Learning Resources

Resilience in the Great Outdoors

Exploring the Future of Outdoor Learning Environments on Campus

By: Patreese Martin, AIA

Before the Fall 2020 semester, the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign partnered with architects and engineers to lead a virtual design charrette focused on extending the life of outdoor campus spaces as learning environments. They also reached out to schools around the country to learn about their recent experiences with these spaces.

Abstract: While adopted as a safer near-term solution, outdoor learning environments now seem likely to play a larger role in long-term planning. Schools will now use lessons learned during the pandemic to think more critically about outdoor campus space as an integral component of classroom education and to support student wellbeing. Before the Fall 2020 semester, the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign partnered with architects and engineers to lead a virtual design charrette focused on extending the life of outdoor campus spaces as learning environments. They also reached out to schools around the country to learn about their recent experiences with these spaces.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Eckerd College, University of California-Davis, Colby College
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Flexible Learning Spaces, Landscape / Open Space, Learning Environments

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Conference Recordings

Published
March 18, 2021

2021 North Atlantic Regional Conference | March 2021

Tour | Wentworth Institute: Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences

By: Tom Chung, Leers Weinzapfel Associates | Shankar Krishnan, Wentworth Institute | Elizabeth Stifel, Boston Civic Design Commission | David Wahlstrom, Wentworth Institute of Technology

Join us for a virtual tour of Wentworth Institute’s newest academic building, the Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS)—its ground-breaking design was serves academic and social needs on campus as well as the wider, local community.

Abstract: Join us for a virtual tour of Wentworth Institute’s newest academic building, the Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS).

The project team members from upper administration, faculty, the City of Boston, and the architect discuss key priorities ranging from academic and social to campus and the wider city and community, which led to the ground-breaking design. The building opened for classes just over a year before the pandemic hit and the presenters will discuss how the building use shifted to remote and hybrid learning as well as plans going forward.

Institutions Mentioned: Wentworth Institute of Technology
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Interdisciplinary Learning Environments, Learning Environments, Science / Engineering Facility, SCUP 2021 North Atlantic Regional Conference

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The Connected Campus

Building Long-Term Value and Agility by Connecting Offerings, Organizations and Operations

By: Elliot Felix, MArch

Campus environments play a vital role in student success. By making changes to their combination of spaces, institutions can respond to the shifts transforming higher education. Elliot Felix shares how colleges and universities can prepare for a more blended world by bringing together the digital and physical, enabling greater diversity and inclusion, and implementing flexible structures, staffing, space, and services. Sponsored Content: Knoll and brightspot strategy.

Abstract: Historic separations that defined higher education are dissolving: research is more interdisciplinary, online and on-campus learning are converging, wet and dry labs are blending, teaching and research overlap, and academia forges relationships with corporate partners. Institutions, by improving how they connect what they offer, how they are organized, and how they operate, can build value and agility to better assist their people on campus. Real-world examples in this white paper from Knoll and brightspot strategy discuss how campus spaces support student success, including how to fully use the campus; creating spaces that sustain diverse and flexible ways of working; thinking phygitally; and creating environments where today’s purpose-driven and entrepreneurial students (Gen Z) will thrive as they prepare to enter the workforce.

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Strategic Planning Responses to the Pandemic

By: Host: Debi McDonald, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP Co-Chair, BSA/SCUP College + University Roundtable | Moderator: Pete Zuraw, Vice President, Market Strategy and Development, Gordian | Presenters: Jean Robinson, Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities Management, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Dave Proulx, Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration, Rhode Island School of Design

In this webinar, Jean Robinson from University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Dave Proulx from Rhode Island School of Design share how their campuses have been planning for this fall, and reflect on the impacts today’s urgent decision making could bring to the future campus.

This is part of the series “Less Talk, More Action: Tactical Topics to Return to Campus.”

Abstract: With the entire academic community scrambling to establish what higher education looks like this fall, planning has been even harder than usual. And yet the pandemic opens opportunities to consider an entirely new set of choices previously unavailable to those guiding their institutions forward. Each and every urgent decision being made on campus today has the potential to define an entirely new future campus. The drivers for those decisions may or may not be creating a desirable new future.d

Institutions Mentioned: University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Rhode Island School of Design
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Planning

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Conference Presentations

Published
March 8, 2020

2020 North Atlantic Regional Conference | March 2020

Institutional Strategies in Project Delivery

Brown University Strategic Sourcing Program

By: Ron Simoneau, Vice President, Shawmut Design and Construction | Joubin Hassanein, Director of IPD & Lean Practice, Shawmut Design and Construction | Michael Guglielmo, Vice President for Facilities Management, Brown University

Brown University's Strategic Sourcing program, a strategic partnership that streamlines planning, design, and construction for the university, delivers higher quality project outcomes with long-term financial savings.

Abstract: Brown University's Strategic Sourcing program, a strategic partnership that streamlines planning, design, and construction for the university, delivers higher quality project outcomes with long-term financial savings. We'll discuss this highly collaborative partnership model that brings together Brown stakeholders with designers, engineers, and subcontractors to develop optimal project solutions. We'll also cover the spectrum of project delivery models used for recent projects.

Institutions Mentioned: Brown University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Project Management / Delivery, SCUP 2020 North Atlantic Regional Conference

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Conference Presentations

Published
July 14, 2019

2019 Annual Conference | July 2019

On-campus Student Housing

Compare Approaches for Construction and Delivery

By: Adam Baacke, Laurence Siegel

Come learn from campus facilities planning and student affairs officials, who will address the pros and cons of different delivery methods (P3, purchase/renovation, and conventional construction) from the perspective of up-front costs, operating and maintenance factors, student experience, and functionality.

Abstract: On-campus living has been linked to student success and is a key factor in admissions decisions. As campuses look to expand and improve their housing inventories in a challenging fiscal environment, there are more options than ever available. One institution will share its recent experiences with several of these options. The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell has more than doubled its on-campus housing inventory in the past five years using a combination of P3, real estate acquisitions, and conventional construction. This session will compare the relative benefits and particular challenges in utilizing these types of housing delivery methods. Come learn from campus facilities planning and student affairs officials, who will address the pros and cons of different delivery methods (P3, purchase/renovation, and conventional construction) from the perspective of up-front costs, operating and maintenance factors, student experience, and functionality.

Institutions Mentioned: University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Public-Private Partnerships (P3), Real Estate, SCUP 2019 Annual Conference, Student Housing

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
April 1, 2018

The Library as Learning Commons

By: Derek Jones, Andrew Grote

Even in the digital age, the library plays a fundamental role in campus life and learning, particularly when it’s updated to meet the needs of 21st-century students and pedagogies.

From Volume 46 Number 3 | April–June 2018

Abstract: Following decades of decline in perceived status and value, the university library has found new life as a center of the knowledge economy, of collaborative learning, and of creative production. The challenge of updating the library mission for the digital age is further complicated when that library resides within a 1960s Brutalist concrete structure. The revitalization of the Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons at the Wentworth Institute of Technology illustrates the process of transforming a foreboding, bunker-like space into a modern, vibrant campus destination.

Institutions Mentioned: Wentworth Institute of Technology
Planning Types: Campus Planning, Library Planning
Tags: Academic Facility, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Learning Commons, Library, Library Planning

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
January 1, 2006

Enlarging the Academic Community: Creating Retirement Communities Linked to Academic Institutions

By: Andrew Harrison,Tien-Chien Tsao

The growing trend in the US of university-linked retirement communities is presented in the context of social housing trends in Europe. It provides a way for universities to capitalize on existing property to earn revenue and to enhance student and staff quality of life.

From Volume 34 Number 2 | January–March 2006

Abstract: This article explores a major opportunity that universities have to capitalize on their existing property portfolio to both earn additional revenue and enhance the quality of the student and staff experience: the creation of university-linked retirement communities. We examine this opportunity in the context of demographic and educational trends in the United States and United Kingdom and identify the factors that act as catalysts for universities to create these communities. We then describe a conceptual framework for university-linked retirement communities that categorizes communities in terms of the level of university involvement in the community and the level of care provided to the residents. We next place university-linked retirement communities in a broader context of social housing trends in Europe and suggest that it may also be possible to create more socially inclusive university-linked learning-centered communities that provide additional opportunities for universities to capitalize on their resources and expertise while contributing to the surrounding community.

Institutions Mentioned: University of California-Davis, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Notre Dame College

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
March 1, 2005

Campus Chapels Make A Comeback: Planning for the Adaptive Reuse of Campus Chapels

Campus heritage, a growing interest in spirituality among multidenominational students, the need for multiple use of student spaces are fueling a closer look at campus chapels. This article takes a look at those factors and issues to be addressed in the renovation and reuse of such buildings.

From Volume 33 Number 3 | March–May 2005

Abstract: Campus chapels once bespoke a school’s curriculum, defined the student body, contributed to ambiance, and served as a recruitment tool for parents looking to religion to influence their children’s character. As schools strayed from their religious roots, encountered pressing program needs, and faced funding concerns, many of these rarely used buildings fell into disrepair. In the last few years, efforts to preserve an institution’s heritage, maximize space, and address spirituality have led schools to consider restoring and reusing campus chapels. This article focuses on keeping the chapel’s original design intent while capitalizing on its strengths to upgrade the building and supplement its usage.

Institutions Mentioned: College of William and Mary, Tufts University, University of Mount Union, Wellesley College, Babson College, Bowdoin College, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Vermont, University of Pennsylvania
Planning Types: Campus Planning

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
September 1, 2004

Solving Campus Parking Shortages: New Solutions for an Old Problem

By: Adam Millard-Ball, Patrick Siegman, Jeffrey Tumlin

Recent major enrollment and construction trends on campus mean that, once again, the demand for parking is increasing at the same time as supply is being eroded. Universities and colleges, however, are able to achieve more integrated parking and transportation policies than are other large institutions.

From Volume 33 Number 1 | September–November 2004

Abstract: Universities and colleges across the country are faced with growth in the campus population and the loss of surface parking lots for new buildings. The response of many institutions is to build new garages with the assumption that parking demand ratios will remain the same. Such an approach, however, can be extremely expensive—upwards of $2,000 per net new space annually. In many cases, a mix of parking and demand reduction programs—such as shuttles, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and financial incentives not to drive—can accommodate growth at a lower cost per trip. A balanced approach will also tend to support other goals, from improving town-gown relations to maintaining debt capacity. Demand management strategies have been employed by institutions for many years. However, it is less common for a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken comparing them with new parking construction. Using examples from universities in California and Colorado, this article demonstrates a methodology to inform basic decisions on the amount of parking required to cater to campus growth, which can be incorporated into campus master planning.

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