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Academic Centers for Athletes Draw Donors
More than a dozen university athletics programs have added lavish new facilities in recent years, and academic-services budgets are soaring, a Chronicle survey finds. (Photograph courtesy of Texas A&M U.)
College Employees Value Campus Environment, Survey Finds
When a Chronicle survey asked college employees what they value about their jobs, they put the physical environment in which they work at the top of the list.
Rise in Tornadoes, Floods Poses Risk to Colleges
What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come? (Photograph by AP Images)
Other News
After Hurricane Gustav, Campuses Clean Up
Cleanup crews scoured Gulf Coast campuses, removing downed limbs and repairing broken windows, while students and staff members forced out by Hurricane Gustav waited for word that they could return.
Lessons From Katrina Improve Colleges' Evacuations for Hurricane Gustav
College officials across the Gulf Coast were cautiously relieved when initial reports suggested the damage wasn't severe.
College of Southern Idaho Cafeteria Goes 'Tray-Less'
Students are also wasting less food because they no longer have the option of overloading their cafeteria trays, says the college's food-services director.
New campus buildings
Multimedia
A Green Building as a Billboard for Science
(A 2006 Chronicle video)
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About Buildings & Grounds
Buildings & Grounds is written by Scott Carlson (left) and Lawrence Biemiller (right). Scott Carlson writes about architecture, facilties, energy, and sustainability, among other topics. Lawrence Biemiller writes about architecture and facilities and contributes to Notes from Academe. What's happening on your campus? Let us know.
What If Your Campus Housing Looked Like This?
EcoVillage at Ithaca
Ithaca, NY — There is something timeless about the houses in an unusual neighborhood just outside of Ithaca’s tiny downtown. They’re placed close together and sit lightly upon the land, as homes did in early American settlements or medieval villages. But the time-warp feeling one gets at the EcoVillage at Ithaca may have more to do with the fact that the usual trappings of suburban development — multi-car garages; wide, paved streets; vinyl siding — are nowhere to be found. Where there might be driveways in a conventional development, the EcoVillage houses have front-yard gardens of peppermint, basil, and butterfly flowers of all sorts.
Professors and administrators attending a community-college conference here got a tour of the EcoVillage, one of the better-known intentional communities in the country. The whole idea of the EcoVillage is to turn the current trends in housing development upside down: Build small, build efficiently, build close together, and leave the surrounding land undeveloped, or preserve it for agriculture.
The EcoVillage stands on 175 acres that were originally slated for bland, suburban housing. Ninety percent of the land would have been taken up by houses, and 10 percent would have been left green. When the EcoVillagers got their hands on the land, they turned those figures around. Ten percent would be taken up by development, and the rest left alone. Car parking is on the perimeter of the development, leaving the areas between and around the houses open for pedestrians and playing kids. Much of the open land could be used for agriculture; there are two organic farms on the site, and the villagers would like to have more.
About 100 adults and 60 children live here. Liz Walker, a resident who is one of the founders of the village, said that a population of 300 is probably the upper limit that the community could support.
The houses range from 600 square feet to 2,400 square feet. A tour of a 1,100 square-foot home owned by Monty Berman, a 78-year-old adjunct professor of psychology at Empire State College, revealed a humble but warm interior. The walls are superinsulated, the windows are triple-glazed, and the features inside seem to be low-cost and low-maintenance. (Floors in one room were sealed sheets of plywood.)
The kitchen is tiny, but that might be because residents of EcoVillage eat in a common house a few times a week. Laundry facilities and playrooms for the children are also located in the common house.
Those living in the EcoVillage make decisions communally — process that the residents admit is frustrating at times. Anyone working in higher education would be able to relate.
The EcoVillage, in fact, works closely with the colleges in the area. Students from both Cornell University and Ithaca College work on projects at the EcoVillage, and the villagers are active in leading seminars about sustainability.
During the tour, Ms. Walker led the crowd to the edge of the village, which looks out toward Ithaca. On the opposite side of the valley sit Cornell, on one hilltop, and Ithaca College, on another.
“I like to think that we have these various educational institutions on these hills,” Ms. Walker said, “and we are one of them.”
(Photos courtesy of EcoVillage at Ithaca)
Comments
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Your choice of photos for this article is interesting in the fact that it shows only one of the two existing neighborhoods. The older, not shown, has a completely different character. What you’ve shown here is a “settlement”; not the “village” of FROG.
— David Aug 9, 09:15 AM #
When the three seperate tour groups visited my house (in the FROG section of the Village), I was struck by the degree of informed questions they asked and the interest they had in it, both structurally and functionally. And even more so, by the extent of appreciation they expressed to me for allowing the place to be shown.
Monty Berman, Empire State College, Ithaca & Syracuse units
— Monty Berman Aug 9, 05:24 PM #
“It takes a village to raise a child”! We were meant to live in tribes, not in suburban or anonymous neighborhoods. We started planning the village in 1991 and built the first neighborhood in 1996. Most of the homes in the first neighborhood are similar and compactly built – one to five bedrooms; 15’ passive solar windows facing south provide light, heat in winter (when sunny) and a beautiful view of the valley, and in summer, shade via plants growing on a trellise. What a deal! Free heat in winter and free shad in summer! EVI is 2.5 miles from downtown Ithaca. We interface, and are very actively involved, in that larger community.
Ecovillage is attempting to model of a community that honors and preserves our resources – land, water, energy, good air; and materials. We were meant to help each other and share our good and bad times; to celebrate, learn and create. thus, we welcome visitors and enjoy sharing our work and experiences in community.
— sara pines Aug 14, 09:17 PM #