Talking Stick - May/June 2008 - 56

Strike Up the Brand the opportunity to establish itself as a nationally recognized arts presence, a key aspect of its “brand identity.” In addition to providing world-class entertainment to the Newport News metropolitan region, better known for its industry and military installations than the arts, the $54-million center has been a primary force in making CNU into a burgeoning academic institution, with its performing arts departments growing well beyond the 20 declared majors it had in the early 1990s. It has also helped lure more students, and 10 new faculty members were immediately added upon its 2004 opening. Applicants to the university increased by more than 42 percent, while admissions jumped by 400 percent. Such academic and lifestyle advancements directly support university efforts to enhance their image, starting with a venue that can literally “speak” and “sing” the culture of the school. “Ours is a student-ﬁrst philosophy. The biggest class is 105 people, and there are no buildings more than four stories and no community bathrooms,” says Dr. Andy Sheston, director of housing. “So we create little communities within the campus, such as separate buildings that are attached to others, with plenty of community space built into the residential buildings.” More than that, the decision to redevelop the site of a 1950s high school, reusing existing developed land and infrastructure, was hailed as smart growth by civic and community groups. By reusing land in the urban center, rather than consuming the disappearing commodity of open green space, the archi-dentity of the center expresses yet another of CNU’s values – environmental awareness and an adherence to the concept of renew, reuse, recycle. Lead architect Mike Evans, principal of Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, of Norfolk, Virginia, noted that his team faced the challenge of 56 Talking Stick integrating the 1950s-era high school building into the facility. “Our solution was to locate classrooms and support spaces within the former high school, build new theaters at each end, and connect it all with a row of sweeping arches,” Evans explains. A small amphitheater, an extension of the arches, provides an outdoor performance venue, while a gleaming glass stair tower stands as a messenger, speaking of CNU’s commitment to culture, its students, and the city of Newport News. Jardine was originally built in the late 1950s to accommodate returning World War II veterans who needed on-campus family housing while they attended college. The school’s tradition of supporting the needs of its students and facilitating a sense of community has always been a priority. The history of Jardine and K-State is rich with an educational philosophy that goes beyond the classrooms and extends into the students’ homes and neighborhood lives. The New Cornerstone of On-Campus Housing at Kansas State Like Pitzer, Mount St. Mary’s, and CNU, Kansas State University puts great value on the use of archi-dentity in merging the school’s existing commitments and historical traditions, all the while allowing for new growth and progress. By ensuring that all aspects of its large-scale residential redevelopment project support the community’s fundamental value system, K-State keeps an eye on where they have come from, while leaping ahead into the future. The unusual Kansas State University residential neighborhood known as Jardine’s original village-like atmosphere was a quality that the school wanted to preserve and expand upon with a $102-million campus residential redevelopment project. In conceptualizing the direction and design of the new Jardine community, the school used Gobé’s marketing research method, “emotional branding.” As a result of focus groups, which garnered the opinions of students, residents, faculty, and staff, a brand identity consisting of four “cornerstones” was created. When cross-referencing their data, researchers found that four quality-oflife elements emerged as being of great importance to the participants: global, PHOTO SUPPLIED BY KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY K-State first brought their Jardine plans to life with computergenerated images.
Talking Stick - May/June 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - May/June 2008
