Optimizing Historic Buildings on College Campuses

摘要

On college and university campuses across the country, it's not hard to spot some truly incredible architecture and historic structures - many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. But as learning styles and technologies evolve for the next genera-tion of higher ed students, facilities man-agers and campus architects must rethink how these historic academic buildings are designed and used. "Some buildings on college campuses really contribute to the history of the school," says John Kirk, partner at archi-tecture firm Cooper Robertson. "Some are national landmarks. You want to try and keep those buildings that have a lot to do with how a place thinks about itself, the history and every alumni's memories of being there. That might involve finding new uses for them." Experts agree that optimizing already existing historic buildings on campuses is more sustainable and economically viable, as opposed to expanding campuses with new builds.