{"id":2694,"date":"2025-11-03T16:20:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:18:11","slug":"the-miami-master-plan-the-architectural-side-of-miami-hamiltons-polytechnic-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/2025\/11\/the-miami-master-plan-the-architectural-side-of-miami-hamiltons-polytechnic-leap\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Miami Master Plan’: The Architectural Side of Miami Hamilton\u2019s Polytechnic Leap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Tricia Cherry —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cMiami Master Plan\u201d Open House was a brief, informal meeting which was originally set to be held in the courtyard between Rentschler and Mosler, but the weather of that day forced the event indoors, to the Jack Rhodes Study Center in Mosler Hall on Hamilton\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topic was Miami\u2019s future as the first polytechnic school in the state of Ohio, and the effects this would have on campus. The ultimate goal is to complete this transformation in full on the Hamilton campus by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our speaker was Andrew Broderick, from Perkins & Will, which will be coordinating how this process unfolds on Hamilton\u2019s campus. Perkins & Will is a major architecture and design firm, known for their innovative improvements to parks, landscapes, and buildings\u2014including some schools\u2014all with sustainability and the human experience in mind. Perkins & Will have been meeting with Miami University, Butler County, Butler Tech, and the city of Hamilton, for an undisclosed number of months on the project. They are also partnering up with Ohio Means Jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
\u201cWe\u2019re looking to plan the future of this campus for the next decade ahead.\u201d \u2013 Andrew Broderick, the speaker of the open house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mr. Broderick presented the attendees with four slides: two detailed the plans for the campus, and two blank slides encouraged feedback. One question was in regards to feedback about what to improve from the perspective of staff and students, and one question asked attendees what they liked and thought was working well about the campus now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic five-step plan was as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Prioritize student\u2019s experience<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Focus on sustainability<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Define and connect North and South districts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Integrate partnerships<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Reinvigorate South Core<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"
    The poster board asking for ideas to improve the campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    The most recently discussed possibility going into the meeting was the idea of on-campus living. Because a polytechnic school would ideally mean more enrollment, and one of the biggest obstacles to enrollment at the moment is transportation, it follows that not only dormitories, but designated recreation fields and expanded services such as for childcare, with more workers and play areas, are in order. Also discussed was the possibility of shuffling around some existing features of the campus such as the Harrier\u2019s Nest, which would need to expand greatly to cater to the larger student body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the moment, the biggest obstacle to all of this is the issue of energy, with water looping being
    the second biggest problem. Early in the session, renewable energy was mentioned as a necessity,
    but wasn\u2019t discussed in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Also brought up was the condition of some of the older buildings and the surrounding grounds. The conservatory was at the center of this discussion. Originally, a second entrance to this building was planned, as well as a parking lot, both of which would open it up to the public, similar to the gymnasium, but the idea was abandoned. Behind the conservatory is a prairie which many people don\u2019t realize is kept that way for the sake of environmental conservation. However, this means that, to the public at least, it looks like the university is neglecting their land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the last points mentioned came back to the idea of the recreation fields, linking this to the ice rink that was once on campus. The Hamilton campus currently has tennis courts that are currently no purpose, and the idea was set forth to replace them with basketball and disk golf courts\u2014sports that would draw in more students.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    A small refreshment table offering cold water and a platter of cookies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Tricia Cherry — The \u201cMiami Master Plan\u201d Open House was a brief, informal meeting which was originally set to be held in the courtyard […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":9361,"featured_media":2696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}