LENS
Connecting Places and People
New greenway is a campus walkway and gathering hub
Thanks to Judson Manor at University Circle for rooftop access to shoot our panoramic photo
Until recently, the stretch between Case Western Reserve's Tinkham Veale University Center and its performing arts center blocks away seemed much longer than 2,200 feet, with its steep slope thick with foliage and intersecting streets.
But the new Nord Family Greenway not only connects the main and west campuses, it also does so in a way that, as President Barbara R. Snyder described during the $15 million project's spring unveiling, "brings people together with nature—and with one another."
The broad, tree-lined and terraced greenway begins on its eastern edge at "The Tink," crosses the front yard of the Cleveland Museum of Art, descends to street level along a gentle slope with wide steps that also function as amphitheater seats, provides a bridge over Doan Brook creek and then continues to the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center at The Temple-Tifereth Israel.
The design, by Sasaki Associates Inc., opens spaces previously hidden.
"I couldn't visualize how you went from here to there; I couldn't picture it," said Chyrel Oates, (MGT '92), a project director at the university's Weatherhead School of Management, during a lunchtime walk along the greenway. "But it's an inspired vision."
Making the Greenway Possible
Major donors include longtime university supporters, among them: the family of alumni Jane and the late Eric Nord, who provided the lead naming gift; the family of Curt and Sara Moll, an alumna and trustee; alumna and trustee Toby Devan Lewis; and the Cleveland Foundation. The Cleveland Museum of Art collaborated on the project. Current, powered by GE, provided LED lighting.