Learning Resources

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.

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: This article summarizes the results from an October 2011 think tank called “Physical Place on Campus: Summit on Community,” which included 10 higher education associations and 50 thought leaders from the fields of architecture, planning, academic affairs, student life, and facility-related industries. Findings were developed using a qualitative research methodology, and the summit’s conclusions challenge higher education’s conventional approaches to facility planning, design, and management. Participants argued that the creation of campus community is critical for learning; significant conclusions suggest longstanding and centralized facilities may impede both community development and higher education’s civic goals, while the most significant barrier to change may be reluctance among campus leadership.

Abstract: This article details the creation of a survey to measure student perceptions of the outdoor campus environment, as the outdoor campus environment has not been adequately assessed in the past. The information collected through this survey (referred to as the Outdoor Physical Campus Assessment) provides feedback for campus planners about the outdoor physical campus environment from a student perspective and may also be used for benchmarking. During a first-time deployment, 1,710 students responded to the survey, yielding statistically reliable data that can be used to make valid assertions about the outdoor campus environment.

Abstract: Beautiful buildings are built for schools from kindergarten through higher education. Why do we insist on designing our learning settings based on just the question, “How many ‘bums’ in seats do you need?” and the response, “Oh, we have a template for that” (i.e., row-by-column seating with X numbers). The world of education is being turned upside down by the “entrepreneurs” of education—the K–12 arena—as changes to pedagogy, technology, and space are being made and children’s brains are actually being altered due to the digital age. Higher education’s educators and the designers who develop educational solutions are hereby issued a wake-up call to change.