The Office of Campus Planning is tasked with advancing the University’s mission by creating both short-term and long-term plans that promote the strategic utilization of physical assets throughout the campus.
The office works closely with the Academy and Administration to devise efficient solutions for space requests, utilizing data-driven analysis, and to develop capital projects that are subject to review and approval by senior leadership and subsequent implementation by Capital Programs.
Campus Planning acts as a steward of our campus’s physical space, both internal and external, current and future. We help enable campus modernization while considering financial sustainability and user experience, and we aim to develop plans that are efficient, elegant, and thoughtful, ideally addressing multiple goals at once.
An annual space survey is done to ensure that the university has accurate data about the usage and occupancy of campus spaces. Through collaboration across departments our web-based space management system captures the reallocation and repurposing of space due to many factors including reorganizations and relocations.
Campus Planning co-chairs the Classroom Improvement Committee. The Committee meets regularly with representatives from the Registrar’s Office, School of Arts and Sciences, Media Technology Services, and Capital Program to plan improvements to our classroom inventory. Annually funding is requested as part of the Capital Project Planning process.
We play an instrumental role in the early stages of potential projects to develop the program, concepts, and partner with Capital Programs on cost and schedule. Our Project Delivery Process outlines how a capital project moves from request to completion.
The University Space Committee is responsible for the governance of the 2.8 million gross square feet of university space, for a number of reasons:
- All space is Brandeis space, and can be reassigned for highest and best use of the university.
- Rough benchmarking with peer institutions shows that our spaces may be underutilized and/or incorrectly utilized, especially since the pandemic.
- The ongoing stewardship of Brandeis’ space and buildings is critically linked to the success and function of the programs within these buildings, including supporting the university’s core missions of scholarship and education.
- Strategic planning related to space and deferred maintenance is increasingly important and impacts our ability to make our campus as sustainable, accessible, and resilient as possible.
- Space planning should consider long-term flexibility and opportunities to shift function in our changing world.