PLENARY I

Jeanne L. Narum, Director-Project Kaleidoscope

Getting the Vision Right
What Works: Planning for the Long-Term, Given the Institutional Mission, Identity and Context

Facilitators:
Louise Hainline, Dean for Research & Graduate Studies-CUNY-Brooklyn College
Marianne Jordan- Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations, Bowdoin College

A successful science construction project requires a clear conceptual framework that fits in with the objectives of the planning for the institution as a whole. This session will focus on the questions that need to be asked at the earliest stages of planning and the processes that need to be in place to develop the answers to those questions. The perspectives of the institution, the faculty, and the architect will be discussed. The session will include a guided discussion with workshop faculty.

Addressing Your Questions

Panelists:
Workshop leaders

"Burning questions” submitted by participating teams begin to be addressed and discussed.

PLENARY II

The Planning and Programming Process-Beginning to End

Facilitator:
Arthur J. Lidsky, President-Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc.

INFORMAL DISCUSSIONS

21st Century Student Learning Goals

We invite participants to discuss how spaces can serve specific goals for student learning, beginning with how spaces can foster the capacity for creativity, innovating, thinking outside-the-box that is called for in recent public reports. These will be unfacilitated, but there will be an opportunity on Saturday morning to present “aha” insights.

• Renovations/additions/new construction
• 21st century pedagogies
• 21st century science
• Issues relating to sustainability
• Challenges for large-enrollment campuses
• Challenges for small-enrollment campuses
• Roles and responsibilities of senior academic officers
• Roles and responsibilities of the project shepherd
• Roles and responsibilities of budget officers
• Roles and responsibilities of facilities officers

PLENARY III

The University of West Florida Story

Facilitators:
Becky McDuffie, Laboratory Planner-Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture
Leonard W. ter Haar, Director of School of Science & Engineering-University of West Florida

A. Considering Implications of Renovations, Additions, New Construction

Facilitators:
Mark C. Hartmann, Architect & Lab Planner-Harley Ellis Devereaux
Arthur J. Lidsky, President-Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc.

This session will review the issues typically considered when developing a plan for the creation of new and/or renovated space. Issues to be discussed will include the development of space needs, assessment of existing facilities, impact of available funding on the possibilities and the challenges of renovating existing facilities.

B. Sustainability and Environmental Considerations

Facilitators:
Anthony P. Alfieri, Senior Associate-Perkins+Will
Sean E. Towne, Principal-Research Facilities Design

This session will provide an overview of sustainable design - what it means, how to measure it, and how to accomplish it, describing the role of architects, engineers, builders, faculty, facilities' staff, and senior administration. The session will include introductory/overview material, a description of the LEED rating system ("Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" - one measure of sustainability), and illustrations of sustainable design projects. Half of the session will be devoted to answering participants' questions and encouraging discussion of participants' experience with sustainable design projects."

C. Classrooms

Facilitator:
Michael J. Reagan, Principal-Burt Hill

21st century STEM students rarely learn as a spectator sport, thus classrooms need to serve a variety of pedagogies and learning styles, from collaborative and problem-based learning to mini-lectures. How does the architect work with the campus community to explore practical solutions for classroom designs that support teaching practices and learning styles for the current and coming generations of STEM students?

This session will focus on the various types of classrooms and the process used to determine the type and quantity of classrooms needed. The type of classroom can range from small, extremely flexible spaces that allow a variety of planned and impromptu activities as well as larger fixed classrooms that support a variety of purposes.

D. Incorporating 21st Century Pedagogies and Technologies

Facilitators:
Marianne Jordan, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations-Bowdoin College
Bradford Lister, Professor of Biology & Director of Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Even as technology advances at an almost incomprehensible rate, college classrooms and the learning activities found there look almost identical to those at the start of the 20th century. In this session, we want both to present and imagine what pedagogies of the 21st century should aim for and entail. We plan to cover three emerging innovative approaches to STEM education: case studies, problem-based learning and future technologies in support of learning. Participants will come away with concrete ideas and examples as well as dreams for the classroom of the future.

PLENARY IV

The Stetson University Story

Facilitators:
Kip Ellis, Principal-Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering
Terence M. Farrell, Professor of Biology-Stetson University

Facilitator:
Sean E. Towne, Principal-Research Facilities Design

Facilities for undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics have been changing dramatically in response to evolution of programs in these disciplines. The changes are being seen in new facility types and features, as well as in laboratory design. In this session, you will see a presentation on the latest trends in undergraduate sciences facilities, hear how changing pedagogies are impacting laboratory sizes and layouts for biology, chemistry and physics, and see alternative building floor plans that support various strategies for encouraging interdisciplinary interaction and collaborative learning. The challenges of renovating or expanding existing Sputnik-era science buildings will also be explored. Special attention will be given to emerging opportunities to address environmental (sustainable) issues in the process of lab design.

Critical benchmarking data for a variety of key area and cost ratios will be presented for recent projects, including new construction, additions, and renovations for undergraduate sciences facilities throughout the United States. This analysis will include a discussion of the factors that impact these ratios, and strategies for applying benchmarking data to projects on your campus.

A. Project Shepherd and the People of the Planning Process

Facilitators:
Terence M. Farrell, Professor of Biology-Stetson University
Louise Hainline, Dean for Research & Graduate Studies-CUNY-Brooklyn College
Leonard W. ter Haar, Director of School of Science & Engineering-University of West Florida

This session will describe how to identify and assemble the people to be involved in the planning process, and outline the steps through which designs move from the programming stage to the point of construction documents.

Planning a new facility, even a single classroom or laboratory, is a defining moment in the life of an institution. Not because you will solve the problem of too little space for too many faculty and students, or the problem of inadequate hoods or leaking roofs, but because the process becomes a communal effort. In coming together to wrestle with the why and the how of new structures and spaces for undergraduate programs in science, mathematics, and engineering, your community will both shape and be shaped by debates and discussions about matters of broad and mutual concern.

Each of your projects committees, under the leadership of the project shepherd and the project manager, will face several challenges as you proceed. You will be challenged to think about the future of programs for the natural science community on your campus from the broadest possible perspective. You also may be challenged to think through whether to undertake renovations (minor or major) or build anew, and to consider how spaces and structures being planned can serve your institution in the most cost-effective and efficient manner for many years.

B. Flexibility and Adaptability… Thinking about the Future

Facilitators:
Kip Ellis, Principal-Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering
Michael J. Reagan, Principal-Burt Hill

Constructing science buildings is expensive, typically representing the highest cost per square foot on campus. Determining the optimal design for a new undergraduate science building is paramount because the opportunity occurs only once every fifty to one hundred years on today's smaller campuses. The resulting building must support today's needs and adapt to tomorrow's advances in technology, the latest pedagogical theories, and potential changes in use.

This session will focus on different approaches to planning for flexibility, adaptability, and versatility in your next science building. The topics will include looking at the context of the problem; developing an adaptable 100 year building that supports multiple disciplines; integrating state of the art prototypes for laboratory and teaching spaces to facilitate long term building flexibility and addressing the importance of developing rigorously designed building systems to create flexibility, adaptability, and maintainability.

C. Campus Aesthetics

Facilitators:
Anthony P. Alfieri, Senior Associate-Perkins+Will
John Starr, Principal-Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture

Twenty-first century academic facilities are designed toward the over-arching goal of building and enhancing a sense of community. They will serve as:

• a venue for informal gatherings of the community
• a point from which to gain access to information, mail, departmental and support services of interest/value to the community— individually and collectively
• a forum in which to discuss, debate, explore, and learn about what is known about the man-made and natural worlds
• an agora for the exchange of ideas through formal and informal discussions, poster sessions, displays of collections, and informal classroom settings.

These facilities are designed as social spaces, in that they are responsive to the needs of the users for a sense of personal space, with a variety of spaces that accommodate the casual “meeting and greeting,” the surprise interactions that add to campus life and permit the student to become participating members of a community.

D. Budgets and Fundraising

Facilitators:
Marianne Jordan, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations-Bowdoin College
Arthur J. Lidsky, President-Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc.

Budgets act as both enabling and constraining forces for all renovation and building projects. Before we can "respect" a budget, we need to understand the overall goals and objectives for any prospective undertaking. These must be mapped into a project's budget to see if the goals and objectives are realistic. One must also map goals and objectives onto the budget to see that a dollar-limited project is worth doing.

Budgets too are complex. Their origins can lie in one-time gifts, bonds, or in the institution's operating budget. There are budgets that cover the initial capital expenses (such as construction costs and fees), and those that cover on-going maintenance and operational costs. Both must be sufficient to sustain the project. As well, adequate contingency funds must be budgeted to deal with surprises, though disciplined planning can reduce the need for these funds.

This session will deal with these "explorations" of project budgets and identify factors and parameters we must keep in mind while doing so.

Facilitator:
Jeanne L. Narum, Director-Project Kaleidoscope
Comments by Workshop Facilitators

Over the last 10 to 15 years, many colleges and universities have contemplated and completed renovations, additions, and new buildings for undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching and research programs. This session will provide examples from different design professionals who have participated in successful projects that accommodate engineering, mathematics, life and the physical science programs. Although, the overall design of each example will be presented for context, the focus of this session will be the learning environments created and the nature of each project's success.

Issues:

• How to talk with STEM faculty colleagues about why to incorporate spatial flexibility into the new facility in ways that would allow departments to become more closely integrated and teaching and research to be more closely integrated.
• How to talk with non-STEM faculty colleagues about why an investment in STEM facilities enhances institutional distinction, and will do so over the long-term.
• How to inform institutional leaders (trustees, senior administrators) about the value of the science facilities project, about its potential to enhance the distinction of the university over the long-term.