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The University of Missouri (MU) will eliminate 750,000 sf of education and general facilities space by 2023 in order to reduce costs and improve overall space quality and utilization. The initiative will allow the university to save approximately $153 million in deferred maintenance, capital renewal, and plant adaption costs, as well as about $5 million in annual operating costs. It’s an ambitious undertaking, considering that the 1,200-acre main campus in Columbia, Mo., has 7 million sf of education and general facility space spread across 185 major buildings. To meet the 10 percent reduction goal over the next four years, the university will strategically demolish, divest, relocate, and rebuild a data-driven selection of aging or under-utilized buildings.

Most academic science buildings constructed in the mid-20th century were not designed to support the interdisciplinary, collaborative, and entrepreneurial dynamics of modern engineering teaching and research that occupy these buildings today. While motivations for renovation can range from the need to update outdated building systems, to the desire to improve the school’s ability to recruit new talent and donors, most major renewal projects share similar challenges of aging infrastructure, complex logistics, and phased implementation. Using examples from recent renovations at Cornell University, Ohio State University, and the University of Massachusetts, principals from Perkins+Will share how these and other challenges can be addressed.

Almost every field of endeavor has been supercharged in recent years by the advent of “big data”—the ability of computers to process and analyze large data sets to gather insights. The business of creating student spaces on campuses is no different. June Hanley and Scott Foral of HDR have used big data in several projects, and offer some wisdom on how to turn raw data into actionable results.

Churn—it’s the constant, costly reality of research space utilization, with a price tag that’s often underestimated. Also underestimated? The opportunity for organizations to realize cost savings, operational streamlining, and overall efficiencies amid the inevitable swapping of research teams and space during renovations and equipment relocations, asserts Mark Allen, AIA, architect and principal at Wilson HGA; and Jeanne MacLellan, principal of Dowling Houy. “Even with a client who’s in the midst of a renovation, we know that, in three to four years, they are going to be renovating again,” explains MacLellan. “We’re not eliminating churn and its inefficiencies; we’re maximizing options now that will minimize its impact down the road.”

Challenged by a two-fold increase in undergraduate enrollment over the past six years, the Washkewicz College of Engineering at Cleveland State University has invested $62 million in a building addition to continue its commitment to students and industry to graduate “ready-to-go engineers.” The 100,000-sf Washkewicz Hall, completed in two stages in December 2017 and December 2018, adjoins the 200,000-sf Fenn Hall, which has been the home of the College of Engineering for decades.