Learning Resources

Abstract: Breathing new life into old buildings is one of the most sustainable available campus strategies and offers benefits beyond carbon reduction. Renovation and adaptive reuse support a triple bottom line of environmental, financial, and social wellbeing. This session will explore renovation at Trinity University from campus, design, and building perspectives, outlining strategies for enhancing the character and performance of buildings, districts, and the campus. Join us to gain a multi-dimensional understanding of the risks and rewards of renovation and adaptive reuse to help strategically guide comprehensive environmental, financial, and campus planning efforts for colleges and universities.

Abstract: This student panel will exchange ideas on the impacts of capital planning in three phases: on campus today, at graduation, and ten years in the future. An educator and design expert will join students from Philadelphia-based institutions to share their perspectives on how short and long-term visioning for campus planning can create more engaging, inclusive, and impactful student experiences. Planners are considering the experiences students seek while on campus, and how perceived impressions differ from the reality of renovations. This interactive discussion will offer live feedback on trends and issues around recruitment, retention, campus culture, and sense of belonging.

Abstract: Institutions are constrained by housing modern programs within aging facilities. Cornell University's College of Engineering addressed these challenges while collecting programs and enhancing the user experience. This session will explore project goals that resolve pragmatic challenges of aging facilities and evolving programs with interventions that help support the future of academic programs and impact the overall cohesiveness of the larger campus. We'll identify opportunities to solve programmatic and utilitarian challenges within the confines of aging facilities while helping to improve the student experience, recruit researchers, and make connections between buildings and across the campus.

Abstract: Effective means and methods for building projects result in campus environments that advance institutional missions and goals, ensure student success, and support campus communities working for change. This session will demonstrate how administrators, planners, and designers joined forces to coordinate an integrated project delivery to build a new medical school that promotes success for a diverse student body. We'll highlight strategies for prioritizing during the decision-making process, including identifying physical space needs to support program initiatives, developing planning guidelines for those needs, and enacting a design-build process to meet those needs in the built environment.

Abstract: The growth of the University of Calgary's Veterinary Medicine program has been a catalyst for several initiatives on campus, including the development of a long range plan, creation of an inclusive program, and development of micro degrees. The process of engagement, programming, and design at Vet Med was critical for understanding the urgent needs of the profession and students while being mindful and respectful of the history of place and the indigenous community. This session show how connecting the history of place at a campus master planning and programming level fosters opportunities, success, health, and wellbeing for each student.

Abstract: Traditional, siloed faculty offices are no longer the best option for serving student and staff needs. Open-concept faculty neighborhoods benefit staff by creating a collaborative working environment, and they benefit students by providing space for them to speak openly with professors. This session will demonstrate how innovative faculty neighborhoods increase collaboration and dialogue, supporting the working and learning experience for faculty, students, and the whole institution. We'll demonstrate how you can get the most out of your campus working environments by implementing creative layouts that are designed to boost collaboration and connection while retaining space for personal reflection and rejuvenation.

Abstract: With a growing population of neurodiverse students, Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services (RCAAS) acts as a national prototype for institutional change to increase engagement and success of autistic students through purpose-built environments and programs. Using the RCAAS as a case study, we'll present an interdisciplinary approach for addressing complex issues around autism through the organization's college support program, psychological services clinic, and intensive outpatient clinic. Come learn how to leverage the campus setting, transit, recreation, and jobs to integrate autistic students, provide clinical experience, and design for a vulnerable population, resulting in better environments and wellbeing for all.

Abstract: As populations grow and housing supply falls behind, campuses across North America must consider housing solutions as an important element of recruiting and retaining academic talent. This is collectively known as academic workforce housing. In this session, we'll outline the five tools of academic workforce housing: assisting with the cost of housing, building housing, buying real estate, lending, and empowering employees to become educated about available options and programs. We will also review several examples of successful academic workforce housing programs, both large and small.

Abstract: Academic office spaces have historically followed established norms. These patterns are changing to maximize and condense real estate, minimize operating costs, and adjust to remote and hybrid work. This session will examine fundamentals of faculty and administrative offices and review student adjacencies, hot-desking and co-sharing space trends, and the future of hybrid work environments. We'll spotlight three unique academic office solutions that cover both new construction and existing renovation construction types. Join us to benefit from lessons learned, identifying potential pitfalls and new opportunities.

Abstract: Campus facility design is a complex process that involves many sources of opinion and influence. Educational environments must enhance evolving pedagogies, support learning, administrative, and social functions, and accommodate ever-changing institutional needs. The systematic use of standardized evaluation tools for assessment of higher education facilities provides comprehensive insight into occupant experience from diverse, unique perspectives for informed and integrated planning decisions. In this session, we'll share practical strategies for conducting occupant evaluations across all types of facilities, as well as occupant outcome findings and the resulting planning decisions.