Bouquet Gardens
Encyclopedia
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
consisting of eight, 4-story garden-style gabled-roofed apartment buildings (Buildings A through H) clustered around progression of courtyards connected by an interior pathway. Each building contains sixteen 4-bedroom apartments.http://www.r3a.com/#project/27 Designed by Renaissance 3 Architects, P.C.http://www.tedco.com/house_5.html, the complex houses 496 upper-level undergraduate students in 124 units located on the lower campus close to Posvar Hall
Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Wesley W. Posvar Hall , formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. At it is the largest academic-use building on campus, providing administrative offices, classrooms, lecture halls, a food...
, the Barco Law Building
Barco Law Building
Barco Law Building is an academic building housing the University of Pittsburgh School of Law on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The $8.5 million six-story building was opened in January 1976 and dedicated on May 1, 1976...
, and adjacent to Sennott Square
Sennott Square
Sennott Square is a major academic building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The building designed by the architectural firm JSA was dedicated on September 5, 2002, and was the largest Pitt academic building constructed since 1978...
.http://www.umc.pitt.edu/tour/tour-042.html
History
The Bouquet Gardens complex sits on a property bounded by Oakland Avenue, South Bouquet and Sennott Streets which was acquired by the PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
General State Authority in 1967 by invoking eminent domain for the reasons of expediting Pitt's expansion following the university joining the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
Commonwealth System of Higher Education
The Commonwealth System of Higher Education is the organizing body of Pennsylvania's "state-related" schools, which allows the independent control of the universities while supplying them with the public funds needed for operations at each institution. Universities in the System are considered...
as a "state-related" institution in 1966. Additionally, the state declared that only academic buildings could be developed on the lot. For years, use and development of the land was disputed by the city and Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
community, and as funding for the development lagged, some existing structures on the property were rented by the university to community groups. Following a renewed pledge of state funding by Governor Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
in the mid 1990s, university plans to for student housing and the south edge of campus were renewed. http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/u/FMPro?-DB=ustory&-Format=d.html&-lay=a&storyid=4558&-Find
Intended to architecturally blend the new south edge of campus into South Oakland, the original facades of the buildings were redesigned following community input in order better reflect the eclectic mix of brick and Victorian townhouses and low-rise apartment blocks of the mostly residential South Oakland neighborhood.http://www.r3a.com/#project/27http://www.pitt.edu/~copc/pittsburgh%20case%20--%20University%20as%20Developer.pdf The university also provided assistance in relocating community groups who had rented space on the property from the university as construction plans moved forward.http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/u/FMPro?-db=ustory&-format=d.html&-lay=a&-sortfield=issueid%3a%3aissuedate&-sortorder=descend&keywords=bouquet%20gardens&-max=50&-recid=38310&-find= Ground was broken on the first phase of the complex, which included 3 buildings, on December 1, 1998 and was completed and opened in the fall of 1999 for $5.3 million.http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/u/FMPro?-db=ustory&-format=d.html&-lay=a&-sortfield=issueid%3a%3aissuedate&-sortorder=descend&keywords=bouquet%20gardens&-max=50&-recid=37910&-find=http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/u/FMPro?-db=ustory&-format=d.html&-lay=a&-sortfield=issueid%3a%3aissuedate&-sortorder=descend&keywords=bouquet%20gardens&-max=50&-recid=38200&-find= The first phase of the construction represented the first new on-campus structures built in 7 years. The second phase added five buildings at a cost of $9.2 million and opened in the fall of 2000.
Amenities
Each unit is air-conditioned, furnished, and includes four single bedrooms, a kitchen with refrigerator, stove and microwave, a living room and dining area, two bathrooms, and cable and internet connections.http://www.pc.pitt.edu/housing/halls/bouquet.htmlFuture expansion
In November 2009, the university approved the purchase of a $1.4 million three-quarter-acre parcel of land contiguous to the existing Bouquet Gardens site for expansion of the housing complex. The project, designed by Perkins EastmanPerkins Eastman
Perkins Eastman is an international architecture, interior design, urban design, planning, landscape architecture, graphic design, and project management firm. Headquartered in New York, New York, the firm is led by founding Principals Bradford Perkins and Mary-Jean Eastman, along with the firm's...
, paralleled the design of the garden-style Bouquet Gardens apartments and added a four-story, 64,800 gross square-foot (6,020 m2) building. The building, which is designated as "Building J", has 155 beds in 48 three- and four-person apartment-style units. The residence hall opened for the fall semester of 2011, increasing the total number of the university's Pittsburgh campus beds to 7,396. The building also includes a resident director's apartment, a campus police substation, laundry and mail facilities, an indoor bicycle storage area, and a fitness room for Bouquet Gardens residents' use.
External links
