Chadron State visualizing facility improvements

Six designers from Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects met with CSC constituents last week to develop a vision for the 2012-2022 Chadron State College Master Plan for facilities. The designers documented a wide range of ideas which will be further developed by the architects and presented to the public later this year.

The visit from BVH, which also hosted meetings campus this spring to gather ideas, marked the middle stages of the master plan process. The architects will use information and sketches from the 2½ days of sessions last week to develop a plan for approval by Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees in January 2012.

If all of the ideas are realized within the next 10 years, CSC will have renovations for many of its aging existing structures and a number of new facilities for academics, athletics, recreation and student services. A theme of the plan is to meld the natural landscape south of the campus with the city grid to the north. While maintaining a straight east-west line for foot traffic through the center of campus, the plan calls for continuing to incorporate natural lines and meandering pathways through the campus.

Dale Grant, CSC vice president for administration, said the ideas presented so far are ambitious, but noted that the institution should take pride when looking back at all the bold ideas that were accomplished in the master plan of the past 10 years.

“It’s important that we develop a document to guide us in the next decade,” Grant said. “Of course, funding will be a challenge for each of these ideas, but we must continue to do our best to enhance the student experience, manage campus resources and promote excellence.”