Sessions

Facilities operations and capital planning were once grounded in predictability - long timelines, steady enrollment, and stable funding. But that world is gone. Today's leaders face whiplash from shifting modalities, shrinking student populations, deferred maintenance, and increasing pressure to justify every square foot. Amid the chaos, a quiet transformation is underway. In this session, presenters illustrate how leading institutions are turning their campuses into living, responsive systems by leveraging passive WiFi data and AI to make smarter, faster decisions. Using recent case studies they offer a model for treating space not as a fixed asset, but as a dynamic engine of institutional resilience, avoiding millions in unnecessary capital costs and reclaiming underused space.

There’s a new set of criteria defining successful research campuses, and those differentiators need to be reflected in master planning decisions to remain competitive into the future. Presenters profile development of Breakthrough Properties' Torrey Heights campus, a 520,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art life science development, and the next-gen tools and planning decisions that resulted in the property attracting high-value tenants and being fully leased from the outset. They highlight standout features including an amenity building, campus connectivity, and amenity-rich public plazas that create a vibrant, synergistic environment supporting innovation and recruitment. They examine data-driven design strategies encompassing site topography, tenant flexibility, energy efficiency, wellness, and long-term value.

What should owners budget for cost escalation in 2025 and beyond as the Federal Reserve continues to reduce interest rates? What pricing structure should be used to accurately estimate costs for your science and technology projects? Attend this session to get better pricing and more accurate budget figures, and better understand construction cost drivers for different science and technology projects. The Vermeulens team delivers up-to-date construction cost forecasts based on economic conditions, job creation and cost data from more than 200 projects. Using analyses of equities, GDP, construction labor markets and their national construction weather map, they illustrate regional construction pricing targets for the next two years and demonstrate bid and purchasing strategies that lock in costs and reduce risk. 

The current economic climate demands that higher ed campus planners get more and better use from existing space, and this session illustrates how to identify and unlock higher levels of utilization and reduce costs within current building footprints. Presenters examine a case study from Virginia Commonwealth University where space planning processes have been transformed through real-time occupancy data. They describe the pivotal advantages for informing strategy and funding decisions, supporting academic and workplace needs, capital planning, and dynamic resource allocation. They demonstrate VCU’s leveraging of occupancy data to bring transparency to space assignments, confidently reallocate underused space, inform capital requests, enhance environments, and foster innovation.

This presentation examines how allied health programs are adapting to changing funding models amid economic pressures, inflation, and rising tuition. Presenters evaluate the tradeoffs of new construction, facility acquisition, or renovation to optimize the productivity of limited resources. They examine how The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley is addressing the challenge of fostering inter-professional collaboration across dispersed programs and consider whether consolidating or renovating spaces best supports growth. They outline responsive processes for assessing existing programs and facilities, creating redevelopment strategies that align with budgets, and leveraging building design to enhance community connections. They deliver key takeaways on improving efficiency, optimizing shared resources, and creating flexible planning goals that respond to evolving market and funding realities.

Whether planning a new campus, a new building, or renovating facilities, key questions arise: How large should the project be, what will it cost, and is it better to build new or renovate? Todd Griffith and Alex Wing, drawing from three case studies – a campus relocation, a utilization study of research resources, and a campus-wide laboratory space evaluation -- share best practices for determining the optimum project size for diverse campus contexts. Their process -- integrating evaluation data, programming priorities, and space utilization trends – will guide campus planners in estimating future needs and making better decisions, ensuring projects stay within budget and meet diverse campus requirements.

In today's climate of shifting budgets, evolving student values, and enrollment pressures, higher education institutions need more than just new buildings -- they need clear, resonant stories that inspire action. This session profiles the transformation of The University of Wyoming Foundation’s Gateway Center through fundraising and friendraising – aligning the space vision with stakeholder values and equipping the university with tools to drive long-term impact. Presenters explore how forward-looking storytelling, design thinking, and strategic alignment are actively positioning a decade-old facility for a more resilient and connected future. They illustrate the use of versatile technology, tailored donor engagement, and integrated messaging to differentiate institutions and deepen stakeholder relationships in a crowded and uncertain higher ed landscape. 

Engineering programs remain the critical enablers of the higher ed innovation mission, translating scientific discoveries into real-world solutions, and driving regional economic growth. In this session, presenters reveal newly emerging models for engineering facilities that support today’s rapidly evolving teaching and research needs, emphasizing flexibility, collaboration, and community engagement. They examine differentiating facility features that foster partnerships across disciplines, integrate an increasingly diverse range of sciences and shared resources, and maximize opportunities for innovation that benefit both academia and the local economy.

Asset optimization and repositioning is key to re-energizing campus life and ensuring long term resilience, but how does this process work, and what are the best practices for planning and designing for the future? Presenters survey Penn State and Rutgers case studies and distill best practices for leveraging existing campus capital at different scales, budget ranges, and use types. They highlight examples of underutilized campus assets being reinvigorated and reimagined for maximum impact to address ongoing campus and student needs. They map out a holistic planning process, an integrated design approach, and a multifaceted stakeholder engagement effort, to transform facilities into multimodal, experiential environments that meet and support strategic growth.

Drawing from examples in both Europe and the US, this presentation delivers lessons learned from both sides of the Atlantic, exploring attitudes and trends that define highly successful research endeavors, and what US institutions can learn from the European approach to research development.  Presenters examine financing strategies and procurement, flexibility, collaboration culture, energy efficiency, site selection and technical performance in the definition of successful research endeavors, and what drives innovation. They profile evolutionary models for research building and campuses, and innovation in the spatial structures of modern working environments.

This session sets out a human-centric planning and design approach to transform aging research campuses and facilities and improve talent recruitment and retention. Presenters illustrate how a clear vision supported by in-depth space data analytics can enhance health and well-being and foster a collaborative culture of innovation. They profile a Boehringer Ingelheim initiative to modernize infrastructure and operations through tactical renovations aligned with a strategic seven-year master plan, enabling program growth without new construction. They examine the latest space allocation data shaping research facility architecture and highlight criteria for more human-centric solutions.