Charleston, SC

South Carolina's medical university has been in the heart of Charleston since its founding in 1824. Faced with the realities of significant growth and deferred maintenance, the University wanted to create a vision for the campus that would support its mission over at least the next 20 years.

ASG provided a Facilities Master Plan that evaluated existing building conditions, space and land utilization, construction needs, and priorities for improvements. The planning effort also noted the opportunities for beautification, including gardens between buildings to extend openness and make the campus more pedestrian-friendly.

One of the goals of the plan was to facilitate intercollegiate, interdisciplinary collaboration, so future development will focus on increasing building density in the central campus. Travel time for the faculty and students will be reduced significantly as a result. The near doubling of occupied space also will be consistent with the density typically found on the Charleston peninsula.

The University's adjacency to historic residential neighborhoods required a sensitive approach to defining growth areas, and careful consideration was given to the transition of scale. ASG also provided detailed Campus Design Guidelines outlining courses of action for growth and improvements. Significant implementation is underway.

ASG was a campus planning consultant to Perkins & Will for Phase I and has continued to provide master planning services to MUSC.

Completion: 1999
Size: 61 acres