Learning Resources

Abstract: The University of Utah administration introduced a major initiative to ensure that each student has an opportunity for a transformative educational experience. In response to this challenge, the Department of Geology and Geophysics developed a prototype for a transformative educational environment in the new Frederick Albert Sutton building. This built environment is designed to engage, inspire, and teach, and its accomplishments set a high bar for campus design. The result is a new paradigm for campus planning. This article traces the pioneering Sutton Geology and Geophysics Building as an exemplary model that uses two tangible design elements to support an outreach vision: academic branding and showcasing of the academic discipline. The reactions to the Sutton Building and the documented outcomes are the measure of ultimate success. The second half of the article presents the framework used to create a transformative educational environment, applicable to other campus buildings of any size or academic discipline. A road map of seven steps leads designers and academics to understand the creative vision and presents methods for implementing and repeating successes that change the educational environment through innovative campus design.

Abstract: In an effort to remain relevant and responsive to evolving developments in higher education, academic libraries are transforming existing spaces to meet the current and future needs of their students. By incorporating the specific programmatic elements of a learning commons with a focus on the institution’s unique demographics and goals, collegiate libraries will be better positioned as collaborative and flexible interdisciplinary resources. In this article, Bond Architects describes the process and outcomes of a library planning study conducted with St. Louis Community College’s David L. Underwood Library on the Florissant Valley campus.

Abstract: This article describes a renovation/addition project for Newcomb Hall, the student union facility on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, that is nearing completion. Showcasing sustainable preservation practices involved in improving an existing structure, this article highlights cooperative efforts among students, faculty, architects, and contractors to upgrade a 1950s-era building with 21st-century technologies. Newcomb Hall’s interior has expanded with new entrances, increased square footage, and state-of-the-art communication and code-safety components that will continue to serve a host of university activities and related organizations. Theater and dining facilities have also been upgraded. Further, building functions have continued throughout this multifaceted project. Maintaining operations during the renovations resulted in time and cost savings and could provide a model for other colleges and universities pursuing similar projects.

Abstract: This article describes the planning process undertaken at a large, regional comprehensive university to create a space within existing buildings aimed at improving student success in introductory mathematics. It demonstrates the need for integrated planning grounded in academic priorities and student success models.

Abstract: For the last 15 years, the University System of Georgia (USG) has implemented its campus master plan template, which includes traditional space planning methodologies, with the assistance of many different consultants. This experience has caused the system to question the value of traditional approaches in guiding capital allocation resource decisions. Many USG institutions function reasonably well with far less space in some categories than traditional guidelines recommend, calling into question the orthodoxy surrounding space “needs.” Different consultants report wildly differing estimates of needs for institutions with similar missions, enrollments, and program mix. Moreover, these needs far exceed available capital. In response, the system has formulated a new methodology for measuring the utilization of space to guide space management and capital allocation decisions for individual institutions and the system as a whole. The goal was to create a process that is understandable, easy to implement, and less prone to distortion that existing methodologies, whose calculations are often complicated and unclear. The new approach includes an overlay taxonomy that groups spaces with similar functions into buckets to minimize the effects of miscategorizations and to provide the atomic units for new utilization metrics, greatly reducing the overall number of required measurements and providing information reflective of modern space usage. The resulting metrics provide new thinking, particularly for classroom and social spaces.

Abstract: With the advent of potential new federal mandates for stormwater treatment, campuses are seeking to find new strategies for overall water management. This article defines strategies for Integrated Water Management (IWM) at the watershed scale and argues that planners should look to cultural landscape precedents and pre-settlement hydrology for holistic solutions in both energy and water conservation. Using the Universities of Wisconsin and Louisville as case studies, the article outlines IWM strategies that respect each campus’s historic landscape while meeting future needs. The article concludes with next steps for integrating building and site systems for “regenerative” design that improves the air, soil, and water quality.

Abstract: The most successful campus housing supports the academic development of students, but also acts as a venue for personal and social growth. So what kind of common spaces can support students whose main form of engagement happens on their smart phones? The Massachusetts State College Building Authority, which designs and constructs all of the student life facilities for the system's nine campuses, hired an architect and planner to evaluate its residential buildings and characterize the public spaces that were most successful in terms of student engagement. Attributes identified in the study—proximity, variety, "ownership," and flexible furniture, to name a few—are universally applicable in the design of engaging residential common spaces.

Abstract: Throughout the history of a four-year university, there are large numbers of records generated, maintained, and archived when campus buildings are constructed, renovated, or demolished. At Illinois State University, the Facilities Planning office is the keeper and protector of the university’s irreplaceable plans, manuals, contracts, and other pertinent documents. The office is currently using an external space to store these documents that is unsuitable and harmful to the documents themselves. Hence, the authors embarked on a survey research project of seven midwestern university archive libraries to determine what characteristics are important in a successful design that could be used by Facilities Planning and other architecture or engineering offices to create future archive spaces.

Abstract: This article discusses two different planning aspects of residential construction and renovation. The first half of the article focuses on the optimal planning research that an institution should undertake to inform its physical and residential-life programs. This section describes a data-driven exploration that uses methodologies such as peer benchmarking; population mapping; and stakeholder interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Then, the second half of the article reviews the latest trends in undergraduate housing and residential-life programs, including housing options that provide staged independence from year to year; themed housing and living-learning communities; building sustainability; and trends in room sizes, beds, and bathrooms. The article concludes with a look at emerging trends and future questions.

Abstract: We had hoped to incorporate this handbook, or a comprehensive summary of its elements, in this issue of SCUP’s journal. However, the timing of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory grant report did not accommodate that. When the handbook becomes available, we will provide a link to it here. Meanwhile, we interviewed LSC and Project Kaleidoscope founder Jeanne Narum, the 2010 SCUP Founder's (Casey) Award for Distinguished Achievement in Higher Education Planning, as well as LSC leaders Sally Grans-Korsh and James Swartz, about their multi-year process and what they have learned. Grans-Korsch provides a case study from the University of Minnesota and Swartz does the same for Grinnel.