Arts complex design intended to embrace campus and community

A major entry to the Princeton campus and community is being redesigned as a 21st-century portal with the door lodged firmly open. At an open house for the community Wednesday, Sept. Steven Holl Architects unveiled concepts for the initial academic buildings in the new arts and transit neighborhood. In addition, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners presented updated information on traffic circulation and other plans for the area near the intersection of Alexander Street and University Place. A model and visual displays set out at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts showed a proposed three-sided complex situated on Alexander and University across from Forbes College and McCarter Theatre. It will be home to the University's Lewis Center for the Arts , as well as several performance and teaching spaces for the Program in Theater and Dance , the Department of Music and the Society of Fellows in the Creative and Performing Arts . "Among the many things I love about Steven Holl's initial design is the extent to which it incorporates a very potent feature of the archetypical Princeton courtyard," said Paul Muldoon, chair of the Lewis Center.