Project Description:
Campus Plan Capital Campaign

As Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania began to look at its future the landscape architects were retained to develop a long-range plan. The resultant master plan document though significant in scope and concept was in itself a static document and did not provide the dynamic catalyst to implement the Carnegie-Mellon's 200 million-dollar capital campaign.

To communicate the salient issues of the plan as well as initiate the significant fund-raising efforts, the landscape architects were additionally tasked with producing the multi-medias necessary to complete the campaign.

The landscape architects and planners developed the Carnegie-Mellon Long-Range Campus Plan and a myriad of plan announcement graphics as the cornerstone of Carnegie-Mellon's enormous capital plan. As part of the capital campaign kickoff, the landscape architects helped develop a Pittsburgh "Fortune 500" contributor list to help fund the long-range plan. Richard Mellon was solicited as part of the implementation strategy to be campaign chairman and he was subsequently responsible for a 10 million gift to the university.

The university's rich architectural heritage and academic prowess significantly shaped the Long-Range Campus Plan that functions as the predominant element of the capital campaign.

Simple goal statements were established and developed into slide graphics to support the printed Long Range Campus Plan as a briefing file for the University's president and its endowment council. A visually friendly background and typeface was chosen by the graphic designers to convey the important message.

A two sided executive summary and campus plan document was created by the landscape architects to succinctly communicate the plan's key concepts. This mass mail-out tool (10,000 copies) was targeted to gifts of 100-10,00Odollars. Sketch and plan graphics were chosen by the landscape architects and fundraisers that was reader friendly in style and color to offset the predominant computer driven graphic style associated with the university. Numerous mock-ups were tested by the landscape architects as to appropriateness.

The predominant element planned by the landscape architects, The Student Center, is currently being designed in an A.I.A. worldwide design competition. The landscape architects, having planned and concepted the facility, have been asked to participate in the competition as jurors. The subsequent publication of the competition's results is to include the Long-Range Campus Plan as developed by the landscape architects. The landscape architect presence in beth local and national media events firmly establish their lead in the project's development.

A independent developer is planning an on-campus conference center and the communication graphics created by the landscape architects have been used as a conceptual design guide to the architects, a zoning diagram for the city and a financial mortgage package for the developer.