Meet me on MainStreet

New open spaces

	The Mews open space, running between the Steger Student Life Center on the right and the engineering buildings on the left, is an intimate setting for conversation or a relaxing lunch.

By now MainStreet's open spaces have been absorbed into the University of Cincinnati's regular routine. The paved courtyards, grassy areas and granite seat walls are dotted with people talking, having lunch or passing through on their way to class.

A curious thing happened, however, when the chain-link construction barriers that walled off the interior of campus first fell in April.

"It was funny," says Leonard Thomas, project manager of landscape, design and construction from the UC architect's office. "When MainStreet first opened, it was as if the fences were still there.

"We probably could have done some sociological evaluation. It became almost Pavlovian. Students were so conditioned to that labyrinthine kind of meandering around that it took them some time to step beyond the non-construction space."

Though fences remain around MainStreet's final attraction, the Campus Recreation Center, the main corridor of West Campus has reopened and filled with life. Today it is foot traffic instead of cars traversing the area. The road is gone; walkways, gardens and new buildings have supplanted what was once Campus Drive.

"This whole metamorphosis is really a transformation that makes the pulse of the university much more electrified and active instead of passive," Thomas says. "Now if you go out there, it is incredible. There are corridors of opportunity and spaces of destination."

Students are again sunbathing on McMicken Commons, chatting on the steps of TUC, and walking down MainStreet between TUC and the Steger Student Life Center. Those looking for a more intimate area to study or talk are finding their way to the Mews, a series of tiered garden-like courtyards that terrace down the narrow strip bordered by the Student Life Center on the south and Swift, Baldwin and Rhodes halls on the north. One of the most popular features of the Mews has become the salvaged architectural pieces installed there.

	The new Bearcat Plaza, surrounded by TUC, the Steger Center and Nippert Stadium, is becoming the outdoor epicenter for social life on campus.

Perhaps the most engaging new open space is the triangular area wedged by TUC, SLC and Nippert Stadium, known as Bearcat Plaza.

"Bearcat Plaza presents a great opportunity to see and be seen," UC architect Ron Kull says. "It is kind of like sitting on the old TUC bridge when everybody used to hang on the sides. This is the same kind of place where you can have a band at lunchtime or a concert on Friday night. Or kids can just hang out there on a sunny day underneath the trees."

The finishing touch to the Bearcat Plaza development includes taking down the Nippert Stadium restroom wall north of the press box to open up the view into the football venue and beyond. Four brick columns will then be erected in its stead to create a natural backdrop for a Bearcat Plaza stage.

Kull says the intent is to create public squares that invite intellectual discussion, social interaction and entertainment. "If you go back to our Master Plan, one of the things we have always said is there is as much learning that goes on outside the classroom as goes on inside the classroom."

NEXT | Architectural relics dot Mews

PREVIOUS Intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Clickable Map NEXT