Adaptive reuse: Strategic pathways to high-performance science facilities

Colleges and universities face mounting pressure to decarbonize campuses, optimize capital budgets, and address aging infrastructure—all while maintaining competitive academic programs. This session presents adaptive reuse as a strategic solution to these converging challenges. Presenters share science-focused renewal projects demonstrating integrated design approaches that extend facility lifecycles, reduce embodied and operational carbon, and align with institutional master plans. They deliver assessment frameworks that balance programmatic requirements with structural suitability, capital investment strategies that maximize efficiency while preserving asset value, and the specific timing and tools for life cycle assessment and energy modeling that transform outdated buildings into innovative, high-performance environments for scientific discovery and learning.