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Campus Spaces: Flexibility for the Future

The U. of California at Merced’s Science and Engineering Building II was designed by SmithGroupJJR.
The U. of California at Merced’s Science and Engineering Building II was designed by SmithGroupJJR.

At any given moment, most colleges are planning, building, renovating, or maintaining an infrastructure project. This special report examines how colleges’ buildings and grounds help them do their jobs better (or, in some cases, hinder them). A well-designed space matters: It can encourage more interaction between students and faculty members, and it can help a rapidly expanding university serve a growing student body without having to choose between function and aesthetics.

Our Campus Spaces report also raises some practical questions: Do faculty members really need private offices? Can “P3s” — public-private partnerships — help colleges build more efficiently? Is modular construction an option? (It worked for Harvard.)

The late Zaha Hadid once said that architecture “should be able to excite you, to calm you, to make you think.” We were inspired by many of the stories we heard about colleges and their spaces, and we hope our readers will be, too.

Chronicle subscribers and site-license holders have complimentary access to Campus Spaces. To purchase the report separately, please visit our online store.