How Should the Sustainability Movement Change Campus Planning and Architecture?

Thursday, October 18, 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

S. Michael Evans, an architect, has been active in campus design and planning throughout North America for 20 years. A vice president and design principal in the Norfolk, Va., office of Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Company, Mr. Evans teaches each year at the Executive Education Program of Harvard's Graduate School of Design and is a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences. Two of his recent projects, residential buildings at Clemson University and at the University of Vermont, earned LEED rankings. He also designed the housing community at the University of Utah that served as the 2002 Winter Olympics Village. Mr. Evans will answer questions about sustainability and other trends in campus planning.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    Hello, and welcome to today's discussion. We're talking about sustainability, architecture, and planning today. Our guest is S. Michael Evans, a well-known architect who has done a lot of work in higher education. I want to thank him for joining us today.

Start sending in questions about sustainability in higher ed. We have an opening comment from Mr. Evans....

S. Michael Evans:
    What forces are driving change in campus planning and facilities design? Some of these forces include:

* Competition among peer institutions for the best and brightest

* The tightening public tax source funding environment and the search for other revenue; via fundraising, research/grants, fees, and excess net revenue from fee based auxillaries

* Aged infrastructure and the need for increased energy efficiency

* The rapid rise of construction costs

* Donor driven facilities....and planning!

* Student expectations for sustainable practices, healthy lifestyles, and a variety of lifestyle support ammenities.

* The emerging residential college movement and integration of living/learning spaces

* For some, the pressures of expansion and growth

* For most, the overwhelming scale of need for renovations and adaptive re-use

And many more.......(safety and security, host community relations, minority population needs, parking and transportation systems)

What campus shaping forces do you see in your work, or at your campus?

What are the causal reasons behind those forces?

What will be the next great force to capture our attention and resources?

What must we, as campus planners and designers, do to anticipate future change and flexibility?

These are the kinds of questions that bring me into this brown bag discussion.

What questions do you have?

Question from Robert Kendrick, a county government administrator:
    Our county is building an education center for seniors to LEED silver standards. Our contracted architects said it will cost over $30,000 to document the standards during construction and get formal LEED certification of the building. Is it worth spending that many taxpayer dollers just to get a plaque for the wall? Any related benefit (better chance for grants, etc) to having formal certification in addition to actually having a green building?

S. Michael Evans:
    This question arises often, and some clients choose to "spend the money on the building and users" rather than develop the documents for certification. Perhaps the most substantial argument for documentation is that is educates you to the baseline conditions so you can observe performance over time, and it helps warrant that what you have spent substantial time developing has been completed as designed and hoped. Some owners attest that their actual certification is a public relations benefit.

Question from Dr. G, North TX Community College:
    What measures can a fiscally conservative institution with a 'low bid wins' tradition of building and renovating facilities take toward achieving at least a lighter shade of green?

S. Michael Evans:
    In spite of the great leap forward that building owners and designers have taken with the design of more sustainable buildings and LEED certifications, I like to talk about "demonstration efforts" when budgets are very tight. Environmentally responsible demonstration actions are taken with the value of "teaching" through these events. So, you may not put waterless urinals in every location, but just in public-use toilets. Use small sustainable events to make people aware of sustainable and energy efficient design options and sustainable materials.

You do not have to spread funds all over a project to have an educational impact. And, don't give up on sustainable actions that have a payback. Look at the NACUBO booklet on the "Business Model" of sustainable choices for campuses.

Question from Matt Sanger, Idaho State:
    I am considering an effort to have our new administration (and the institution) become signatories of the Talloires Declaration, as the campus (and the Campus Planning Council - which I sit on) begins drafting strategic planning documents. So my question is about how other institutions have used this declaration as a lever for greening campus planning, if it remains vital and relevant, and what other strategies can be recommended for strategizing the strategic planning process with greening in mind.

S. Michael Evans:
    I have not heard a lot of discussion about leveraging the Talloires Declaration into specific planning documents. However, several universities are looking into a variety developed models for design and planning strategies such as the Hanover Principles, Wilderness Values, Green Building Advisor, and the work of Sim Van der Ryn at the Ecological Design Istitute -- these examples come to mind.

I know of several planning documents in process, but haven't been involved yet with a finished strategic planning document.

Perhaps others online have, and can advise.

Question from Sarah Hiller, Widmeyer Communications:
    Do you have tips for universities seeking federal funding to support green building efforts?

S. Michael Evans:
    Renewable energy grants and fund support from local utilities geared toward energy conservation actions seem to be the easiest and most-often-accessed sources.

Question from Lou Hedrick, James Madison University:
    How will the principles of Universal Design, found in both architecture and learning, inform the future of campus planning and architecture?

S. Michael Evans:
    Great question. Applying these principles will transform the standard thinking that designers have brought to their work. No required stairs and ramps side by side, no accessible design solutions in some spaces only; a more universal approach to solutions that will not require "special" accomodations. I think the real answer to your question lies in the training of designers to appreciate this new view and change their own expectations. I happened to see recently that N.C. State is doing a great job of this training of emerging professionals with universal design coursework.

Question from Bill Webb, U of Michigan Flint:
    Can you provide some recent fresh approaches that you feel have promise (and the related insitution) with regard to housing, safety, parking and transportation?

S. Michael Evans:
    Housing: Smaller comunities, integrated living and learning, residence houses that are "like home," residential colleges that break down the scale of the larger university

Safety: sirens, passive oversight of open spaces with glazed common spaces, individual emergency transponders to alert campus police

Parking and transportation: Shared ride/common hybrid cars, several universities now have urban transit systems on campus, policies limiting car access to certain areas (London!), sustainably designed parking without runoff, multiple assignments to same space based on hours of need

Question from John:
    Colleges are sometimes reluctant to spend more on the front end for a sustainable building, even when there is payback over time through efficiency and so on. As an architect, how do you make the case to colleges that they need to make the investment?

S. Michael Evans:
    If we aren't responding to these issues then we are ignoring the most pressing problem facing the planet. Our colleges and universities have to lead us toward cost appropriate solutions. I also feel that we can implement demonstration actions, less extensively and less expensively to capture the didactic value.

Question from Burt Hill Inc:
    Wouldn't the "virtual" campus and distance learning resolve this issue?

S. Michael Evans:
    There is enormous value in reducing vehicle trips, less paving, less emmisions, less runoff, etc. All things can't be virtual (donating blood), so while I agree with your basic premise....virtual isn't the only answer we will need.

Question from Joanne Robis, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha:
    An assumption is that "green" design and construction cost more at the beginning, but over time there are cost benefits. Tell me about your experiences in conducting a cost/benefit analysis to demonstrate to legislators who control state building project funds the up-front costs are worth it over time.

S. Michael Evans:
    Do the state officials carry a line in their project cost evaluation to recognize environmental degradation if a project fails to reduce energy consumption or help exhaust rare ecological communities?

Sorry, just had to say that!

One way to change the argument is to get students involved. They are voters, and turning your back on their concerns is very bad press.

As you say, cost benefit is some people's bottom line, and you have to move the mental model in order to overcome.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    I want to respond to the Burt Hill question, too: It doesn't appear that colleges are going entirely virtual anytime soon, and we should question whether they should. Part of the college experience is the interaction with place and with other people, and campuses are often remarkable places that gather remarkable people.

Question from Jennifer Adams Peffer, University of Toronto:
    Our University is looking to establish a policy on sustainability in capital projects, both renovation and new construction. We currently have a set of sustainable design guidelines and an umbrella environmental policy, but are looking to strengthen the language around buildings. What, in your opinion, would be the most crucial elements to include in such a policy?

S. Michael Evans:
    Look for ways to become an energy creator. Also, try to re-position mindsets and expectations away from just adding sustainable materials -- toward seeing planning and design as a responsibility to the global environmental future. Think beyond the site and project at hand.

Question from Theresa Coleman-Kaiser, Michigan Technological University:
    The visibility of green initiative and weaving sustainability in to the daily operations of the University can have great recruiting power. What can a Student Union operation do that would be very visible and impactful?

S. Michael Evans:
    Make energy consumption visible, use biodegradable beverage cups. Food service operations are a major opprotunity for energy savings -- there are sevral resources on food service equipment changes and the changes that are possible. Create educational materials (Clemson University has just done this for their LEED silver Fraternity Quad with which we were involved.) Encourage use of bikes by having shower and and changing rooms.... There are many more possibilities.

Showcase some students as models of sustainable activists.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    Michael Evans has a reading recommendation for our viewers....

S. Michael Evans:
    I recommend reading "The Business Case for Renewable Energy: A Guide for Colleges and Universities," by Andrea Putman and Michael Phillips, sponsored by APPA, SCUP, and NACUBO

Question from Joanne Robis, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha:
    Please elaborate on your response to John.

S. Michael Evans:
    My point with this response was that if you have university leaders who are not able to accept the "we have to lead and do this" argument, then you may be forced into a smaller scale demonstration series of actions.

Ultimately students and the public, along with the financial managers, will see the consequences of doing nothing on the bottom line, and in student recruitment.

Of course, many legislative bodies have mandated action.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    We're going to wrap up soon. If you have a question, now is the time to send it in.

Question from Marlene Forney, Mesa Community College:
    What would you suggest to those who are not in a new building but want to include such considerations for "minor remodeling." By minor I mean reclaiming open space to build a classroom.

S. Michael Evans:
    Renovation is one of the most sustainable practices. Modifications can be exciting events, and add vitality to existing structures that are smaller sustainable events. Introducing daylighting, using motion or occupancy detectors, having energy consumption readouts.

Question from Scott Carlson:
    One of the previous questions made me think of this: We're going through a huge building boom in higher education, similar to the building boom colleges went through in the postwar years. Many colleges are trying to renovate 60s buildings now (as you point out, that's the greenest thing to do), but are having some trouble. How do you think this current generation of buildings will age? How difficult or easy will renovations be in 30 to 50 years from now? Will these buildings adapt well?

S. Michael Evans:
    The best attribute of mid-century building design was that many of them were concrete or steel frame, which permits better renovation flexibilty. Much of the new design has been forced into structures that have a substantial number of bearing walls (wood frame and metal stud bearing wall construction as an example) which will radically reduce their future renovation flexibility.

S. Michael Evans:
    The question of recent approaches to housing, earlier: Many universities are examining the possibility of modular, factory built construction. Either parts of the whole, or the nearly the entire building, as in modular housing.

Question from Kathy, architect in minnesota:
    Is the Sustainability Movement linked to the move to more interdisciplinary activities, and thus to changes in facilities?

S. Michael Evans:
    To the extent that interdisciplinary activities represent a systemic view of contribution value, so is sustainability asking us to look beyond the event and into the source of materials and off site, perhaps unintended consequences, not normally thought of as part of a project.

Question from Drew University:
    We are in the early phases of planning for two potential new buildings...I would like to hear your opinion regarding value of creating a campus master plan for these projects in addition to planning for the longer term say 10, 20 and 30 years out.

S. Michael Evans:
    Allowing yourself the luxury of considering the implications of your curent needs on the posible future needs is a very valuable process. A colleague suggested that we should never take the best site -- because surely a more important need will arise.

Master planning is a terrific (imaginary) process that can expose options and considerations that are not apparent unless you are thinking and considering the whole- into the future. Long term consideration of building materials and life is critical to acting sustainably and for campuses, acting on behalf of the future of the institution.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    Well, that's it. Mr. Evans has a few last words....

S. Michael Evans:
    The American campus is no longer a “place apart.” It is now fully connected and engaged, in multiple ways, to the global community as well as its immediate neighbors. This is a cause for celebration. It also creates a wider source for forces that will shape their future.

Planning and design have never been more important to our campuses. The scale and magnitude of maintaining the physical facilities, accommodating growth and change, and preserving the legacy of the place as a learning supportive environment are awesome responsibilities. There are few challenges more vital than the implications of global warming, energy conservation, or sustainable practices on the future design of our built environment.

We need to continue to be custodians of the inspiration of these great institutions, and continue to add to their inventory of great places and spaces, through our work as designers and planners.

Scott Carlson (Moderator):
    I want to thank everyone for joining us -- and I want to especially thank Michael Evans for responding to these questions.

For more on sustainability and architecture in higher education, visit The Chronicle's Buildings & Grounds blog.

Thanks, everyone!