Princeton University Campus Plan Update

Design Narrative

MICA+WXY are leading Princeton’s 2026 Campus Plan Update, establishing a framework for campus development through 2056. The update encompasses 3,380 acres and more than 400 buildings across three municipalities, as well as more than 1,500 University-managed rental homes. Building on the 2026 Campus Plan (published in 2017), the team is updating planning assumptions and testing future scenarios to understand how investment can support academic priorities, connect campus neighborhoods, and make better use of existing buildings.

Strengthening physical connections is central to the updated plan, which identifies opportunity sites that can bring complementary uses closer together and reinforce walking, cycling, and transit networks. Landscape improvements help connect these routes, making arrival points easier to identify and creating gathering places along the routes.

The team is testing an approach that considers whether renovation, adaptation, or changes in use could meet the same academic need while conserving capital and reducing embodied carbon, while also identifying areas suitable for new construction. Decisions about reuse also consider the buildings, landscapes, and spatial relationships that shape Princeton’s character, identifying where change can strengthen the qualities it’s known for.

Utility capacity also shapes choices around adaptive reuse and repurposing, as accelerated development increases demands on central systems, making infrastructure investment a key factor in where growth can occur. The update evaluates energy systems, water reuse, and wastewater reduction alongside proposals for buildings and landscapes, so that development decisions account for the infrastructure needed to support them.

To establish a common basis for these decisions, the team synthesized nearly 60 prior studies and organized its analysis around eight campus precincts and more than 80 potential areas of intervention. The team assessed each opportunity for its contribution to academic needs and campus life, along with the costs, infrastructure requirements, and timing that would shape implementation.

Workshops and discussions with Princeton leadership, faculty, staff, students, and trustees, and the broader university community inform this analysis. Participants are helping the team understand their experience of everyday campus life and where opportunities could benefit both the University and Princeton as a whole. These discussions will establish shared priorities and long-term goals to guide the plan’s recommendations.

The resulting framework will allow Princeton to compare investments and match them to changing academic programs, funding, and institutional needs, helping the University decide what to reuse, what to build, and which connections and infrastructure investments must come first.

Client:
Princeton University

Collaborators:
WXY
Salas O'Brien
Field Operations
Gehl
Nitsch Engineering
Mills + Schnoering Architects
dharam consulting
WSP USA, Inc.