Society for College and University Planning
Blogging the 2012 SCUP North Atlantic Regional Conference
Rena Cheskis-Gold, of Demographic Perspectives, LLC, agreed to share some of her observations of last week's 2012 SCUP North Atlantic Regional Conference. The following were originally posts in SCUP's LinkedIn group, The Integrated and Well-Planning Campus.
SCUP North Atlantic Regional Conference Blog
I have been asked by the SCUP office to write some thoughts about what I have been listening to at the conference. Feel free to comment, or to join in if you, too, are here. I enjoyed a session about the planning and design of the John Jay College building in which we are meeting. The panel was the college's Senior VP for Finance and Admin, Dir of Space Planning, and the SOM architect. We heard about the user and team input in the planning, the goals to provide collaborative space for intellectual and social discourse, and the spaces developed to engage and serve the NYC external community. I particularly liked the dashboard methodology utilized to rate the elements of the building in the planning phase. A question I have is will they conduct a post occupancy assessment to learn how users perceive the building, and if so, when is the best time to conduct this study?
More on North Atlantic SCUP
The architecture firm Perkins + Will did a great toolkit session on interesting and sustainable materials and finishes. They brought examples of recommended flooring, such as linoleum, tile, and enginereed wood, and wall materials such as resin and beautiful glass. Their website transparency.perkinswill.com looks to be an excellent resource on this topic.
SCUP NA- RIT'S GLOBAL VILLAGE
Now that it is spring, I think I will go up to RIT in Rochester to visit their 2 year old Global Village, a student residential complex that has become a seating, dining, and shopping destination. A 400-plus bed complex, it is fully integrated into the school's strategic goal to support multicultural and global education. The complex has 4 residential sections, Latin America, East Europe, Middle East, and Central Asia, and 3 dining themes, Mexican, sushi, and a rotating country Global Grill. One of the most unusual ideas is an int'l food market, seling int'l food and fair trade goods, the products of which can be used for private student meals as well as school-run demonstration dining. All finishes carefully match the global themes - color palatte, fabrics, carpets, wall hangings. The presentation and q&a was lively and humorous."
Last Blog Posting from SCUP NA
I am on a train back to New Haven, but other SCUPers are hearing a plenary session and thinking ahead to a fun reception tonight at Gracie Mansion. It was a stimulating day, and I am glad to have been there for it.
Before I sign off, one lst note about the session on space utilization and sustainable practice. Hilary Brown, Peter Gisolfi, and Adrian Tuluca led us through a discussion of how the cultural time practices of campus building usage lead to poor energy efficiency. They presented several examples of methodologies to measure energy usage, and offered many techniques for monitoring energy usage as well as adapting building usage culture. Will campuses ever go back to classes held 5 days per week, or find synergistic opptys to use (or rent) the space for more hours per day? Can careful planning keep energy usage down if this does not happen?
In my previous post about RIT I didn't mention the names of the speakers - ARC (architects), and Kurt Ingerick, Tynelle Stewart and James Yarrington from RIT.
Labels: North Atlantic Region, 2012, Conference, Cheskis-Gold, CUNY, NYC