Daily Texan Staff
Frisbee throwers, sunbathers, joggers and students feeling "cooped up" are anxiously awaiting the reopening of Clark Field in May, two years after it closed for the construction of a new dorm.
Clark Field, south of the newly built San Jacinto Hall and west of Waller Creek, is the only sizable open space left on the UT campus.
Long a haven for students wanting to escape the urban pinch of campus, Clark Field will once again be a hub of outdoor student recreation.
"The opening of Clark Field is awesome for us," said Nazish Waliany, a computer science junior and co-captain of the 49-member UT Ultimate Frisbee Club. "We usually have to go all the way to the Intramural Fields to play, but now, we'll be able to stay on campus to throw around."
The field closed in May 1999 to make way for the construction of the $52.3 million, 866-bed San Jacinto Hall. Students were initially worried that the dorm would gobble up part or all of the field, but designers were able to preserve all but about 10 feet, despite having a small area in which to build the dorm.
"That was our primary goal, besides building a new dorm," said Sheila Ochner, associate director of the Division of Housing and Food Services. "It was important to us and to the administration to preserve as much of the park as possible because it's really the only green space that is publicly accessible on campus."
Despite two years of construction vehicles rumbling across the ground, the field will reopen as if it had been virtually untouched. The jogging track outlining the field and several exercise stations along the path are still in place have been refurbished. Six outdoor basketball courts have been relocated from the northeast end to the southwest end of the field and are now open for play.
Austin Gleeson, UT physics professor and chairman of the Campus Master Plan Steering Subcommittee, said Clark Field is one of the most important places on campus because, outside of the original 40 acres, it is the only space on campus where people get a real feeling of openness.
"It was a great loss when Clark Field closed," Gleeson said. "That space makes this campus a lot more livable."
Gleeson said the problem of having an urban campus like that of the University is that the open, green spaces become very limited. He said efforts to reclaim more open space with the closure of Speedway and the possible closure of Wichita Street south of 26th Street would make the campus less "concrete-heavy" at the cost of losing valuable parking spaces.
"Outdoor spaces have to be thoughtful and very well organized and designed," Gleeson said. "You look at our most urban area, the original 40 acres, and it's one of the most livable places on campus. That's because the original campus architects used buildings to space the 'rooms' of the outdoor spaces. That's what we should do."
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