ALLISON FORD_Campus of the Future_Abstract

The current paradigm of the university campus is long overdue for an evolutionary pivot. This year marks the bicentennial anniversary of our incredibly prolific and fiercely proud University of Michigan, and as we as students and faculty alike celebrate 200 years of excellence in education together across our many majors and backgrounds, it seems a significant time to not just appreciate, but also to innovate. In past centuries university campuses have followed a certain formulaic map, albeit for perfectly valid reasons, in regards to their design processes and urban surroundings. However, with global and educated populations continuing to rise, and availability of sites and resources growing ever scarcer, perhaps it is time for universities to expand their definition of what it is to be “on campus.” That is not to say that the historic, architectural, and cultural relevancies of the university should be disregarded, nor should these importances be overlooked or minimized in the name of modernity. Thus, if it is the societal implications and the recognizable, historic facades and landscapes we seek to retain, then it is time we turn our sights inward, rather than attempting to spread and build further outward. The question then becomes how can we redesign the contemporary campus such that these spaces and how they are used become conduits through which we may facilitate learning and teaching for students and faculties of a subsequent era? Fortunately, modern technological advancements have made this concept progressively easier to instate, and exponential growth rates imply increasingly more affordable options. This project outlines a number of feasible technological installations that can aid in the University of Michigan’s transition into a true campus of the future, and compares results from other campuses that have already implemented such devices. These technologies, in conjunction with a series of additional design measures I will outline, are analyzed according to their academic applicability, cross-campus universality, interface accessibility, longevity, adaptability, and profitability and cost projections in order to determine their potential applications, benefits, and detriments to the university campus.  The analyses will be conducted primarily on three different scales including rooms, buildings, the campus as a whole, though considerations of a larger scale, which includes surrounding geological, historical, architectural, and sociocultural, will be discussed as well. The significant scalar variation is admittedly unorthodox, however I believe a broad lens is necessary to view the numerous interconnecting complexities that comprise the university campus, and narrowing one’s focus to isolated design strategies will yield limited and incomplete results. It is for this reason I propose that simply updating our technology is not in itself a solution to our ongoing issue of spatial limitations, but that other measures, such as sustainable design, adaptive reuse, interdisciplinary collaboration, multi-use shared spaces, and implementation of existing conditions are also key components to forging a successful and sustainable path into the future of Michigan.