Learning Resources

Abstract: With limited financial resources and space constraints, effective use of valuable campus real estate is imperative. Building projects serve more than academic missions on tight urban campuses and campus infrastructure needs must synthesize with academic needs. This session will explore how the University of Pennsylvania is achieving new student learning and research spaces within an infrastructure project. We will share successful innovative business school student learning spaces, operational technologies, and phasing approaches that you can apply to your campus projects.

Abstract: On many campuses, athletics programs continue to isolate student athletes and create exclusivity of facility use. This can create resentment and division on campus and diminish support from the broader campus community. Athletics' growth and demand for dedicated facilities can challenge institutional principles, but through strategic alliances and planning, you can maximize benefits for your campus community, increase efficiencies, and better engage student athletes. This session will help you find solutions that benefit your entire campus community and reinforce your institutional mission through understanding the issues facing athletics and identifying new strategic associations.

Abstract: An institution's success is intrinsically linked to that of its students. High-quality living/learning spaces play a critical role in supporting student achievement, building campus community, and bolstering recruitment and retention. Master plans are more than a campus-wide tool, and with thoughtful planning and execution, institutions can craft a vision tailored to student needs related to housing, dining, and the co-curricular student experience. Using concrete examples, this session will illustrate how student experience-driven planning and creative implementation strategies can bolster student success while using institutional resources more effectively.

Abstract: Underserved and underrepresented students form a large and rapidly growing portion of student bodies, but current planning practices do not address their needs. This session will help you create meaningful change at your institution to accommodate these students by exploring new practices for social equity in campus planning and building design. Come learn about new engagement and assessment tools that can reveal and remedy disparities that students encounter and use them on your campus to deliver a better experience for marginalized students.

Abstract: Addressing current student expectations on campuses with mid-century buildings and a tight budget requires collaboration between the client and design team as well as creative placemaking solutions. As part of repositioning for the 21st century, Drexel University renovated the Korman Center, a 1950s library, and the academic quad to serve as a 24/7 student hub and interdisciplinary academic study center that encourages student collaboration. You will learn how to develop practical, sustainable, and design-forward solutions for updating mid-century buildings and spaces that will attract and retain a diverse student population.

Abstract: Health and wellness centers that encourage all students to be active are replacing the traditional gymnasium complexes on campuses throughout the United States. Studies indicate that regular exercise helps students fight off depression, relieve stress, improve grades, and graduate on time. At Cabrini University, Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) architects designed an athletic pavilion that accommodates a wide variety of wellness, exercise, and fitness programs. WRT master planners used design principles that encourage physical activity to frame the campus reorganization so that all members of the campus community could incorporate healthy activity into their daily lives.

Abstract: The University of Pittsburgh is committed to improving its Division I varsity sports venues and intramural sports and recreational facilities to meet the needs of student athletes, the general student body, staff, and faculty. In 2004, the university completed an Athletic and Recreation Facilities Master Plan. Since its completion, the document has guided the university’s development and renovation efforts on the Upper Campus. However, facilities for these programs remain a pressing need. Given its accomplishments since the completion of the 2004 master plan, the university determined that it needed to revisit and revise the plan to address unresolved issues, take on new challenges, and explore new opportunities that achieve the following objectives: strengthen the geographic definition of the university’s athletic campus within the greater context of the campus as a whole; optimize the university’s limited land and facilities assets such as Trees Field, the OC Lot, Petersen Sports Complex, Trees Hall, Fitzgerald Field House, and other potential sites to identify the highest and best use to meet current and future academic, athletic, and recreational program deficiencies; improve efficiencies in existing facilities where space has been vacated due to the construction of new facilities; and determine where consolidation and cross-departmental sharing is warranted and where space is suited for renovation and reuse.