Learning Resources

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: 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: 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: 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: 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 project examines the evolution of the campuses of Harvard, Yale, Penn, Princeton, and Columbia (collectively referred to in this study as “the Five”) from their founding, through the centuries of their development, and into the future to better understand how academic and other forces gave form to the buildings and grounds and how historical outcomes may inform future growth.

Essays and illustrations present and analyze the vision plans currently under consideration by each university. As these plans are works-in-progress, web links are provided to follow evolution beyond today. A capstone essay titled “Hindsight-Foresight” presents themes linking the past, present, and future of campus development at the Five. The goal of the project–through publication, exhibition, and live presentation/discussion–is to engage campus planners, other design professionals, and architectural historians in further exploring how academic and other forces gave form to the buildings and grounds and how historical outcomes may inform future growth.

Abstract: Traditional college and university space planning methods largely ignore issues of quality, money, and mission, focusing instead on the application of formulae to strictly categorized space types. Today’s complex challenges, including a significantly reduced resource base, motivate an evolution in methodology. Opportunities exist to strengthen technical underpinnings and to question key assumptions, particularly the value of benchmarking. This book sketches this evolved comprehensive space planning practice, with its emphases on utilization, economic value, quality, and accountability both to the institutional mission and to stakeholders.

Abstract: University campuses offer rich opportunities to model and test sustainable design practices. Through examination of four campus initiatives, this article explores the integration of sustainable goals into the design process. The universities studied sought to enhance campus sustainability through the use of strategic goals, flexible designs, and green infrastructure approaches in their respective campus plans. The projects offer an opportunity for universities to be leaders both educationally and environmentally and provide a framework for approaching the sustainable campus landscape, revealing the potential to strengthen landscape architecture as a practice and pedagogy within the academic community. As many campuses struggle to address sustainability practices, there is a clear call to share stories and challenges. This article documents a range of examples and offers reflections that expand foundations for further exploration and learning.