Clark Atlanta University Master Plan
Project Narrative
The Clark Atlanta University Master Plan establishes a long-term framework for the renewal and transformation of the campus, aligning its physical environment with the institution’s evolving academic, research, and strategic ambitions. With more than half of the existing campus buildings over 50 years old, the plan approaches the existing campus not simply as an ageing physical asset, but as a repository of institutional memory and an opportunity for strategic reinvestment.
The plan develops a comprehensive framework for balancing growth and renewal, supporting priorities such as enrollment expansion, new pedagogies, interdisciplinary research, online and hybrid learning, sustainability, and improved institutional effectiveness. Rather than relying solely on new construction, the strategy explores how renovation, preservation, adaptive reuse, and selective redevelopment can accommodate emerging needs while strengthening the identity of the historic campus.
A key focus is the renewal of the existing building stock. The master plan evaluates the capacity of existing structures to support contemporary laboratories, research environments, active-learning spaces, and flexible academic programmes. Where spatial limitations constrain adaptation, the plan identifies opportunities for strategic intervention, while preserving buildings and places that contribute to the university’s historic character.
Sustainability and infrastructure resilience form an integral part of the campus vision. Improvements to building performance, energy systems, connectivity, and technological infrastructure support the university’s ambitions toward a more sustainable and resilient campus. The framework also responds to evolving models of education by creating spaces capable of supporting in-person, online, and hybrid forms of teaching and collaboration.
Beyond individual buildings, the plan reimagines the campus as a connected pedestrian-oriented public realm. Improved sidewalks, pathways, safer crossings, alternative mobility, and stronger connections across campus streets create a more accessible and cohesive environment. Streets and movement corridors become opportunities for social interaction and campus life rather than merely routes for vehicular movement.
Three major spatial strategies structure the transformation: strengthening and renewing the Historic Core; activating “The Exchange” between Beckwith Street and Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard; and establishing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor as a significant civic and institutional connection. Together, these initiatives reinforce the university’s historic identity while creating new opportunities for interaction, learning, mobility, and community engagement.
The master plan ultimately positions Clark Atlanta University’s existing campus as the foundation for its future—where preservation and innovation, heritage and contemporary learning, and institutional growth and environmental responsibility are brought together through a coherent spatial framework.
