By the spring of 2013, students will get another place to lounge outdoors.
Two Northwestern parking lots in the center of the Evanston campus will be filled with two acres of “green space,” the University announced Friday.
The lawn will be placed near the Lakefill, south of Silverman and Annenberg halls and west of the Allen Center, according to a news release.
“It’s going to be a lovely space with some nice landscaping,” said University spokesman Al Cubbage.
The Mid-Campus Green is one of the new green spaces the University plans to place on campus, said Ron Nayler, the associate vice president of NU Facilities Management.
In NU’s 2009 Campus Framework Plan, Nayler said, the University planned a ‘crescent’ of green space extending from North to South Beach. The entire green crescent project could cost “in the eight-figure range,” Nayler estimated.
The parking lot west of the Allen Center has been under construction since last year to improve NU’s underground steam and chilled water distribution network, the release said. Instead of creating a new parking lot, the University decided to install the Mid-Campus Green.
The green space will include grass, shrubs and flowers, Nayler said.
“The Mid-Campus Green will provide an oasis in the center of campus while strengthening pedestrian links between North and South Campus,” said Eugene Sunshine, the NU senior vice president of business and finance, in the release.
Nayler said the additional central green space will enhance pedestrian experience.
“I think any campus benefits if you can take major circulation routes that students and faculty and staff use and provide enhanced aesthetics,” he said.
According to Cubbage, the ultimate goal of creating new green spaces is to make the center of campus a place for pedestrians and bicyclists while pushing parking to the periphery of NU’s campus.
Once the improvements in the water system are finished in June, construction of the green space will begin.
