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	Early UM Campus drawing [Source: Bentley Historical Library] (Click on image for a larger view)

Two models
There were two physical models of higher education that evolved in Europe:

A. The Oxbridge Model, which consisted of separate college enclaves, strong along the high street, river and back streets of medieval Oxford and Cambridge. Although embedded in the city, the colleges were sancturaries-residential, almost monastic. And there were the common buildings, like Radcliffe Camera or Sheldonian Theater at Oxford or the Senate House at Cambridge.

B. The Continental Model, of the 12th C.—actually about a century older than Oxford or Cambridge. It had no campus per se, but had its buildings interspersed in the cities of Bologna, Ferrara, and Paris. Academic Buildings might have been distinguished by their more monumental architecture, but it was, and is, often hard to distinguish the university from other important buildings in the urban fabric. There were courtyard buildings but rarely quadrangles of multiple buildings, and no dormitories.

UM Plant Extension map of all campuses (click image for full-size interactive version at Plant Extension website)

The American campus, which is arguably one of our greatest contributions to both university education and to architecture and urbanism, is based on the Oxbridge model. There are some differences-such as larger green spaces both within the campus and separating the college or university from the town or city. The buildings are more freestanding-a sort of alphabet soup of stone and brick figures on a field of green. The sanctuary was achieved by a margin of open space (grass and trees) rather than walls and gates, with the exception of Harvard, which, by the way, still refers to its original enclave of buildings as a "yard," not a campus. (The term "campus," based on the Latin and later an Italian word for a military campus or a field, was first applied to Princeton in the mid 1800s—a century after its founding.)

The University of Michigan is no exception. Its original forty-acre campus was a green sward, carved out of a young town, complete with swain to tend the cows. There were a few freestanding buildings, rather monumental. Like so many American colleges and later universities, it is a "green within the grid." It of course grew, and started to eat its way (like a Pac-Man) into the neighboring blocks, soon vying with and at several points exceeding Harvard as the largest university in America in the nineteenth century.

It also leapfrogged—to the south, to the athletic campus, and to northeast to the Medical Campus; then further northeast to the North Campus, and even to the still-embryonic East Campus.

Campus Architecture
A good campus is surely characterized by a well-landscaped pedestrian space and well-designed buildings. There is good, even great, architecture. This means they are both functional and beautiful.

But an architectural collection of good or even great buildings, and outdoor spaces does not a campus make! There needs to be some spatial and historical continuity. And physical structure, not just in the layout of the buildings and outdoor spaces, but in their hierarchy. All campus buildings are (generally) necessary, but not of equal meaning and importance. (like the pigs in Animal Farm, some are more equal.) To recognize and bring order to this variety of buildings, there are several important factors:

Six Architectural Types
There are six Architectural Types on most American campuses, including UM's central campus. In historical order there are:

1.	Honorific, emblematic buildings libraries, theaters, museums, unions, administrative buildings, etc. These buildings are typically "foreground" architecture, monumental, and symbolic		(click images to enlarge)
2.	Academic loft buildings, classroom buildings, and labs these workhorse facilities are numerous, and although richly detailed, usually "background" buildings		(click images to enlarge)
3.	Dorms, residence halls, and dining halls these numerous buildings are also often considered "background," structures		(click images to enlarge)
4.	Athletic facilities these structures are large, and almost infrastructural		(click images to enlarge)
5.	Ancillary buildings these include power plants, maintenance buildings, and parking decks		(click images to enlarge)
6.	The megastructure getting the type right is more important than getting the "right" architectural style		(click image to enlarge)

Architectural Style
Style is important, as we all know from the chronic battles between alumni, who usually want traditional architecture, and the University, which often prefers more contemporary architecture. Architectural style can become a sort of obsession: on the one hand a narrow range of style is prescribed; on the other hand, the signature style of a star architect is allowed free reign. (North Campus, Central). Type can balance this, by putting foreground buildings and background buildings in their place, and their architects, who tend to want to make every building foreground.