VI. all-university considerations
The amount of space that will be new or remodeled as a result of this planning process is so
considerable that it can be expected to significantly influence the character of the University
for succeeding generations. It is imperative, therefore, that the needs of our students be
addressed in a systematic and thorough fashion, to assure that Syracuse’s goal to be one of the
nation’s leading universities is advanced by the University’s physical environment.
1. Classrooms
One of the long-standing and widely recognized needs of the University is for additional
classrooms, distribution of classrooms to all areas of the campus, continued upgrading of the
instructional technology, and an increase in the variety of classroom designs to facilitate
different teaching styles. The statistical analysis by DLCA has confirmed and added enriching
detail to the University Classroom Committee’s previous analysis of the need for additional
classrooms and an improvement in classroom scheduling.
The Committee recommends as one of the University’s highest priorities a significant investment in
all-University general-purpose classrooms. The particular points of that recommendation are the
following:
- The all-University pool of general-purpose classrooms should be increased from 152 to
approximately 174 (a 14 % increase), with an increase in space from 120,600 NASF to
approximately 153,000 NASF (a 27 % increase). Such an increase would enable the University to
reduce its average level of utilization from 32.5 hours each week to approximately 27.5, the
target recommended by DLCA. This target level has been found by comparable institutions to
provide valuable scheduling flexibility and to facilitate good classroom maintenance and
cleaning. It also allows for easier interaction between faculty members and students before
and after class.
- The distribution of seating capacities should approximate current and projected class
sizes, allowing for 60% utilization of seats, on average. Classrooms with seating capacities
of 35 and 75 are particularly needed to supplement the current inventory.
- The distribution of classrooms in academic buildings across campus should be scaled to the
number of sections taught by the academic units occupying the respective buildings. One of
the areas of greatest deficiency at present is Huntington Hall. The School of Education and
the psychology department teach approximately 200 sections each semester, but the number, size,
and design of convenient classrooms fall significantly short of the need. If biology and
chemistry instruction are relocated to CST, that building will require significantly more
classrooms.
- The design of new classrooms and the redesign of existing rooms should facilitate a
variety of teaching styles, especially those favored by the disciplines that will be dominant
users of particular rooms. Hence, the goal must be to increase in appropriate locations the
number of seminar rooms, deep-well horseshoe shaped rooms, and rooms equipped with a variety
of electronic teaching supports, including network connections at each student station. The
design of all classrooms must give special attention to the aesthetics and comfort of the
rooms.
- Some classrooms, approximately eleven, should be removed from the classroom pool because
they are located in spaces that are inappropriate for class use due to noise, problems with
temperature control, or their usefulness for other purposes. It will then be evident to
faculty and students alike that classrooms occupy prime locations on campus because of the
centrality of the teaching and learning functions. Each "abandoned" classroom will
provide the University or the adjacent academic program an opportunity to address a variety of
space needs.
- While expanding the size and variety of the classroom pool, the University must strengthen
its classroom management policies in order to spread the class schedule more evenly through
the teaching day and week. The excessive mid-day congestion in the teaching schedule must be
eliminated.
2. Building Community
While Syracuse is, by some comparative standards, a large university, for a major research
university, it is quite small. It is important to capitalize on the strengths of that size and
minimize its limitations by building a strong sense of community. Specifically, in the design of
new and renovated facilities, a high priority must be placed on (1) facilitating conversations
among colleagues within academic units as well as with colleagues in other units; (2) encouraging
informal and casual interaction among faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates; (3)
providing faculty, staff, and students academic program space that is comfortable and welcoming;
(4) creating comfortable spaces to welcome alumni and visitors to the academic units.
Among the design elements that will facilitate these goals are the following:
- aesthetically sensitive treatment of building design that is responsive to the human
scale, the climate of upstate New York, and the many uses of the buildings;
- multi-purpose conference or meeting spaces that are available to the whole campus;
- conference rooms and reading/study rooms within academic units that encourage spontaneous
conversations and impromptu meetings;
- benches and tables in open alcoves off hallways that invite faculty members and students
to stop and talk;
- snack bars, coffee rooms, and lunch rooms that encourage collegial interaction and a
feeling of comfort and hospitality.
Incorporation of such design elements will have the additional benefit of making the campus a more
friendly environment for visitors and alumni.
3. Student-Centered Space Planning
The University must make a systematic and conscious decision to find means of translating student
centeredness into bricks and mortar in the forthcoming major investments in academic and student
services space.
Among the steps the University must take are the following:
- Commission a series of focus groups of Syracuse students, both undergraduate and graduate,
regarding their perceptions of what design and programmatic features in academic, residential,
and administrative buildings at Syracuse will contribute to and promote academic success.
- Assure that the leaders of programs that will receive new or renovated space visit other
campuses that have developed some of the most effective and appropriate programmatic and
design approaches, and that they consult widely with their colleagues elsewhere who have
undertaken similar projects.
As a result of these steps the University will expect to see built into the new facilities
features such as the following:
- Conveniently located and comfortable spaces in academic buildings where students may relax
or study quietly between classes. Some would be tucked into small alcoves, others perhaps in
larger rooms; some would have soft furniture, others, study tables and chairs.
- Alcoves and small rooms for group study.
- Areas specially designed to meet the needs of part-time and commuter students, with
lockers and study rooms.
- Comfortable and inviting areas for students to wait outside faculty offices.
- Visual richness in the built environment that provides additional educational experiences
through the display of art or artifacts relevant to and appropriate to the academic
disciplines housed within each building.
- Space within the domain of each academic program that invites students to identify by
their physical presence with the academic program, whether in tutoring or study space, or a
student lounge or reading room.
To assure that student-centered considerations are sufficiently addressed in the program and
design of all academic buildings, the Office of Academic Affairs in conjunction with the Office of
Design and Construction should be charged with the responsibility to include as an integral part
of its design review a test for student centeredness.
As new buildings are added to the campus inventory and old buildings are remodeled, the University
must take advantage of whatever opportunities become available to emphasize through landscape
design that this is a pedestrian campus. This will require convenient and efficient walkways and
inviting connections between buildings and between areas of the campus. Further, the placement of
outdoor benches should create attractive conversational and gathering spots for students, staff,
and faculty members, as well as quiet places for reading and reflection. The other principles
articulated above for interior spaces should be adapted and applied to the general landscape of
the campus.
4. Parking
The provision of convenient and safe parking near academic buildings is extremely important. The
Syracuse climate, the late evening or night hours of many campus functions, and the competition
for parking occasioned by major events in the Carrier Dome are three of the major reasons for
elevating parking on the list of concerns. Yet the addition of adequate parking can compete with
the creation of an attractive pedestrian-friendly campus. Therefore, parking must be incorporated
into the planning for all campus additions and renovations and must be given high priority. In
some cases, parking may be incorporated into the building design; in other cases, it must be
provided in adjacent parking structures or surface lots.
VII. issues needing refinement or resolution
1. Center for Science and Technology
Preliminary studies have indicated that CST may have additions to the north, of approximately
130,000 NASF, and to the south, of approximately 22,000 to 28,600 NASF. It must be a high
institutional priority to determine how best to take advantage of those opportunities, in the
overall interest of the University. Further, the urgency of this issue derives not just from the
potential to the biological sciences, but also from the need to vacate present biology space for
assignment to other programs. Among the issues that must be addressed are these:
- In the programming of the additional space, the University needs to identify how best to
achieve the interdisciplinary potential for cooperation among scientists and engineers,
especially in the life sciences. The University must determine which units or functions
beyond the biology department should be included in an expanded CST: biochemistry,
biophysics, neuro-science, science teaching, chemistry instruction, or specific new or
existing research centers.
- Given the nature of the research and teaching that will occur in CST, the design of the
building will need to address ways that parking may best be accommodated so as to assure the
integrity of the structure and provide vibration-free and contamination-free laboratories.
- The construction of new wing(s) must be the occasion to address the design problems
inherent in the present building, such as the lack of a proper entrance facing the University
and the difficulties that will arise from increased student traffic in the building.
- A significant number of classrooms must be added to the complex to meet the needs of the
academic departments that are assigned to that building.
2. Other space needs of the University, not addressed in the previous discussions
The Committee is aware that its list of space needs is very significant; but it is also aware
that additional space will be needed to correct current problems that were beyond the scope of
what seemed to the Committee to be possible at the present or beyond its immediate charge. The
following list suggest the type of projects that the University may expect to address in the near
future.
- A major auditorium. While the University is blessed with large handsome auditoriums such
as the Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College, Hendricks Chapel on the main quadrangle, Grant
Auditorium adjacent to the Law College, and the Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student
Center, there remains the need for a grand auditorium/theatre/concert hall seating more than
1000 people. Use of the auditorium should be restricted to special events; it should be fully
equipped to be the point of origin for the television broadcast of debates, lectures, or
concerts.
- Academic and student support centers/facilities in residence halls. The success of theme
housing and learning communities will call for the creation of group studies, classrooms, and
other academic spaces in the residence halls, as well as faculty living quarters and offices.
- On-campus all-University conference space. The Schine Student Center and the Alumni and
Faculty Center cannot accommodate all the functions for which they are sought.
- Bookstore. The size of the current bookstore limits the store’s ability to meet the
various expectations placed upon it by faculty and students alike. While it occupies valuable
space in the Schine Center, it is also so small that it cannot stock a reasonable range of
non-course related books or become a significant intellectual resource to the University
community.
- School of Music. The overall space requirements of VPA, especially the School of Music
and the programs of design, have not received systematic attention to this point in the
planning process.
- Student Housing. The amount and style of housing provided on campus needs to be studied,
especially if undergraduate enrollment is to be increased.
VIII. funding
An essential element in the space planning process must be the identification of the means by
which the bills will be paid. Taken together, the projects under discussion in this planning
endeavor are far greater in scope than at any time since the University’s earliest efforts at
campus planning. The contemplated capital costs exceed $150,000,000; the annual maintenance costs
will exceed $4,000,000 in current dollars and may approach $5,000,000 when the projected buildings
come on line.
As the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs grapple
with the most effective means of covering the necessary costs, the committee respectfully submits
a number of recommendations for their consideration.
- In establishing a funding strategy and mechanism, the University should look upon each
project as an investment for which it expects an identifiable academic return. That is, each
academic unit that is to receive additional space must be required to identify concretely what
the return or improvement will be to the University and to the unit. For the greater good of
the University, those units that have the greatest fundraising capability should be expected
to generate larger portions of the construction or renovation costs for their projects.
- The Chancellor has announced his intention to have the University provide the support
necessary for each school or college to be at least "competitive" and to expect
units that aspire to be "very competitive" or "highly competitive" to
provide the wherewithal to enable that to happen. In light of the success of some units,
through gifted leadership and faculty dedication, to become far more competitive than their
physical facilities would suggest, the Committee recommends that the application of that
principle be balanced by the investment principle articulated above. That is, funding
requirements imposed on the units should be sufficiently flexible to enable the University to
invest in a program that may be relatively young or small--but actually or potentially
"highly competitive"--but unable to generate significant capital funds or cover
increased annual operating costs.
- The University should develop as a very high priority an aggressive systematic fundraising
campaign coordinated between the academic units and the Development Office to cover a
substantial portion of the capital costs of the projects. The plan should include fundraising
goals for each unit, as well as target dates for the receipt of funds. Corporations and
foundations should be approached as well as the individual friends of the University or the
academic units involved. Borrowing by the University should be seen as a facilitating
strategy to allow the work to begin immediately, while fundraising efforts will continue even
beyond completion of a project.
- To facilitate fundraising efforts, the Development Office should explore a number of
strategies such as the following:
- Set University standards for naming gifts for buildings, rooms, and specialized
facilities. These standards would be agreed to by the deans, the Vice Chancellor, and the
Chancellor.
- Establish the policy that for all gifts for capital projects, a set portion, say 20%,
is designated as endowment to help cover the annual maintenance of the space.
- One strategy for helping academic units cover the increased annual maintenance costs
incurred by adding additional space is for the unit to accept more tuition-paying students.
This strategy must be under tight control so as not to lower admission standards or create
unanticipated problems elsewhere that follow from increased enrollment.
IX. continued planning
This Committee believes that it has made a valuable start in the planning process and that it has
broken new ground in the planning and decision-making processes of the University; it also
recognizes that there is still much more planning that is required to complete this very important
and very expensive project. To complete the planning effort, the Committee recommends the
following:
- The next planning steps previously noted in this report should be completed
(see Section IV, Recommendations for Action).
- An all-University advisory committee should be continued--either a continuation and
expansion of this Committee or a successor to this Committee--to bring the many units of the
University together in an on-going discussion of the University’s built environment. In this
way, Academic and Student Affairs planning can be coordinated and the overall planning of the
University’s campus, including student residences, may be driven by an integrated and
comprehensive vision for the University.
- On-going space and facility planning should be mainstreamed in the deliberations of the
University and be intimately linked with academic and budget planning. The goal should be to
prioritize the needs, identify the probable costs as well as the fundraising potential and
internal funding possibilities, and establish realistic time lines for developing the projects
and acquiring the necessary funds.
Sharing news with the community regarding the overall planning efforts as well as the specific
projects should be given high institutional priority so that the members of the University and its
friends and supporters may understand the importance, as well as the complexity, of what is being
proposed and may have confidence that the University is pursuing a sound path and has fully
considered its many options.
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