The 2026 plan for campus expansion is well underway: Yeh College and New College West (NCW) opened in Fall 2022, the Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is set to open in Fall 2025, and University Health Services (UHS) are moving into Frist Health Center (FHC) in January. The Daily Princetonian sat down with the man helping guide the trajectory this campus expansion — University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80.
As University architect, McCoy is responsible for “understand[ing] what the University aspires to accomplish on any given project,” including selecting and “guiding” the appropriate architects for each project.
Since returning to Princeton in 2008, McCoy has watched the campus grow by nearly 50 percent through the 2016 and 2026 campus plans, the latter of which he oversees. The 2026 campus plan focuses on sustainability and growth of the campus, although balancing these two aspects can be difficult.
“If we were not growing, we could renovate and change our energy systems and drive down the amount of energy that we’re using on the campus,” McCoy explained.
Princeton intends to reach net zero by 2046 — “getting [there requires] three major tranches of effort,” McCoy said.
“One of them is converting the campus to geoexchange. The other one is building our own green infrastructure with solar panels and relying on the greening of the grid. And the third tranche of that is an aspirational taking of advantage of emerging technologies.”
The University recently reopened Poe Field after installing approximately 400 geoexchange bores below the space. Over half of the 2,000 total planned geo-exchange bores had been drilled across campus as of January 2024 and solar panels have been installed across campus.
McCoy’s work in fostering sustainability has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this year, McCoy was a featured honoree at the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization for his “work advancing sustainable and equitable urbanization.”
“Princeton is a leader in sustainable design, and it’s not me, but I was a representative of what Princeton stands for,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “I think the recognition was really about Princeton.”
McCoy said that sustainable urbanization “requires advocacy at all levels … We all have to be committed to sustainability, and we are, which is really pretty amazing.” He added that the Office of Sustainability “are the broad leaders in sustainability efforts for the University,” but noted that the engineering group, the design and construction group, and the University architect must all also advocate for sustainability on campus.
He added that when selecting outside architects for any project, he has always chosen to “identify architects who also were committed to sustainability,” but has found that the architect pool has improved in that regard since his return to Princeton.
“It’s not a choice between a good architect and an architect who believes in sustainability. They’re one and the same these days,” he said. “That’s probably one of the most important, dramatic changes in the profession that I’ve witnessed.”
“This generation of campus development will be recognized as a time when the University made this commitment to sustainability,” McCoy said. He added that “future generations will look back at this time and see a change in the character and image of the buildings through their structural systems.”
He referred to the ongoing projects which use mass timber, a low-carbon alternative to concrete and steel. Several buildings from the 2026 plan use “one form or another of mass timber,” including PUAM, Hobson College, and Eric and Wendy Schmidt Hall.
Each current construction project lists the sustainable features of that building, such as energy efficiency, condensate reuse, daylight harvesting, and other sustainability efforts.
McCoy noted that investments into a building are not abandoned after construction is finished.
“We are fantastic stewards of our architecture on campus. We invest in them constantly, systems are renewed, roofing is renewed, interiors are renewed,” he explained.
The relevance of a building’s architectural style is more complicated, however.
“How do you get some historical perspective to avoid a momentary trend? That’s the challenge, and time will tell,” McCoy said of the newer colleges, but added that “there’s no reason they will not last as long” as the older buildings on campus.
Campus discourse has generated over architectural styles, with some defending the new, sleek designs of New College West and Yeh College, while others argue for preserving the continuity of the collegiate gothic style. McCoy emphasized that the glass present throughout the new designs popping up across campus helps us understand what a building’s purpose is before we even enter it.
“If you go up to a traditional collegiate gothic building, you have no idea what life is inside that building. Opening that door can be a shock, either pleasantly or disappointingly,” he described, referencing Rockefeller and Mathey Colleges. “Transparency, I think, softens the entrance,” he added.
Certainly, the 2026 plan has adopted this architectural ethos. McCoy explained that this plan, which includes the three new colleges as well as PUAM, FHC, and the new Environmental Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, “is more of a framework that was created in dialogue with the University’s strategic plan.”
“We want our buildings to be contemporary and of our time, but also we want them to be respectful of the Princeton traditions of material, craft, and other architectural principles,” he explained. “Maybe there’s a stronger emphasis on that today [than there was for the 2016 plan] which helps unify the campus experience through the new buildings.”
McCoy did not name a preferred architectural style found on campus, instead referencing “favorite pieces of architecture from each era.” He added that Holder and Hamilton Halls “are some of the most exquisite pieces of collegiate Gothic architecture in the world” in his view, while the Andlinger Center is “one of [his] favorites because it is such a serene piece of architecture serving such a profound sort of research endeavor.”
He explained that while PUAM does not look like the buildings around it, the buildings around it don’t look like each other.
“We have 20 different styles of architecture on the campus, and every building around it is a different architectural style,” he said.
Instead, PUAM brings together the diverse architecture of upper campus.
“When you look from, say, in front of Witherspoon, down the diagonal, you see the echelon of the different pavilions linking to Brown Hall,” McCoy said. “If you look at the base of Brown Hall, you see that the gray granite of Brown Hall is picked up by the precast concrete [of PUAM].”
“When you’re inside the museum, [it’s] a kind of vehicle for viewing the campus … we’re only seeing part of the experience right now. Patience,” he added.
McCoy explained that “there is a kind of joy that the final experience gives you because you can never [really be there] as you’re shaping it. When you actually see the building open and you experience it as a lived experience … they’re all surprising in that regard.”
“We want to find that balance between innovation and continuity, between innovation and memory. That’s what makes the campus so special,” McCoy said.
Victoria Davies is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ who covers University operations.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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