The Purpose-Built Campus
Introduction
The REGENT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, GHANA, which was started five years ago, currently has four operational campuses. The university college now intends to undertake a new model campus project to absorb the existing satellite campuses City Campus in the capital, Accra, Ghana.
A new 5.827 acre (2.385 hectare) property was acquired at McCarthy Hills, a suburb west of the city of Accra for development that seeks to achieve a set of bold education and valued objectives.
Design Challenges
The magnificent property commanding an impressive view of the Atlantic Ocean to the south, the hilly mountainous McCarthy Hills to the north, and the newly developed residential cluster on both the west and east, all combine d to offer a bigger but interesting challenge that influenced the design philosophy. The newly constructed southern highway, linking the southern strip of the country to other neighboring states as well as the high frequency of vehicular movement at the southern border, also influenced the design for traffic movement in our “miniature city” campus.
The biggest physical challenges included the sloppy rough topography, the possible damaging effect of the nearby sea breeze on proposed construction material specifications and the seismic classification of the site as a possible earthquake zone. Some of the above, however, were considered assets to enhance rather than limit the design image.
In addition to the above, the college’s own vision of a campus “city within a city”, the aspired notion of being the BEST college (for Business, Engineering, Science and Technology) as well as other component facilities aimed at achieving excellence and distinction both in terms of facilities and education, enabled us to propose a design that seeks to achieve integration with both the physical and educational.
Design Solutions
The design objective was aimed at satisfying the client’s needs, as best as practicable, against the background of the restricted sloppy site. The building organization was made to reflect and education-centered planning based on three physical levels on the site.
Broad but fusing physical demarcations were made, by the use of stepped retaining walls, to identify the residential/housing periphery, the academic (city center) section, where the major educational programs and classrooms were centered, and the social and business areas which were designed to link a proposed adjoining bypass to the major heavy-traffic road on the south. At the centre of the three broad demarcations was positioned the campus focus, with landscaping, water fountains as well as the symbolic academic tower.
Vehicular traffic was restricted to only two accesses parallel to the north and south property lined. These accesses were consciously designed to serve the residential facilities (on the north side) and the social/auditorium facility at the south.
By following the east-west contour configuration and restricting vehicular traffic to the fringes, we envisaged a significant reduction in the cost f road construction and civil works, in general whilst reducing pedestrian/vehicular conflict on the campus. We also considered human movement in the north-south slopes, with lateral ancillary walkways, and an effective exercise in physical training for the campus community. Provision shall also be made for movement of the physically impaired through the use of ramps and other medium.