Integrating Sustainability in the Master Planning Process
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link With AASHE rolling out its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) earlier this year, the need to better integrate related planning efforts is clear. On many campuses, other than exercises related to accreditation the master planning process may be the best known and best integrated planning on campus. This workshop at SCUP–45 is very timely: Audience: Campus planners involved in advancing sustainability through the effective use of master planning and appropriate measures at various planning levels.
Abstract: As the concept of sustainability is gaining momentum and many universities are committing to measurable environmental goals, planners are exploring strategies for integrating sustainability into the master planning process. One of the key challenges is incorporating measurable goals at different planning levels, where the required information and data may not be readily available. This workshop will review emerging methodologies for evaluating environmental performance indicators and for integrating sustainability in a comprehensive master plan.
Learning Outcomes:
- Assemble and organize sustainability goals, policies, and regulations relevant to the master planning process.
- Identify the key elements and metrics of a sustainable master plan.
- Test approaches for integrating sustainable design and planning goals in the master planning process.
- Review methodology for evaluating measurable outcomes of the sustainable planning process.
- Explore the process for reporting on sustainability outcomes.
SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are: - May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
- October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
- January 21–22, Tuscon, AZ - Step II and Step III
Labels: facilities planning, integrated planning, master planning, sustainability, workshop
ACUPCC Annual Report: Campuses Modeling Behavior for External Communities
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link The new annual report for the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) is available now (PDF). It includes vignettes about successful projects on a wide variety of campuses, and describes efforts to facilitate using what has been learned on campus in local and regional communities. The ACUPCC grew in impact, stature, and size in 2009. With 665 ACUPCC signatory schools by the end of 2009 and a 5400% growth since the launch of the program, the higher education sector is now the first in society to substantially commit to achieving carbon neutrality. Notably, 195 Community Colleges, where thousands of students are being trained for clean energy jobs, are now a part of the ACUPCC, with 29 having joined in 2009.
After completing their greenhouse gas inventories in 2008, the first cohort of signatories reached their next major milestone in 2009: the creation and public release of Climate Action Plans. The Plans, available online at the ACUPCC Reporting System, illustrate the specific steps schools are taking to reduce their emissions through strategies including: using renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, reducing waste, and improving public transportation options. Schools also outline in their Plans innovative ways they are re-orienting their educational offerings to prepare the approximately three million students who graduate each year from their institutions to meet the massive challenge of climate change.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: - April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
- April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"
Labels: ACUPCC, alternative energy, climate change, sustainability
Buildings & Grounds Blog Update
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link Lawrence Biemiller and Scott Carlson at The Chronicle of Higher Education continue to author the most frequently updated information source about facilities planning in higher education, the Buildings & Grounds Blog. We expect that Carlson will be covering a number of sessions at SCUP–45 in July.
Recent posts include: - Florida Southern Plans to Add a Usonian House to Its Wright Collection
- Book Highlights Modern Architecture at Princeton
- Webster U. Plans New Academic, Science Buildings
- Pasadena City College Arts Center Is Delayed by State Architect
- U. of Wisconsin at Oshkosh to Turn Food and Yard Waste Into Energy
- Dickinson College Will Turn Unused Cupola Into a Birdhouse
- In New York, Sullivan County Community College Plans New Dorms
- Master Plan Would Make Appalachian State U. Campus Pedestrian-Friendly
- Presidents' Climate Commitment Report Released
- Virginia Tech Unveils Plans for $89-Million Arts Center
- In Arid Palm Springs, the College of the Desert Plans a Green Expansion
- Missouri State U. Students Protest Cost of Planned Recreation Center
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: - April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
- April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"
Labels: architecture, buildings and grounds, campus planning, facilities planning, sustainability
Overcoming Obstacles to Going Green
Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time. Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.
SCUP Link
Writing in American School & University magazine, Mike Kennedy surveys the barriers to going green in the design, construction, and operation of education facilities. One of those barrier may be tradition: "To come up with the most effective green strategies for a facility, designers have to determine how the various design elements interact with one another; a seemingly innocuous change in one feature can weaken the environmental benefits that other features are expected to provide.
"Architects need to bring in engineers earlier and work out issues such as artificial lighting, daylighting, heat loads," says Dordai.
It's what architects call "integrated project delivery." "It's everybody contributing — the whole team focusing on the whole building and coming up with one vision," says Dordai.
Such cooperation seems like common sense, but for architects and engineers used to working a certain way, it can be difficult to break old habits."
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: - March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
- April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
- April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"
Labels: alternative energy, climate, facilities planning, green building, sustainability
New Book (free): Accelerating Campus Climate Initiatives: Breaking Through Barriers
 - If you have an interest in this book, you may also have an interest in the SCUP regional one-day event happening April 7, in Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge."
This book, Accelerating Campus Climate Initiatives: Breaking Through Barriers, is the product of more than a year's research on a dozen campuses by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Download it here.
It is organized into five chapters: - Climate Action Planning,
- Buildings & Utilities,
- Renewable Energy,
- Transportation, and
- Carbon Offsets & Associated Opportunities.
Subchapters each represent a "barrier" within the context of that chapter. So, for example, within Buildings & Utilities, there are subsections like "lack of capital," "Insufficient in-house expertise," and "Whole-system approach seems impossible." The book "explores a wide range of challenges committed campus planners are facing, including the real and perceived barriers. Real-world examples from campuses around the country help readers determine and drive projects based on a different way of thinking about buildings, utilities, perceptions, institutional structures, and all the other components comprising energy systems and campuses."
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: - March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
- April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
- April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"
Labels: climate, climate action planning, energy, facilities planning, resource and budget planning, RMI, Rocky Mountain Institute, sustainability, transportation
'Green' Concurrent Sessions at SCUP-45
We cut and pasted these, very quickly, from the full listing of concurrent sessions which you can find here. (That list, unlike this one, will be kept current over the next 4 months. There are enough sessions directly on topic with green building, energy conservation, and general sustainability themes to make up a couple of distinct tracks in Minneapolis. Higher education's premier planning conference in 2010 offers a lot for sustainability folks. Register by April 30 to ensure you receive the early registration discount.
A New Vision for the Core Campus at Clemson University
Presenter(s): Joe Atkins, Associate Principal, VMDO Architects; David Oakland, Principal, VMDO Architects; Gerald Vander Mey, Director, University Planning & Design, Clemson University Clemson has set out to fundamentally redevelop its campus core. The presentation focuses on this ambitious transformation. It explores innovative mixed-use planning approaches; assesses bold, but careful, proposals for increased density; reflects campus design principles for social and intellectual interaction, respect for campus culture and history, and commitment to sustainability; and describes how housing, academic, dining, and student life programs can be combined into a dynamic center of campus life for a public school poised to break into the top-twenty. Learning Outcomes: - Discuss the challenges and opportunities encountered when a campus redevelopment is charged with embodying and expressing the values and identity of the campus as a whole.
- Discover how planning concepts that place the “landscape first” can establish an effective campus order and provide a range of outdoor spaces to promote interaction on a variety of scales.
- Assess unique problems in large, multi-phased projects relative to funding and implementation.
- Identify issues related to mixed-use development—including strategic overlaps of traditionally separate campus operations (e.g. housing, academic, dining, and student life).
TAGS: Public Research, Sustainability, Facility Type_Student Center, Master Planning A Sustainable Campus? - Yeah, Right! More Hype and No Substance ?
Presenter(s): Bart Becker, Associate Vice President, Facilities & Operations, University of Alberta; Leonard Rodrigues, Senior Principal, Stantec Architecture Ltd There are many planning studies and campus plans that claim sustainability as their underpinning. However, the meaning of "sustainable" can be quite widely interpreted. This session outlines a plan for a campus of 15,000 FTE seeking to be holistically green--in planning, infrastructure, buildings, and landscape. By setting the metrics of sustainable development in tangible economic, social, and technical terms, this plan shows what a truly sustainable campus might look like. Learning Outcomes: - Analyze the constituent pieces of an integrated sustainable campus infrastructure, facilities, and operations.
- Identify metrics that are objectively measurable and not "Greenwashing."
- Address a "closed loop" approach to the site for energy, water, waste, and how they interact.
- Implement strategies for long-term sustainable development and operations - leveraging development opportunities to ensure concept execution.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Sustainability, International, integrated planning, Master Planning Access Mis-Management: "We've Met the Enemy and He is Us"
Presenter(s): Barbara Chance, President & Chief Executive Officer, CHANCE Management Advisors, Inc; Robert Furniss, Senior Operations Consultant, CHANCE Management Advisors, Inc; Alexandria Roe, Director, Planning & Program Development, Architectural & Engineering Services, University of Connecticut After struggling with pedestrian/vehicular conflicts, ruined landscape, and a desire to remove vehicles from the campus core, the University of Connecticut decided that it needed an access management plan. Learn about the university's decision process leading to its request for an access management consulting study, the particulars of data collection and plan preparation, the reaction from campus departments and vendors, the issues involved in plan implementation and buy-in, and the benefits realized. Learning Outcomes: - Recognize how a comprehensive access management plan can increase pedestrian safety, reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, preserve landscape, and beautify a campus.
- Review strategies for improving the management of campus service and delivery access needs.
- Assess how access management strategies can be applied to the participants own campus.
- Identify the institutional obstacles facing the implementation of a campus access management plan as well as the strategies to overcome them.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Transportation Benchmarking Benefits for Energy/Water Use—54 College Campuses in Minnesota
Presenter(s): Rick Carter, Senior Vice President, LHB, Inc; Sally Grans-Korsh, Systems Director, Facilities Planning & Programming, Minnesota State Colleges & Universities System Office; Tom McDougall, President, The Weidt Group Energy Benchmarking at 54 campuses was done throughout Minnesota by campus staff. Benchmark data resulted in clear, concise reports for overall energy/water use. Learn how to gather data, determine Energy Use Intensity (EUI) in kBtu/sf/year and water usage in gals/occupant/day. Data is critical to determine best use of capital expenditures to maximize energy efficiency. Examples from both high and low performers will be shared, with suggestions on how to improve campus energy consumption. Learning Outcomes: - Explore the basics about energy use intensity, how energy can be converted to a common unit (kBtu), normalized by area (square foot) and time (year), and how to calculate this information for a building and campus.
- Determine how to efficiently collect information from accounting and facility staff.
- Determine how to calculate the best benchmark, compare the data, and develop a case study for use in making recommendations going forward.
- Apply the data collected, and communicate performance benchmarks to facility managers and users to influence behaviors and reduce consumption.
TAGS: Higher Education System, Sustainability, Performance Measures Carbon, Energy, and Water: Sustainable Planning Strategies for Indiana University
Presenter(s): William Brown, Director, Sustainability, Indiana University; Mary Jukuri, Principal, JJR, LLC; Russell Perry, Managing Partner, Smith Group Inc. Indiana University is re-aligning its physical resources for a sustainable future. Explore the integrated master plan for the Bloomington campus through the lens of energy and water resources. Learn how the university can accommodate a projected 25 percent facility growth while reducing its overall environmental footprint. We will discuss achieving this goal using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies for an innovative Stormwater and Hydrology Plan and an unprecedented campus-wide Energy and Water Use Plan. Learning Outcomes: - Explore ways to implement campus sustainable design initiatives from six vantage points: energy, land use, resource use, transportation, built environment, and food.
- Evaluate the cumulative effect of multiple planning strategies including watershed analysis, riparian restoration, habitat corridors and increased tree cover on managing campus stormwater run-off quality and quantity.
- Using the IU Energy and Water Use Plan, estimate greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption for campus facilities, predict future energy and water use for new development, and apply techniques to reduce energy use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions for a campus.
- Discuss sustainable design leadership and its integration into the university's administrative and academic mission and functions.
TAGS: Sustainability, Large Public Research, Performance Measures, Master Planning, Operational Planning Connecting Alumni to Campus Through Innovative Planning and Design
Presenter(s): Thomas Hotaling, Principal, Ann Beha Architects; Kathleen Kelleher, Interim Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, University of Vermont; Linda Seavey, Director, Campus Planning Services, University of Vermont The University of Vermont has embarked on an exciting initiative to restore, renovate, and expand a local landmark as an important new point of campus connection for visiting alumni. This creative design offers a home base for alumni activities, opportunities for revenue-generation, outreach to the surrounding city, and administrative space for development and alumni relations. This session will address the project's complex planning and design process, financial modeling, strategies for phased construction, neighborhood concerns, endowment opportunities, and sustainable strategies for historic structures. Learning Outcomes: - Compare the advantages and disadvantages of adaptive re-use versus new construction.
- Discover innovative solutions for unique program requirements (including events spaces, public spaces for alumni use, and revenue-generating programs.)
- Explore sustainable design strategies for historic buildings.
- Review the business planning steps to be considered when creating revenue-generating spaces in academic settings, including the ever-present issue of campus parking.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Renovation, Town/Gown, Facility Design, Facility Type_Alumni Center Does Net Zero Design LEED to Zero Cost?
Presenter(s): Chris Buntine, Sustainability Engineer, GreenWorks Studio; Brent Miller, Principal, Harley Ellis Devereaux; David Umstot, Vice Chancellor, Facilities Management, San Diego Community College District Limited resources are not a new reality for higher education, but how we design for these constraints can be. A focus on first cost, rather than on life-cycle cost, has defined a performance path with ever-increasing operational costs. This session illustrates how San Diego Community College District and other institutions are utilizing net zero approaches to design away operating costs, control capital costs, and push LEED certification to the highest levels. Learning Outcomes: - Identify building candidates at the master plan level to optimize net zero design options.
- Define performance goals that drive design toward net zero.
- Educate building occupants, facilities maintenance, and administration to facilitate the shift to a net zero paradigm.
- Incorporate post-occupancy evaluations, measurement, verification, and recommissioning to ensure a successful outcome.
TAGS: Community College, Sustainability, Operational Planning, Facility Design Future Ready: How to Integrate Strategic Direction and Campus Planning
Presenter(s): Alexander Carroll, Master Planner & Senior Associate, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering P.C.; Charles Craig, Senior Master Planner & Principal, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering P.C.; Lisa Fears, Vice President, Planning, Plant & Technology, Franklin College of Indiana Franklin College's campus planning case study will present a process model for linking 21st-century strategic objectives to an institutionally and contextually appropriate and sustainable plan. Franklin, a small, residential, liberal arts institution, has a long history of active engagement and innovation. The college's recent campus plan sustains the campus’ unique character and heritage by means of a disciplined study and interdisciplinary process. Learning Outcomes: - Using discipline and a process model, link the strategic planning process and initiatives to campus planning.
- Compare communications procedures for ensuring success in the planning process.
- Incorporate institutional history, mission, and goals in the campus design process.
- Explore strategies and proposals for establishing interdisciplinary opportunities and linkages for curricular and co-curricular programs.
TAGS: Small Private Liberal Arts, Sustainability, Preservation, Master Planning, Strategic Planning HEASC Fellows Project Report
Presenter(s): Peter Bardaglio, Senior Fellow, Second Nature, Inc; John Ruffo, Partner, WRNS Studio, LLP; Nancy Tierney, Associate Dean, Facilities & Planning, University of Arizona, College of Medicine SCUP finds itself at the nexus of organizations that are focused on advancing sustainability in higher education. SCUP's three HEASC Sustainability Fellows are defining the society’s future role in campus sustainability, while focusing on three specific projects that are at the core of our sustainability vision: Nurturing young sustainability planners, developing integrated resources and assessing community engagement models. We will report on lessons learned, so far, from these three projects. We will also provide an overview of related initiatives that involve SCUP members, from the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). Learning Outcomes: - Recognize the potential of campus-community sustainability engagement models for your own institution.
- Analyze the value to SCUPers in using STARS to leverage a better understanding of the power of integrated planning.
- Review the ways you can identify, engage, and possibly mentor emerging campus sustainability leaders.
- Demonstrate the variety of campus sustainability roles and positions with regard to their place in the institutional organization and how they can be more effective.
Help! My Building Doesn't Have a Cavity: Re-cladding Solutions for Energy Inefficient Existing Buildings
Presenter(s): Katherine Bozoian, President, Bozoian Group Architects; Julia Oberheu Tritschler, Associate, Bozoian Group Architects; Keith Quick, Larson Engineering, Inc. Colleges and universities have a large variety of building stock. Some were built at a time when there was little regard for energy consumption or knowledge of best practices for moisture control. Schools must provide desirable and healthy housing and academic facilities to attract students. When resources are tight and conservation is paramount, re-cladding can preserve the value of existing structures while overhauling their performance and aesthetics and extending their lives to the end of the century. Learning Outcomes: - Identify performance problems in masonry buildings that were built without a cavity.
- Analyze benefits and pitfalls in designing re-cladding.
- Discuss benefits and pitfalls of materials available for re-cladding.
- Discover potential construction approaches for re-cladding.
TAGS: Sustainability, Student Retention, Renovation, Facility Design How Do Smart Meters Make a University More Intelligent
Presenter(s): Henry Jones, Chief Technology Officer, SmartSynch Inc.; James Morrison, Director, Strategic Planning & Campus Sustainability & Senior Vice Chancellor, Planning & Operation, University of Mississippi; Darren Raybourn, Director, Business Development, SmartSynch Inc.; Larry Sparks, Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance, University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi's (UM) enhanced energy management plan and recent deployment of smart grid technology has enabled the university to monitor energy consumption real-time, track building power performance over time, and archive data for future analysis and planning. Additionally, UM is utilizing social networking tools to engage students, staff, and faculty in a collective effort to reduce the campus' power consumption levels. Obtain the details on the overall energy management project, including the technology selection and implementation process, early success stories, challenges, and long-term goals and expectations. Learning Outcomes: - Discuss the efforts and resources required to integrate smart meter technology into a campus energy management program.
- Distinguish what energy usage data and benchmarks are important to analyze to support financial resource allocation decisions.
- Improve your institution's ability to identify opportunities for increased operational efficiencies using real-time energy usage data.
- Examine how incentive programs and social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feed to engage a university community in lower its carbon footprint.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Sustainability, Information technology, Change Integrating Academic, Facilities and Community Needs at BCTC's New Campus
Presenter(s): Augusta Julian, President/CEO, Bluegrass Community & Technical College; Krisan Osterby, Senior Campus Planner, Perkins+Will; Laurence Page, Senior Academic Planner, Perkins+Will The Bluegrass Community and Technical College Master Plan consolidated programs from three existing campuses, while redeveloping the oldest continuing psychiatric hospital campus in America. Located in a distressed neighborhood, the project integrated academics, operations, sustainability, historic preservation, and community needs. Focusing on 48 acres adjacent to downtown Lexington, the planning team collaborated with KCTCS, Finance Cabinet, faculty, staff, city, and historical society representatives to create a mixed use campus vision for 10,000 students that links institutional and community priorities. Learning Outcomes: - Discover the correlation between academics, facilities and community plans.
- Create a process to align academic goals with facilities.
- Integrate community heritage, community needs, and the campus vision.
- Develop a protocol for phasing a consolidated campus.
TAGS: Community College, Historic Preservation, Master Planning, Town/Gown, Sustainability Lifecycle Cost Analysis of Campus Solar and LEED/Sustainable Projects
Presenter(s): Nils Blomquist, Preconstruction Manager, DPR Construction, Inc; Nick Ertmer, Project Manager, DPR Construction, Inc; Mike Miller, Director of Facilities Planning and Management, Butte College This session will provide real-world techniques and examples of feasibility and lifecycle cost analysis based on Butte College's 2-Megawatt solar power farm (the largest college campus solar project in California) and new 77,000 sq. ft. Instructional Arts project, which is pending LEED Gold certification and won the California Community College Chancellor's Office Energy Efficiency Partnership Program Best Practice Award in HVAC. Attendees will also see firsthand the process implemented for sustainability analysis during preconstruction. Learning Outcomes: - Discuss possible approaches to funding campus solar power projects.
- Analyze the feasibility of campus solar power projects.
- Evaluate return on investment (ROI) for LEED/sustainable projects based on a lifecycle cost approach.
- Quantify the impact of campus power generation projects on the sustainability of campus construction projects.
Location Location Location: An Unlikely Approach to Sustainable Growth Presenter(s): Léo Lejeune, Senior Associate, Architect, Stantec Architecture Ltd.; Stuart MacLean, Director, Facilities, Grant MacEwan College Grant MacEwan University believes that it can best meet the needs of future generations by consolidating all of its existing four campuses onto its one downtown site. This new single sustainable campus project seeks to bring all of MacEwan's services back into one location, while growing its student population, improving the student experience, and tripling its existing square footage in the process. We will reveal an innovative strategy for sustainable growth in a very dense urban context. Learning Outcomes: - Explore how sustainability is changing the way students want to learn, and impacting technology, libraries, teaching spaces, and social spaces.
- Create a thorough business case analysis when approaching governments for funding.
- Design a campus plan that not only exceeds sustainability goals, but also aids in transforming the surrounding urban environment.
- Identify the benefits of selling off existing campuses.
TAGS: International, Public Comprehensive, Master Planning Master Planning for a Sustainable Marine Science Campus at UCSC
Presenter(s): Damon Adlao, Project Manager, Assistant Planner, University of California-Santa Cruz; Craig Curtis, Partner, Miller/Hull Partnership; J. Douglas Macy, Landscape Architect & Principal, Walker Macy The Marine Science Campus at UC Santa Cruz is engaged in critically important research activity for the understanding and protection of coastal and marine habitat across the globe, especially adjacent to the site in Monterey Bay. Learn about the recent campus area plan that will guide specific development for the 98-acre site, inspired by its natural setting and aiming for a careful integration of the coastal ecosystem with new energy-efficient academic facilities and programs and alternative transportation. Learning Outcomes: - Investigate pragmatic ways to plan new development on sensitive sites, maximizing energy and transportation efficiency, and reducing traditional infrastructure.
- Explore how to become more self-sufficient through use of a combination of site amenities, including solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and micro-hydro generation.
- Observe the plan's consistent alignment of new buildings for optimal solar orientation and progressive standards for alternative modes of transportation.
- Appraise an innovative response to storm water treatment, based on subsurface flows on a sensitive site.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Sustainability, Master Planning, Open Space Multidisciplinary Learning, Sustainable Environments and Architectural Design = Positive Educational Experience
Presenter(s): Joseph Coriaty, Partner, Frederick Fisher & Partners Architects; Peter Schröder, Professor, Computer Science and Applied & Computational Mathematics, California Institute of Technology; John Zinner, Principal, Zinner Consultants Perspectives from education, sustainability, and design will demonstrate ways in which multidisciplinary learning and domestically-formatted learning environments may deinstitutionalize the educational process and promote sharing amongst faculty members and their associated research groups. Incorporating sustainable classroom environments and pursuing an open and interactive design process for new classroom buildings promotes a creative, operationally-efficient, and more positive learning/teaching experience. The merit of these methods as implemented on recent projects will be presented and analyzed. Learning Outcomes: - Demonstrate how multi-disciplinary learning and deinstitutionalized learning environments improve the educational process.
- Illustrate how specific sustainable features such as abundant daylight, view corridors, creature comforts, and acoustics can improve the classroom experience.
- Evaluate the promotion of educational transparency through the collaborative educational experience from the perspective of curriculum, environment and facility.
- Identify the current needs of multi-use learning environments in order to control operational flexibility and efficiency.
TAGS: Private Research, Facility Type_Science, Learning Space Design, Research Space Design Planning for Athletics and Recreation—Making Every Yard Count
Presenter(s): David Dymecki, Principal, Sasaki Associates; William Massey, Principal, Sasaki Associates, Inc; Carol Moyles, Senior Associate/Landscape Architect, Sasaki Associates Athletic and recreation buildings are some of the largest, most energy-intensive buildings on a campus. Factor in fields and outdoor venues and the impact becomes even more significant. With increasing demand for intramural and club sports and expectations for ever more sophisticated facilities for athletics, team sports and human performance research, institutions are working harder than ever to plan appropriately for the future. This session will look at planning strategies that maximize space and land area with a sustainable, long-term focus. Learning Outcomes: - Respond to trends in athletics and recreation within a rapidly changing and unpredictable economic landscape.
- Minimize the environmental impact of traditionally large, energy intensive buildings.
- Apply rules of thumb for meeting NCAA Regulations and basic planning guidelines for Division 1, 2 and 3 Institutions.
- Establish priorities by looking at student surveys, aligning growth with an institution's academic mission, evaluating trends in Athletics and Recreation, and more.
TAGS: Facility Type_Athletics, Trends, Sustainability, Open Space, Master Planning, Student life Poly Canyon Village: Integrated Project Delivery Brings Sustainability Home
Presenter(s): F. Robert Hood, Senior Vice President, Clark Construction Corporation; Lawrence Kelley, Vice President, Administration & Finance, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo; Edwin Kimsey, President, Niles Bolton Associates; Robert Kitamura, Director, Facilities Planning, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo In 2005, California Polytechnic State University requested proposals for the state's largest student housing project. Originally developer-financed, the project was repositioned as design-build. Working together, the University and the Design/Build team, comprised of over 30 professional entities, creatively met the proposed budget while exceeding the proposal commitment of LEED certification, achieving LEED Gold. In 2009, Poly Canyon Village welcomed students to a 2,670 bed, 1.4 million gsf, sustainable, adaptable environment. Learn how the project team met current market expectations, maximized the budget, and brought the best green building practices to campus housing. Learning Outcomes: - Utilize the diverse resources of the project team and the University to creatively solve the challenges of design/construction through design-build delivery.
- Discuss effective, flexible management tools for mega-projects.
- Define approaches and analyze the risk to multi-year, phased, construction projects.
- Utilize sustainability to enhance project environments and overcome severe environmental issues.
TAGS: Large Public Research, Student Residences, Sustainability, Facility Type_Student Residences, Design/Build Repurposing a Building—Morrill Hall, Sustainable in 1890
Presenter(s): Scott Allen, Partner, RDG Planning & Design; Michael Andresen, Associate, RDG Planning & Design; Kerry Dixon-Fox, Project Manager, Iowa State University The session is a case study of the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of a building on the national register of historic places. Examine the campus factors that lead to the abandonment of the facility and also review the design and construction decisions that provided the basis for a successful repurposing and rehabilitation project resulting in Iowa State University's first LEED® silver project. We will cover strategies, building performance and other possible funding criteria on similar buildings. Learning Outcomes: - Summarize the evolution of design and construction over the last 100 years.
- Identify the issues surrounding restoration and rehabilitation of a historic structure.
- Develop goals for sustainable concepts and strategies within a restoration project.
- Review the requirements of the LEED Documentation and Certification Process.
TAGS: Historic Preservation, Sustainability, Large Public Research Sustainable Campus as Pedagogy: Opportunities For Enhancing the Curriculum
Presenter(s): Stephen Hardy, Planner, BNIM Architects; Stephen McDowell, Principal, BNIM Architects; David Orr, Chair, Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College; Daniel Sniff, Associate Vice President, Facilities Planning, University of Georgia The University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology and the Oberlin College Sustainable Arts District are two recent projects with high goals for environmental sustainability and energy use reduction. The design of these campuses and their built environments provide teaching and learning tools in both the sciences and arts. These two case studies demonstrate how to extend the efficacy of construction funds by conceiving facilities that go beyond functionality to active engagement of the curriculum. Learning Outcomes: - Identify the roles that physical plant can play in the curriculum.
- Maintain flexibility while creating specific learning opportunities.
- Link sustainable design with curriculum in the sciences and the arts.
- Debate the role that sustainable, teaching buildings might play in the larger campus and community context.
TAGS: integrated planning, Sustainability, Learning Space Design, Small Private Liberal Arts, Large Public Research Sustainable Residence Life "Flexible Living Unit" Design
Presenter(s): Connie Frazier, Director of Residential Programs, Angelo State University; John Russell, Director, Facilities Planning & Construction, Angelo State University; Randall Scott, President & Chief Executive Officer, Randall Scott Architects, Inc Residence halls can be designed to provide for freshmen, upper-division and graduate student needs through this unique "Flex-Unit" concept. These sustainable residence life facilities can quickly adapt to all types of students and demographics over a 50-75 year life cycle thereby reducing the number of residence hall types needed on a campus and future landfill requirements. This unique "Flex-Unit" allows residence life staff to provide 18 distinct living unit arrangements within a 1,200 SF module. Multiple "Flex Units" can easily be arranged to develop communities of varying sizes within a residence hall and tracked through BIM software. Learning Outcomes: - Provide a sustainable residence hall with significantly lower life-cycle costs than traditional residence halls.
- Accommodate all types of students' housing needs within one residence hall.
- Increase student satisfaction by allowing them to select their own unit type resulting in increased revenues
- Create various sized units, communities and cohorts within a given residence hall in conjunction with BIM (Building Information Modeling)
TAGS: Public Comprehensive, Student Residences, Learning Space Design, Sustainability
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: energy, green building, sustainability
SCUP-45 Plenary Speaker: Jerome Ringo
I am more of a conservationist, myself. And people have come to me and said, "Wow, you're an African-American conservationist!" And my response is, "No, I'm a conservationist who happens to be black."
I believe that all of us in the conservation movement – even many of the people that work in the petrochemical industry who love to hunt and fish – we love the environment. Unfortunately there are folks in corporate headquarters who are driven solely by profit do not give full consideration to environmental impacts. That does not apply to every company but there are those that are discharging, know they are discharging, know the impact that they are having, yet they don't act on that. The National Wildlife Federation is on a mission to educate people at all levels and to come up with more reasonable and innovative approaches for energy production and consumption.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: conservation, environment, sustainability
States and Schools and Sustainability
We're finding that the voice of the anonymous Getting to Green blogger at Inside Higher Ed, is a source of many SCUPer-like perspectives about integrated planning and campus sustainability. G. Rendell (a pseudonym) is in fact both a SCUP member and responsible for his (or her) institution's sustainability initiatives. Samples from the latest column: The most typical state government response to fiscal crisis these days is a flat percentage spending cut across the board. The advantage of this is that it doesn't require explanation and it doesn't require thought. You're 15% short on cash, you cut expenditures at all agencies by 15%, everything's back in balance, right?
Of course, the balance achieved is only financial, and only on paper. If you cut expenditures on programs which are saving you money in other areas (like arbitration which reduces court costs or prenatal services which reduces health costs), the savings are more illusory than real. And if you cut social welfare expenditures, crime rates may go up, policing costs may go up, incarceration costs may go up, up, up. The politically simple tends to be the pragmatically stupid.
and What resonated with me was the fact that "leaders" of so many state governments were spending so much time, so much effort, so much political capital and never once asking the question of how the existing structure and operation of their organizations was resulting in problematic expenditure levels. They never managed to get to the question of what existing expenditures were unnecessary, or of low priority. They never asked what sorts of efforts more than paid their own way on a net-net basis, or which ones were basically pouring money down a hole.
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: getting to green, integrated planning, sustainability
Student Transportation and Carbon Emissions in California Community Colleges
SCUP–45 offers LUs for AIA.
Thanks to the California Community Colleges GIS Group, we have discovered a very new master's thesis which took a close look at carbon emissions and student transportation. Of value for a look at using info tech (GIS) to solve sustainability issues, and also for a look at the inadequacy of enrollment data to support this kind of research. You'll either find this fascinating or not at all interesting, and it's not exactly easy to figure out how to download the file.
Abstract: California’s system of community colleges is the largest system of higher education in the world; it is comprised of 110 college campuses and over 2.5 million students. Each day millions of students make the daily commute to the campuses. This commute impacts the students in the form of time spent commuting as well as the monetary cost of owning and driving an automobile. The commute also has an environmental impact upon the local community. This project focuses on one of those environmental impacts, the carbon emissions from the automobiles. Both the impact upon the students and the impact upon the community are directly linked to the distance of the commute. By performing network analysis within a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the distances which students travel to campus it was possible to provide estimates of the impact of the commute upon the students and the communities through which they travel. The commute distances were estimated by calculating the quickest routes between the centroids of the ZIP codes in which the students reside and the campus which they attend. The results of this project were presented to the Foundation for California Community Colleges to help in raising awareness of the impact of student commuting, and to support future research and planning. 
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: carbon emissions, climate change, facilities planning, sustainability, transportation
From Living Buildings to Living Campuses
This is a recent article from Planning for Higher Education. If you are a SCUP member, you have the print version of this. At the moment, anyone can read the online version here. However, very soon the journal contents will be a member-only benefit of joining the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). The authors, Tony Alfieri, David Damon, and Z Smith, conclude: There are four key steps that can help institutions define a clear plan for their future. These steps focus on both efficiency improvements in existing campus assets and future strategic development. Develop a comprehensive sustainable master plan [that] integrate[s] sustainable initiatives with the institutional mission . . . Install energy retrofits in existing buildings . . . Establish high-performance guidelines for future buildings . . . includ[ing] policies for procurement and for approval of future development . . . Commit to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).
Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring: Labels: ACUPCC, campus sustainability planning, energy, facilities planning, master planning, STARS, sustainability
Higher Education and Green Jobs
 Sometimes it's lonely on campus, being a planner. Start planning now to attend higher education's premier planning conference for 2010, SCUP–45, July 10–14 in Minneapolis, where you can network and converse with more than 1,000 of your peers and colleagues.
 What happens when "creative clutter" meets transparency in a new, elegant building? Robert Campbell reviews the new MIT Media Lab building at MIT. Frank Moss, the Media Lab’s director, puts it this way: “It will take time to regain the sense of mess and to repopulate with junk.’’It’s the classic marriage of form and content. The new building is Snow White and the Media Lab is Mad Max. Time will reveal how well the marriage works. That said, viewed simply and purely as a work of architecture, this is a wonderful building. You can think of it as an exercise in transparency. The Media Lab has long been famous for hiding itself in a building by I.M. Pei that was a nearly windowless box. The new building, which joins the Pei at one edge, is exactly the opposite. From outside, you can look all the way through it from one end to the other. It’s sheathed in shimmering glass and metal screens that allow about half the sunlight through to the interior. You feel that the building is temptingly veiled, not blanketed. We recently spent some time with Xarissa Holdaway who is, among other things, the editor for the Campus Ecology Project's ClimateEDU: News for the Green Campus. ClimateEDU is the most readable of the two must-read regular electronic publications devoted to campus sustainability issues. The relationship between SCUP and the Campus Ecology Project (which is a unit of the National Wildlife Federation - NWF) go back to the mid-1990s when its director, Julian Keniry, published Ecodemia, and presented on it at SCUP-31 in Washington, DC. The president of NWF's board of directors, Jerome Ringo, is a plenary speaker for SCUP-45 in Minneapolis next July!
This particular issue of ClimateEDU is themed around "green jobs" and includes articles about how community colleges are adjusting their curricula to be sensitive to the needs of green-minded employers, how that demand varies from region to region and state to state, a specific look at those issues in the hard-hit Midwest, and the "Pathways Out of Poverty" that green jobs initiatives at community colleges create for disadvantaged or impoverished students who cannot afford a four-year education. Labels: Campus Ecology Project, ClimateEDU, community colleges, green jobs, NWF, sustainability, workforce development
College Planning & Management Magazine - October 2009
Rather than focus on a specific item, we're going to share this issue's Table of Contents with you, so you can click through the specific articles you might be interested in: Designing the Healthy Residence Hall by Nadia Zihri; Sustainability and Managing Student Expectations by John Southard, Jennifer Baldridge, and Chris Heinz; Green: The Preferred Color Choice at St. Norbert College (mechanical systems department initiative) by Janet Wiens; Caller I.D. (anonymous tip lines and security) by one of our favorite higher education writers, Julie Sturgeon; The Bottom Line of Outsourced Facilities Services by Randy Ledbetter; Towson University Notifies the Masses (emergency alert system) by Jason Kneen; and Technology: The Netbook Phenomenon by David Dodd. Labels: dormitories, emergency notification, facilities planning, netbooks, residence halls, security, sustainability
AASHE Sustainability Discussion Forums Launched
AASHE has launched a suite of campus sustainability discussion forums covering topics in education and research; campus operations; and campus planning, engagement, and administration. Anyone with an interest in learning about or contributing to the growing body of knowledge on campus sustainability may participate in the forums. The aim is to provide a central place for sharing ideas and best practices and asking and answering questions. Contributors are expected to be largely North American, but the forums are open to all. The forum topics parallel the 17 sub-categories in AASHE's Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), released in September (STARS v.1.0 Early Release). The 17 topics are: co-curricular education, curriculum, research, buildings, climate, dining services, energy, grounds, purchasing, transportation, water, waste, coordination and planning, diversity and affordability, human resources, investment, and public engagement.Labels: aashe, climate change, STARS, sustainability
To LEED or Not to LEED?
A growing body of research suggests that the occupants of LEED certified buildings experience a higher satisfaction level, better health, and improved personal productivity. A 2003 study by the Federal Energy Management Program, for example, found that such buildings resulted in productivity increases of 6 percent to 16 percent.
What about the impact of green buildings on student learning? Few studies have as yet been reported in higher education. K–12 findings suggest substantial positive benefits. Turner Construction released a 2005 survey of 665 school construction executives. Of those involved with green schools, more than 70 percent reported that these new facilities reduced student absenteeism and improved student performance.
Labels: green building, LEED, sustainability
Frank Lloyd Wright School Is Going Back to Nature, by Design
An interesting side story bringing together architectural design and sustainability in an unexpected way: Farming is a little-known part of Wright's life . . . 'Organic architecture and its context in the environment and Wright's personal roots in Wisconsin is a story that's not been documented yet,' said Daniel Marquardt, chairman of the board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation . . . Wright founded the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture 20 years after he built Taliesin to teach his theories and organic practices. *** Wright believed his sustainably designed buildings should be in harmony with their surroundings. His practical ideas about self-sufficiency, rooted in lean times on the farm, are gaining more attention now that sustainable agriculture is in vogue, said Victor Sidy, dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture on the Taliesin estate. Today, architecture students volunteer to tend the original apple orchard and grapevines placed there by Wright. Students also continue Wright's traditions by growing vegetables in a garden near the school for use in their daily meals. The 33 students are required to help in the school kitchen as part of a collegial tradition.
Labels: agriculture, architecture, food, Frank Lloyd Wright, landscape design, sustainability
Colleges Map Hazy Routes to Limiting Emissions
For many colleges, reaching the lofty goal of climate neutrality is less important than other benefits the process yields. Ms. Nelson, of Second Nature, says that colleges in the climate commitment are prepared for mandatory restrictions in greenhouse-gas emissions, a possibility that has generated buzz recently in Washington. "You're changing the culture around energy consumption," she says, "so when legislation comes down, you're ahead of the curve."
Mr. Henry, of Richland College, says signing the commitment and now preparing a plan has helped change attitudes at his campus—and helped push projects that save money: "You don't know what kind of creativity and resources and colleagues are there until you need them."
Labels: ACUPCC, climate, climate action planning, sustainability
The Greening of Catholic Colleges and Universities: Saving Today’s Congregation and Tomorrow’s Planet
We knew, even before a year ago, when the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) joined HEASC, that the faith community had an important role to play in sustainability. This recent article in University Business magazine by James Martin and James E. Samels, provides a brief tour of several Catholic campuses deeply engaged with campus sustainability: From Maine to California and Indiana to Wisconsin, Catholic colleges and universities are going green in campus dorms, classrooms, and labs. Beyond campus boundaries they are protecting the habitat, managing natural resources and improving the quality of life for those in the congregation and the community. Remarkably, there is a wonderful irony among this new breed of green Catholic colleges and universities – regenerating themselves by conserving nature, sharing, and protecting the delicate balance of campus and global ecosystems. Labels: Catholic, faith, faith-based, sustainability
Master Planning for Sustainability
Ben Eisen explores the relationship between sustainability initiatives and campus planning: Call it a sign of the times. For decades, sustainability initiatives in higher education were conceived and executed through grassroots, bottom-up efforts, from sustainable investments to campus recycling programs. But as stakes and publicity rise, and sustainability initiatives like the American College and University President's Climate Commitment take center stage, higher education is witnessing the growth of a top-down institutionalized approach to sustainability.
One of the clearest signs of this paradigm shift is the prominence that sustainability initiatives are receiving in university-wide strategic master plans. Green initiatives are now taking their place alongside more established campus issues in the long-term vision process. Labels: climate action planning, master planning, strategic planning, sustainability
Landscape Architects Create New Sustainability Resource Guides
Healthcare Design magazine reports that: The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced a new series of comprehensive online resource guides on sustainable design and planning. Created for national and local policymakers, government agencies, design professionals, planners, and students, the guides include hundreds of project case studies, research papers, organizations, and other government resources on sustainable design aggregated for the first time: Green Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Meta-Resource from ASLA.A new, comprehensive ASLA resource has been launched, the Green Infrastructure Resource Guide, which links out to resources all over the Web and aims to be a one-stop professional resource for planners and designers. "Green infrastructure can be considered a conceptual framework for understanding the "valuable services nature provides the human environment." At the national or regional level, interconnected networks of park systems and wildlife corridors preserve ecological function and create a balance between built and natural environments. At the urban level, parks and urban forestry are central to reducing energy usage costs and creating clean, temperate air. Lastly, green roofs, walls, and other techniques within or on buildings bring a range of benefits, including reduced energy consumption and dramatically decreased stormwater runoff. At all scales, green infrastructure provides real ecological, economic, and social benefits." Labels: environment, facilities planning, green, infrastructure planning, landscape architecture, open space, sustainability
STARS Has Been Launched
AASHE launched the STARS 1.0 Early Release on September 21, 2009. STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) establishes a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education and creates incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability. SCUP has supported this campus-wide voluntary, self-reporting framework for gauging relative progress toward sustainability since it was merely a concept. As many of us often say, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. You should definitely take a look at the early release technical manual (PDF). Labels: campus sustainability planning, sustainability
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