The past two years have illustrated the critical importance of adaptable space master plans that can be readily modified to leverage unexpected opportunities. In 2019, Wayne State’s just-completed master plan and space utilization process was put to the test, and here you’ll see the outcomes and lessons-learned. Ashley Flintoff charts the data used to build consensus and implement culture change, get optimal decisions on space utilization and resource allocation, and implement phased consolidation steps that speed recovery and allow for long-term growth. She identifies pivotal elements that every master plan needs for the next five years. 

University of Missouri's space reduction and relocation plan will reduce overall campus facility square footage by 750,000 gsf by 2023 by strategically targeting and eliminating buildings that are low-performing, high in deferred maintenance, not good candidates for renovation, or sub-optimally located. Gerald Morgan delivers a progress update, and tools being wielded to great effect including space chargebacks, space use inventory surveys, registrar-controlled space, and stakeholder communication methods. He illustrates rationales for buildings that have been demolished, academic and administrative units that have been relocated to "receiver" buildings, and building remodels and consolidations that have resulted in better space utilization campus-wide.

Co-working spaces in the Innovation Quarter of downtown Winston-Salem NC provide a unique mix of individual, group, and community settings to connect and collaborate while also supporting focused work for Wake Forest School of Medicine innovation programs. Jason Kaplan and Margaret Serrato describe how the co-working spaces were conceptualized, designed, and implemented in the historic Bailey Power Plant building to launch and accelerate solutions for improving health and social equity. They profile space configurations and design elements that bring new partners, possible investment, and advanced technology to the table, and facilitate productive connections with local and global innovation communities.

Campuses are under pressure to rapidly scale up collegiate esports programs to compete with peer institutions, recruit and retain student populations, add industry partnerships, and grow technology-related academic disciplines. Rob Bailey charts the esports momentum at Illinois State University and other leading institutions, and how campuses are delivering the associated space needs. He examines decisions on site selection, branding, supporting A/V, technology and furniture, and ties to academic disciplines. He scopes out start-up, conservative and “mega” esports facility benchmarks to know about, and how future esports developments may impact space planning.

As we return to work in a new post-pandemic workplace, there are still many unresolved questions about what exactly the future holds. Through case studies and interactive audience participation, this Town Hall explores opportunities and challenges associated with the return to a ‘new normal’. What factors influence our decisions, what kind of space best meets our needs, what are some other important considerations one must take into account as we seek to find the perfect future. Explore together with your colleagues, and see if you can come up with the right elixir to the higher ed workplace enigma.

A state-of-the-art academic building is the heart of the Core Campus Project transforming the center of George Mason University’s Fairfax campus into a vibrant, globally connected hub for intellectual exploration. Cathy Pinskey examines space plans and programming strategies for a six-story, 218,000-sf replacement facility with modern classrooms, workplaces, community space, an innovation hub, and technology to carry GMU’s academic programs into the future with maximum teaching and learning flexibility. She also sets out decision-making rationales for related investments in campus infrastructure modernization, the expansion and redesign of a central plaza, and the addition of green space.

Mounting pressure on construction costs will impact all higher education projects on the drawing boards, both new construction and renovations. Attend this session to get better pricing and more accurate budget figures, and better understand construction cost drivers for different academic programs. James Vermeulen delivers up-to-date construction cost forecasts based on the latest employment data, government spending trends, commodity prices, and cost data from more than 100 projects. Using analyses of equities, GDP, and construction labor markets, he illustrates regional construction pricing targets for the next two years and demonstrates bid and purchasing strategies that lock in costs and reduce risk. 

This end-of-day session is where key ideas, new developments, and findings that have been revealed over the course of the entire two-day conference (including sessions you may have missed) get clarified, expanded upon, and affirmed or debated. This is also the opportunity to get answers from industry leaders and the entire audience to specific questions on key and challenging issues.

Getting what you want out of every dollar isn't simply a product of smart residence hall programming and design – recognizing cost drivers from inception through construction is crucial to controlling your budget when the unexpected happens. Using case studies from three recent residence hall projects at top-tier institutions, Blair Tennant and Joe Stramberg will examine cost drivers, benchmarking, program influencers, cost control tools, and market influencers. They will demonstrate how these factors intersect and determine financial success; evaluate the decisions that influence construction costs; and show how this data ties into financial proformas and affordability.

Data, robotics, and virtual and augmented reality are reshaping the future of academic programs, and hubs for data-crunching, hacking, making, and computational sciences are emerging as the natural nexus of student activity and industry engagement. Diego Samuel reveals institutional plans that are raising the profile and accessibility of campus tech space and technologically driven disciplines, and he illustrates how this is shifting the epicenter of campus activity. Through a case study of the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation, he demonstrates how site selection, program offerings, operational protocols, and design decisions are coalescing to form the next campus hubs.

Recent shifts in higher education are impacting space, services, and departmental organization. Their roles on campus are changing, the interactions they facilitate are broadening, and how research, teaching, and learning are supported is shifting. Elliot Felix and Sarah Sachs examine six trends reshaping campuses, and how to plan for them: community connections, collaboration, interdisciplinary projects, experiential learning, student wellness, and workplace transformation. They delivers key findings from more than 20 schools of architecture, business, education, engineering, law, and policy initiatives, and they identify best practices for developing densification and expansion plans to compete with peer schools and catch-up to aspirant schools.

As research-based institutions look beyond the pandemic, a top priority prioritizing capital spending to maximize productivity of research activities. In this presentation, session leaders take a deep dive into a major university study to assess the quality of their research laboratories across campus and establish when and where spending will be best utilized. They chart the process of determining the age and condition of research buildings, viability for current and future programs, space utilization opportunities, and research funding levels. They illustrate the use of study findings to forge new cross-disciplinary programs and facility plans. 

Health and wellbeing should be a top priority in your technology-rich capital projects – the evidence of positive impacts on user experience and human heath are now conclusive. Session leaders examine a variety of planning, design, and operational strategies that positively impact users including architectural and landscape design, adjacencies of critical program elements, and decisions on lighting, acoustics, and wayfinding. They detail how engineering systems have a measurable impact on occupants’ alertness and ability to concentrate and effect long-term health, and they examine operational and maintenance protocols, first- and ongoing-cost implications of various certification frameworks, and the long-term value of human-centric design.

The need for new healthcare professionals is increasing demand for health science education and research space, and facility planners are facing a wide range of challenges and opportunities in meeting that demand. In this case study of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, session leaders examine facility design solutions that meet the needs of the rapidly changing healthcare environment, accommodate new technologies, learning styles and growth, and foster inclusion and wellness. They provide guidance for institutions navigating critical issues for health education, including planning metrics for adaptable, tech-infused spaces, developing work-ready students for ever-evolving health professions, and driving revenue through shared space and resources.

How can your campus move beyond the constraints of tradition to stay on the leading edge and leverage more advanced ways to work, learn, and discover? Alex O’Briant examines the current era of campus upheaval, and the forces now reshaping institutional capital investment strategies. He sets out contextual clues to look for that can pave the way for more relevant and innovative facility designs. He profiles alternative solutions being adopted at higher ed institutions to blend traditional contexts with transformational architecture, and the early stakeholder engagement strategies that are raising expectations and opening up new possibilities.

Got your attention? We thought so. Many campuses have dedicated 25-30% of space to offices -- far exceeding the 10-15% typically dedicated to instructional space. These numbers are unsustainable; something has to give. Session leaders demonstrate new strategies for re-envisioning faculty offices that are more flexible, collaborative, affordable, and better utilized. They examine workspace planning and design solutions at University of Nebraska that are enabling a shift between private focused work and collaboration with peers, boosting engagement with students, improving adjacencies, and creating more dynamic and productive interactions. They profile strategies for breaking one-size-fits-all and hierarchy-based office models, and they deliver lessons learned.

Universities are ramping up facility investments and recruiting efforts for the next sports craze – esports – to boost institutional reputation, create leading-edge new academic programs, and promote (surprisingly) student wellness. Competing for space on campus are esports arenas packed with state-of-the-art equipment like virtual reality headsets and high-performance gaming computers, hefty monitors, and thematic lighting. Chris Chivetta and Will Schenck survey recent esports facility initiatives at leading institutions and detail five high-priority planning issues that must be considered.  They will also illustrate an array of space funding and program ownership solutions, space and equipment configurations, infrastructure requirements, and desirable adjacencies.

Major economic and health safety disruptors are front and center in the planning and delivery of education, and the new Health Sciences Building at the University of Cincinnati meets these disruptors head-on. Session leaders examine the building's progressive design which upends standard floor-level functional separation by mixing programs throughout the building to engage students, staff and faculty -- while also supporting a healing, healthy campus. They illustrate how spaces directly connect multiple colleges to eliminate legacy professional silos, and support occupant health with views, daylighting, and greenspace.

This session explores how institutions are expanding enterprise-wide solutions for carbon neutrality with deep green retrofits of existing campus buildings. Session leaders call upon multiple case studies to demonstrate how specific investments in existing buildings, coupled with clean energy purchases, reduced (and offset) operational emissions while simultaneously preserving embodied carbon and campus character. They examine how these same investments and lessons-learned can be applied at different scales and provide a roadmap detailing how institutions can productively engage their existing buildings as part of comprehensive climate neutrality initiatives.

Academic research laboratories face specific challenges related to aging infrastructure, and unless these challenges are mitigated operating costs will continue to escalate, safety issues will arise, lab spaces will be underutilized, and deferred maintenance will increase. This presentation identifies the top infrastructure challenges for outdated budlings and demonstrates solutions and decision-making criteria that lead to successful results. Session leaders deliver multiple case studies to illustrate new strategies and lessons learned that building owners can use as a framework for overcoming lab-specific obstacles to realize more value from new and existing laboratory facilities

Hybrid-online courses and traditional didactic lectures are rebalancing the learning space equation post-pandemic, however, active learning, problem-based learning, and group learning styles have emerged as resilient trends. In this session, Jessica Orlando illustrates new, adaptable teaching space strategies that flex between traditional didactic formats and other teaching typologies to provide the flexibility for different course types, teaching styles, and reduce the need to change furniture and technology over time. Jessica details technology and systems, configurations, and furniture systems that are required.