Universities are becoming aware of the need for more space as students get ready to return to campus for the fall term. As the semester approaches, space planners in higher education are at the center of disputes about space because there isn’t enough of it. They keep coming back to one central question: What has happened to campus space since universities sent students home? 

Everything from the design of buildings to their maintenance may need to change to fit a new framework. The goal of a higher education space planner is to improve the student experience, which requires a re-evaluation of conventional campus space planning. Here are some challenges that higher education institutions should think about now and in the foreseeable future.

1. LIMITED CAMPUS SPACE HINDERS HOUSING NEEDS

As the fall semester begins universities find themselves overbooked due to increased enrollment. Lack of housing is one of the biggest concerns in higher education right now. Universities, without enough dorm space, are turning to hotels and even neighboring campuses to accommodate students.

While some overbooked institutions, such as the University of Tennessee and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte are using hotels as a means of housing their students. University of Iowa, on the other hand, reopened a residence hall it closed five years ago as temporary dormitories.

McCoy Real Estate had an interesting suggestion for the University of Arkansas, where enrolment has increased by approximately 1,000 students year over year. In a tweet, they advise parents of an out-of-state University of Arkansas student who does not have on-campus housing to buy a house for their child.

Purdue made the clever decision to purchase a four-story Aspire complex on State Street as an inventive solution to the housing problem. The big purchase is a necessary stopgap measure as they brainstorm long-term solutions for campus space planning.

2. MORE LAB SPACE NEEDED

The fight for the label “research university” has colleges drawing attention to their lack of labs and allocating space and resources to lab development in their master plans. Brown University responds to this need with a massive acquisition. In July of this year, Brown University acquired 10 properties in the Jewelry District from the Care New England health system, with intentions to construct a new laboratory. Brown wants to expand its research capabilities and be prepared for pandemics in the future. 

Brown University isn’t the only one in the quest for additional laboratory space. However, the question remains: how can higher-learning institutions add these types of buildings quickly and without significant expense? Adaptive reuse, a practice within facilities management of repurposing old space into new building types instead of a complete demo and rebuild, is a reasonable solution. Adaptive reuse can assist universities in converting existing facilities into sustainable and cost-effective laboratory space with little time and expenditure.

3. VALIDATING ROOM, BUILDING AND COMMON SPACE RESERVATIONS 

As campus footprints shrink, higher education space planners are in action to provide building occupants with the space they need. Room reservation technology only gets them so far – not all booked spaces get used in the end. Colleges turn to campus space planning teams to free up bookings or direct students to underutilized spaces. For instance, Thomas Jefferson University located in Philadelphia, has a smart space management team, Space Management & Room Reservations (SMRR). They schedule events and classes in individual spaces on campus and work to accommodate non-academic events.

University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University are also in the running to validate rooms and space available on-campus for events and meetings. The need for validation arises because faculty members believe they require privacy from time to time. According to Margaret Serrato, workplace strategist at AreaLogic Workplace Strategy, the need for privacy and a quiet place to do heads-down work that is accessible to students is important. Providing the right workspaces to accommodate the ways that individuals work is a reasonable resolution.

HOW CAN OUR SOFTWARE HELP HIGHER ED SPACE PLANNERS?

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, one of our customers, used our software to help them decide library staffing hours and cleaning schedules, among other things. Lambent Spaces enables customers to gain actionable insights and historical overlays for predictive analytics with spatial intelligence. With our software, customers can understand estimates of peak usage and density to best optimize their space. 

​​Nupur Patra contributes to the Blog and Social Media channels for Lambent. She is currently a Graduate Student at Northeastern University in the Digital Media program.

My student co-op search was no simple one; I spent months patrolling the Northeastern University database looking for the perfect fit. I had hoped to work in the sports department of a large newspaper, and when it didn’t pan out, I had to pivot to other options. Eventually, I stumbled upon Lambent, a Boston-based tech startup hiring co-op students in the area of social media marketing and blogging.

That was six months ago, and I knew very little about tech startups, and even less about ‘space analytics’. Yet I was drawn to the idea that Lambent technology enables better ways for us all to be together in the spaces where we work, and study—and even how we watch pro sports.

My first blog, which was published a few weeks after I started, was a considerable accomplishment for me personally, mostly because I knew a lot of knowledgeable readers would see it.  I wrote about something I’m passionate about, trends in stadium innovation. Researching the topic allowed me to familiarize myself with Lambent pro sports partners, like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks. 

During the full-time co-op, my colleagues always made themselves available to answer questions or help me with tasks that were new to me. I was able to be part of a team that saw an 86% increase in impressions on Linkedin within eight months, a 66% increase in follower growth on Linkedin, and launched a new website and brand. It was incredibly rewarding to see our social presence and influence grow.

A particularly impactful milestone for me was the all-hands (in person!) meeting in late September. Here are a few takeaways from the three-day company-wide meeting:

• Company swag is real, and really cool! I would never have imagined an Lambent logo on a bag of M&Ms, mask, or ring light! Jokes aside, the Lambent branded items made me feel like the company was building its brand and that I was an important cog in a powerful machine.
• My colleagues are interesting! I had the opportunity to put faces to names, and to get to know people outside of my marketing team. Every employee made a short introduction video, which aired between events. During these intervals,  I had the freedom to interact with colleagues in a more casual setting, where I learned more about people’s personal and professional backgrounds. 
• Synergy! Listening to presentations from the other departments, particularly the sales team, helped me better visualize the company as a whole. My perspective had been entirely marketing oriented, but now I had a better understanding of how other departments rely on each other. 
• Elevator Pitches, Love ‘em! I really enjoyed the sales pitch exercise, where each member of the sales team was tasked with pitching Lambent in under 30 seconds. Also, listening to the sales team sessions deepened my knowledge of  how and where the software is used.
• Our Friends & Fans! One of the more moving events from the hand-on meeting was the ‘Why I Invested’ appearances.  I got to hear from some of the early investors who truly believed in the product. This included Isiah Kacyvenski, a former NFL player who would go on to co-found Will Ventures. And Rick Grinnell of Glasswing Ventures, who has seen many companies like ours meet their Series A fundraising goals and go on to bigger things. Listening to investors speak with passion and conviction reinforced my belief that we were all working toward an important goal.

I came into the co-op with limited social media experience but will leave it with a bevy of new skills on multiple social media platforms. My first week, I lacked confidence. After my first formal “corporate social share ”, my friends lifted me up by liking, commenting, and resharing it. Six months later, and without their help, I had played a major role in boosting Lambent social media presence across multiple platforms. With each passing week, I familiarized myself with the Lambent language. I wrote reports, engaged virtually with customers, helped build a social media presence, and published blogs relating to topics previously unbeknownst to me. 

I am immensely grateful for the opportunity Lambent presented me. I have learned so much about the world of social media, technology, and myself over the course of these last six months. As we all return to the office – and for me, school – in different ways, I can say with confidence that I landed in the right spot, even if it’s not where I intended to.