Master Plan - Districts

The master plan for Wichita State University's main campus is centered around five pivotal themes: investing in the academic core, reimagining the southern edge as the 17th Street Gateway with strong connections to Fairmount Park, enhancing connections to the nearly completed Innovation Campus, investing in the aging facilities of the historic district, and expanding the scope and offerings of the athletics district.

This plan heralds a new growth phase, aiming to seamlessly connect the traditional academic campus with the Innovation Campus through new developments and green spaces. Key projects — including a new interdisciplinary classroom and lab building and a modern recreation facility — are poised to drive this transformation, complemented by upgrades in circulation, parking, and infrastructure. With a 10- to 20- year horizon, the plan aspires to forge a more interconnected, vibrant, and inclusive campus, nurturing an environment conducive to innovation, creativity, and community engagement — thereby ensuring Wichita State University's continued evolution and impact into the 21st century.

The academic core district at Wichita State University is anchored by significant landmarks: the Rhatigan Student Center and Shocker Hall to the west and Woolsey Hall to the east. Historically, the district's eastern portion, extending from the Media Resources Center to the Innovation Campus, delineated the eastern edge of campus. This area — characterized by extensive surface parking lots and smaller-scale buildings like Grace Wilkie, the Wichita State Connect Building, Parking Services, and the Wichita State University Police Department, now stand at a pivotal juncture between the traditional campus and the rapidly developing Innovation Campus.

In recognition of its strategic position on campus, the master plan proposes a transformative reimagining of this district. Plans include replacing central parking lots and aging facilities that have very high FCI scores (Hubbard Hall and the Heskett Center) with modern, state-of-theart buildings designed for academics, research, recreation-focused play-fields, and expanded green spaces.

The campus master plan envisions extending the traditional campus landscape character across what was once the edge to create a robust connection between the traditional academic campus, Woolsey Hall, and the Innovation Campus. At the heart of this transformation, a new main lawn replaces Grace Wilkie and the central surface parking lot, blending the traditional and Innovative Campus. Additionally, the demolition of the Heskett Center creates the opportunity for a new community outreach center, reflecting WSU's commitment to community engagement. A resized and efficient recreation center is added south of the YMCA to maintain indoor playing courts and studio space for campus recreation.

Framing the southern edge of the main lawn, a cutting-edge interdisciplinary classroom research building complements the expanded Ablah Library and Media Resource Center to reinforce the academic core of the campus. South of the main lawn, a newly envisioned RSC quad, double its current size, replaces the Neff Hall site, creating a strategic linkage among the RSC, Ablah Library, and the newly created Shocker Success Center.

This main lawn represents a landmark landscape feature, offering the university its foremost expansive green area. Strategically positioned to the north of Ablah Library and the south of Wilkins Stadium, it stretches east-west from Jabara Hall to Woolsey Hall. Intentionally designed for students and the wider community, this vast and open grassy space serves as an inviting location for recreation while enhancing the overall landscape quality of the campus. The planning ensures that the main lawn is surrounded by campus buildings, creating a framed experience that establishes an appropriate sense of scale that contributes to the visual balance of the campus landscape.

This significant transformation is accomplished by the demolition of smaller structures such as the Police Department Building, Grace Wilkie Hall, Wichita State Connect Building, and the Parking Services Building.

The slated demolition of Neff Hall enables the development of an open landscape east of the Rhatigan Student Center and to the south of the newly established Shocker Success Center. This quad, scaled in relation to the landscaping of the Rhatigan Student Center and the new Shocker Success Center, creates an intimate and welcoming outdoor environment. Strategically programmed to serve as a flexible space capable of accommodating various programs that extend beyond the confines of the Rhatigan Student Center or the Shocker Success Center, the quad is a dynamic hub of activity, fostering collaboration, engagement, and a vibrant campus atmosphere. With pathways ringing the quad and extending toward the entries of the surrounding buildings, the environment fosters an interactive and engaging experience for students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, the design enhances the aesthetic cohesion of the campus and ensures a seamless integration of the quad with surrounding architectural elements.

To the east of the main lawn, the area surrounding Woolsey Pond is reimagined as a third academic core district quad. Bridging spaces that are home to academic learning, applied research, and partnerships, Woolsey Pond creates another inviting outdoor anchor on campus.

To support this development, Mid Campus Drive — a corridor previously dominated by vehicular traffic — is transformed into a pedestrian-first, limited-access route. This strategic shift significantly mitigates pedestrian and vehicular conflicts, creating a safer and more secure environment along this critical campus thoroughfare. It also creates a direct pathway and landscape gesture from the main lawn to Woolsey Hall.

Of importance, any surface parking removed will be replaced with surface parking located to the north of Woolsey Hall in combination with a parking garage to ensure accessible parking close to Woolsey Hall, NIAR HAMR, and other buildings on the west side of the Innovation Campus.

The historic district of the campus stands as a testament to WSU's rich heritage, housing the oldest structures and the most developed landscape. As the age of these buildings increases, so does the need for maintenance and renovations to occur.

Located between the Duerksen Fine Arts Center and Jardine Hall and extending southward, an engaging quad with mature trees and notable sculptures anchors the northern portion of the district.

Further south, the Ulrich Art Museum takes center stage as a destination on campus. Welcoming visitors as they drive onto campus is the 350,000-tile Joan Miro monumental mural adorning the front face of the museum. This remarkable artwork stands as one of the many artistic and sculptural expressions that are woven throughout the entire campus.

The focus of the historic district in the masterplan is to maintain the rich architectural character and buildings that are located within this area. Among the structures slated for renovation, the McKnight Art Center and McKinley Hall take precedence. These buildings serve a large portion of WSU's academic activity, housing diverse programs and classes. The master plan outlines renovations that will substantially enhance the quality of these academic environments, making a dramatic impact on the students and faculty they serve.

In addition to maintaining the existing academic spaces within the district, the master plan proposes a academic arts hall. Programmed to serve the College of Fine Arts, it will have rehearsal spaces for theater and dance and also bring the Black Box Theatre back onto campus from the Metroplex. The building is strategically placed south of Duerksen Fine Arts Center, forming a cohesive and aesthetically framed landscape space.

The athletic district is anchored to the west by Koch Arena on the corner of 21st and Hillside. To the east of Koch Arena is Cessna Stadium. There are plans for the stadium to be renovated into University Stadium. The first phase is already underway with the demolition of the east side of the stadium in 2023.

The district is bookended by the softball and baseball programs to the east. Wilkins Stadium is currently undergoing a renovation to expand its capacity and bring all operations under one roof. The project involves creating an indoor practice facility, enhanced team spaces. These team spaces include team rooms, locker rooms, and coaching offices.

On the northwest corner of this district, the Child Development Center and an empty field offer an opportunity for development. The Child Development Center is a significant asset to the community, but it's currently at capacity with no room to grow and at the end of its life cycle. The master plan proposes that this vital facility finds a new home

With many improvements to the athletic district currently already underway, the 2024 master plan proposes a few key additions to enhance the district.

As the Child Development Center moves to a new location, and following the demolition of the Heskett Center, the northwest plot of land is available to hold a new indoor track facility. Positioned directly on the corner at the intersection of Hillside and 21st, this facility will address the athletic needs of the university and provide an impactful frontage, expanding WSU's presence within the community. Adjacent to the track facility, grass playing fields or outdoor tennis courts provide additional room for athletic department functions. The synergy between the new indoor track facility and the adjacent playing field or courts ensures athletes can seamlessly share pre- and post-workout, optimizing training and space efficiency.

In a strategic move to mitigate scheduling conflicts within the athletic department, the 2024 master plan also proposes an addition to Koch Arena on the northwest corner. This new expansion is designed to house an additional hard court surface, providing a comprehensive solution to the scheduling challenges faced by the basketball and volleyball programs. This addition will provide a new look and feel to the entire corner of campus.

Historically, 17th Street marked the southern edge of the campus. The President's Residence, Wilner Auditorium, and Henrion Hall act as the southeast gateway as you enter campus from the 17th and Hillside. In 2020, the university initiated the University Village project — a mixed-use corridor developed in partnership with private investors. Although the market uncertainties of the pandemic paused the project, the university is putting renewed focus on University Village. In the past few years, rapid development occurred in the surrounding area, with large multifamily housing developments emerging just blocks from University Village.

Building on momentum from the University Village development, the campus master plan envisions a bold transformation along both sides of East 17th Street. The plan outlines the transformation of the existing streetscape, adding angled on-street parking adjacent to storefronts, creating a more urban main street experience that blends commercial vitality with campus life.

On the north side of 17th Street, the plan replaces existing surface parking lots and the tennis court complex with three- and four-story mixed-use buildings. These structures — featuring active groundfloor uses with residential or office and lab space above — leverage their proximity to the core campus. This prime location makes them ideal for partnerships with private industry, fostering a blend of academic, research,and commercial activities.

Overall, the plan for 17th Street Gateway is not just about physical redevelopment. It's about creating a synergistic environment that reaches out into the community. The development creates a new type of experience for the campus and the community.

The campus master plan proposes the development of Fairmount Park as a focal point for campus community collaboration. This currently underutilized space offers a unique opportunity for joint investment, envisioning a green, vibrant, and multi-functional area that benefits both the university and the community through recreation. With the removal of Brennan Halls I, II, & III, a landscape and architectural gesture is possible to pull the campus community south and into the park.

The Wichita State University master plan introduces a visionary re-imagining of the Physical Plant site, a crucial area nestled just east of the iconic water tower and Energy Plant along Wu Shock Drive. This strategic locale, home to the Gaddis Physical Plant Complex and Central Receiving and Warehouse, serves as a hub for Facilities Services — including HVAC, plumbing, carpentry shops as well as custodial services and landscaping. Encompassing a variety of structures, from ancillary buildings to storage lots, the site has evolved from a peripheral campus boundary to a central piece of real estate, reflecting the dynamic growth and changing needs of the university. The plan recognizes this transformation, proposing a thoughtful reconfiguration that balances operational functionality with the campus' broader aesthetic and spatial ambitions.

In response to the site's newfound centrality and potential, the masterplan ambitiously proposes to streamline the Physical Plant's footprint from its original 4 acres down to 2.3 acres. This strategic reduction facilitates a more direct alignment of Mid Campus Drive, enhances campus flow and connectivity, and opens valuable space for the introduction of a new, public-facing building. This building, envisioned to occupy approximately 42,000 square feet, will front the NIAR buildings and Woolsey Pond, adding a significant architectural landmark to the university's landscape. Additionally, the plan outlines two distinct scenarios for the redevelopment of the physical plant and warehouse facilities: either as two separate buildings retaining their functional integrity or merged into a single, more efficient structure with a partial two-story design. This flexible approach allows for an adaptive reuse strategy that aligns with the university's growth and evolving functional needs, marking a significant step forward in the campus' ongoing development.

Over the last decade, the rapid development of the former Braeburn Golf Course into the Innovation Campus has cemented WSU as an Innovative and leading research institution. The Innovation Campus has become a model for universities across the country. Now approaching the complete build-out of the sites identified in the original plan, the campus exemplifies a modern suburban research park, complete with attractive boulevards, scenic ponds, one- to -three-story buildings adjacent to convenient surface parking.

One of the primary objectives of the campus master plan is to enhance connectivity across multiple modes of transportation, including vehicular traffic, public transit, bicycles, and pedestrian pathways. A key focus is to elevate the Innovation Campus to a level of walkability and accessibility that matches the main campus. This involves creating an environment that follows pedestrian desire lines – the natural paths people prefer to take when walking – between buildings. The aim is to make traversing the Innovation Campus as intuitive and efficient as possible, encouraging movement and interaction.

As the Innovation Campus approaches the completion of the initial phase of build-out, Wichita State University has the opportunity to enhance it's infrastructure to align with the vision for a dynamic, interconnected environment. The plan addresses the current gap in bike and pedestrian pathways, proposing a new multi-use path from East 21st Street to East 17th Street, connecting to the Redbud Trail and downtown. This path transforms access across the campus, integrating natural features and creating new entry points.

Additionally, a re-imagined roundabout on Innovation Boulevard and a new campus loop drive are planned to improve overall campus flow. These initiatives are central to creating a more accessible, vibrant campus, underscoring the university's commitment to a community-focused campus environment.