Master Plan, 1962
Academic and Support Buildings, 1962

Ford, Powell & Carson designed the master plan for the 620 acre campus for Skidmore College, originally located in downtown Saratoga Springs. The master plan took into account the funding realities faced by private colleges and universities which mandate that growth be incremental and not in large, multi-building phases.

The master plan took advantage of the heavily treed site and its natural contours to create a series of zones and environments for the academic, residential and physical education portions of the campus. Functions with the greatest public outreach, such as music, theatre and art, flank the entrance while preserving the primary visual axis to the library, one of the university's first buildings.

The new campus avoids the visual cliches of older, more traditional universities in its physical appearance, drawing instead on the best elements of the architecture found in the region. All academic buildings are connected via a covered walkway system that provides protection during inclement weather. Ford, Powell & Carson designed 41 buildings for the campus, consisting of academic buildings, a library, dormitories, dining halls, a student center, and the physical education building.