Palo Alto community reviews concept designs, phasing for campus master plan

Palo Alto city officials and consultants presented concept designs, program adjacencies, circulation and phasing for a proposed campus master plan at the third community meeting, and asked attendees to review materials and record reactions in table activities.

The meeting, introduced by Palo Alto City Manager Ed Shikada, focused on a concept-level plan that combines existing facilities with new recreation, arts, makerspace and wellness programming and a partially buried parking deck. "Iterative process is when you take a whole bunch of data, a bunch of information, then you try to throw it on the wall and it makes some sense of it," Shikada said, describing the outreach as part of a staged design process.

City staff and project consultants said the plan grew from two prior community sessions: the first on program priorities and adjacencies and the second on site-layout options. Presenters outlined three concept alternatives developed from that input and said the current materials synthesize earlier community preferences, including a preference for larger open green spaces and a central promenade.

Project presenters described a three‑phase…