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The four-story, 72,500-sf Lawrence and Sally Cohen Science Center houses Wilkes University’s departments of Biology and Health Sciences on the second floor; Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science, on the fourth; teaching labs on the second and fourth floors; and flexible, interdisciplinary research labs on the third. Nearly all Wilkes students will take at least one class in the new facility, which wraps around an existing auditorium on an adjacent building.

While a traditional space planning document is often outdated as soon as it’s finished, Stanford University’s School of Medicine created its strategic facilities plan as a living document that in minutes can show the impact of even the slightest change in space usage, and can be constantly updated and changed. The medical school spent a year compiling faculty and space needs data into an Excel spreadsheet, and has found the effort well worth the payoffs.

To address space utilization and efficiency, especially in a research environment, the best way to make a case for change is with solid data that makes a compelling link to mission effectiveness, but institutions warehouse vast amounts of data that are often left untapped, says Donn Williams, director of facilities and real estate at RAND Corporation.

Texas A&M University’s single-story, 10,000-sf Rollins Urban and Structural Entomology Facility features 3,800 sf of research labs for analyzing and maintaining colonies of ants, termites, and cockroaches, and a general insectary for all other insect colonies, such as bed bugs and stored product pests. Specialized spaces include a genetics/analytical lab and an autoclave.

The organizational structure of a master planning effort can be just as critical as the recommendations the plan ultimately presents. That was a driving principle behind the master plan formulated by the University of Chicago Medical Center in the fall of 2012, as it prepared for a major consolidation and strategic growth in 6 million sf of buildings, including the new 1.2 million-sf Center for Care & Discovery (CCD) clinical facility.