Officially the 88-acre parcel of land below Dole Street bounded by the H-1 Freeway is known as the University of Hawaii Manoa’s Makai Campus, the home of the athletic department.

But ever since the school acquired the land in 1953 it has been commonly called the “Quarry” — a reference to the excavation of construction material that existed there between 1889 and 1950.

Now it is envisioned as fertile ground for redevelopment, and the athletic department, in novel collaboration with the School of Architecture, has asked its students to submit ideas as part of a senior thesis.

“I think the lower campus can benefit from a new, fresh look,” UH president David Lassner said. “I think it has developed fairly ad hoc over many decades, much like the university, and I’m wide open to seeing what could be done.”

Kalbert Young, UH vice president for budget and finance, cautioned, “It is not necessarily something that the university could be prepared to commit to. But, I think, the value is that it helps to generate potential ideas.”

“It is a more of a ‘what if’,” said athletic director David Matlin, who has talked to lawmakers about facilities improvements. For the moment, Matlin emphasized, “It is an academic exercise for the students that might have some applications for us. They don’t have the constraints that we sometimes have, so they are really able to think outside the box. It is something, I think, we need to do more of.”

Officials said they have sought athletic and non-athletic uses for the property with the idea of achieving greater community engagement and generating revenue. “I think there are areas that, as the Moiliili area grows, that can become a more interesting connection point between the community and the university,” Lassner said.

With a rail station planned for the area, “The idea of connecting through the lower campus is pretty appealing,” Lassner said.

The area of focus, UH officials say, is the land primarily along the sides of Lower Campus Road, the thoroughfare that runs from Dole Street past the Stan Sheriff Center and Les Murakami Stadium to the Old Waialae Gate and includes ROTC classrooms and a string of offices. Much of it is occupied by the so-called “portable” wooden structures, some of which have been in place for more than 40 years.

Or, as Lassner put it, “since statehood.”

But, since it is a conceptual exercise, students have been given a wide canvas from which to work without financial constraints.

UH has talked about someday returning women’s soccer to campus from the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Some of the concepts could address that. “It is not, in the truest sense, a football stadium but looking at how to improve or roll out the Ching Complex, how to better position the existing facility,” Young said.

A succession of UH athletic directors have sought to upgrade facilities and make better use of the Quarry. Lassner said, “David (Matlin) is really interested in developing and having first-rate facilities for our student-athletes, so he is always looking for (ideas).”