Minding the Gap
Nov 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Mark Dilworth
How to integrate design, capital funding and academic planning during a recession.
Gap 3: Campus visioning
Sometimes funding gaps can occur as a result of disparate campus visioning between university planners and academic program leaders. In the case of a rural public health school at a major state university, the dean believed that a 110,000-square-foot facility, including 69,000 square feet of office space, was needed to accommodate the academic program and its faculty growth. Funding for the project, however, supported just less than 90 percent of the dean's desired office program.
The architect's solution called for three distinct, but connected buildings, which included a 25,000-square-foot research laboratory building, a 15,000-square-foot classroom building and a 61,000-square-foot office building designed to accommodate the construction of an additional 8,000 square feet of office space in the future. It also created a bid-alternate in the drawings that showed the office building with the additional 8,000 square feet shelled in within a 69,000-square-foot structure. When the project was bid, the alternate was within the budget, and the larger office building was constructed.
As it turned out, the university didn't end up using all of the shell space for faculty offices, but instead used a large portion of it for a nursing-skills teaching laboratory and classroom. Although the shell space wasn't used for its intended function, it still provided the university with the flexibility for growth in an area not envisioned originally. This shows that no plan or vision can completely anticipate an academic program's future, but that filling additional flexible space is rarely a problem for university facility planners.
Gap 4: Build and they will come
When it comes to planning future research facilities, higher-education leaders may find themselves in a Catch-22: they can't attract the researchers without a new, state-of-the-art facility, but they can't raise the capital for the facility without attracting the researchers. Recently, a research campus at a regional medical school planned to build its fifth biomedical lab facility within an 11-building master plan. During the planning phase, it was determined that the fifth building's size should be based on available funding and the program's current enrollment. Realizing the capacity for expansion, the dean of the program did not want to stifle the potential for future growth by limiting the size of the new building.
Working closely with the dean, designers devised a plan to increase fund-raising momentum and build beyond current need. This “build it and they will come” solution centered on the creation of a generic laboratory layout. This plan enabled the shell building to proceed with design and construction before the specific users of the facility were finalized. Once the users are identified in the future, then detailed design would begin on their specific laboratories, within the parameters of the generic lab layout. This project was initiated when funding was available to complete the 12-story shell and finish out the entry level, mechanical floor and four of the 10 laboratory floors. Breaking the architectural design and planning into shell and finish out, and designing the shell and systems to accommodate incremental completion and occupancy of the building, enables the university medical school to leverage initial funding to support rapid growth. Building undedicated space also will facilitate recruitment of prestigious scientists and their research, with its associated funding.
Planning for change
Traditionally, university and college facilities have had clearly defined, fixed programs and matching budgets to accomplish program objectives. But if the economic downturn has taught us anything, it's that our world is a dynamic place with many moving parts. Change is constant. In the world of higher education, this phenomenon always is present as universities and colleges grow. Designing education facilities that balance today's limitations with tomorrow's possibilities may be one of the most important roles an architect plays.
Dilworth, AIA, LEED AP, is the design principal of Omniplan, a national architecture, planning and interior design firm, Dallas. He can be reached at mdilworth@omniplan.com.
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