysis of the evolution of the American campus with a detailed overview of two Ohio institutions and the similarities and differences they have experienced throughout their evolution process.