Latest Reports

Collecting and analyzing data is par for the course in facilities planning and operations. But how is that data used, for how long, and how often is it updated? Poorly curated data can be barely more useful than no data at all. But many institutions don’t know where to start or how to make the best use of data they already have. Mining and strategically analyzing information can provide data-driven insights into space needs to help increase utilization, create space planning programs, and understand carbon footprints. 

No longer a place to just study and shush, the modern university library is more like a buzzing connection point for the entire campus. At the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the recently renovated Mullins Library is no exception, with as many as 7,000 people going in and out every day. The largest of the U of A Libraries and central to the campus, the 300,000-sf facility now features new gathering spaces, new technology, and design updates that are adapted to the needs of today’s students.

Every new building is a gamble on the future, but some are bigger bets than others. These days, one of the highest-stakes wagers campus planners must make is how much to upgrade their high-performance facilities to meet tomorrow’s demand. It isn’t an easy call. Once relegated to distant basements, computer labs are now being built right in the heart of campus, a reflection of their ever-growing importance. With the number of majors that utilize high-performance computing expected to rise nationally by the end of the decade and the growing importance of cutting-edge supercomputers in recruiting the very best scholars, the overall direction is clear. But a lot can go wrong, which makes planning tomorrow’s high- performance computing facilities today very complicated and potentially risky.

From cortisone to CAT scans, the future of medicine has often arrived first at the Mayo Clinic. The tradition continues today with the fit-up of a new headquarters for regenerative biotherapeutics adjacent to the research center’s Rochester, Minn., campus. The fourth floor of the recently built Discovery Square building, Two Discovery Square, had been earmarked originally for office space, but after COVID hit, the developer offered the opportunity to convert some of the office space to laboratory space. Mayo Clinic had been planning to build a Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics and saw an opportunity to lease the 18,000-sf space at Discovery Square and convert it for this cutting-edge biomanufacturing facility.  

Carnegie Mellon University’s Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics represents the largest in a series of recent initiatives designed to enhance the student experience and boost the university’s competitive appeal. It also marks a definitive break from the old “sink-or-swim” posture that characterized campus environments across the country for decades.