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Translate Unedited responses from APPA’s survey on Space Considerations, May 2020.
Why will your space be increasing or decreasing (i.e. what are the drivers impacting this)?
| Need space for programs with expanding enrollment. |
| Working from home has proved to be a viable option. There is no need for more office space to be used on a daily basis. I see more hotel-style spaces for drop-in people. |
| Space density will decrease. This will increase hourly use of space. |
| Online learning may become an accepted part of the norm. Space utilization in non-traditional hours may also come into play with more weekend and evening hours. This is all dependent upon how COVID-19 impacts housing. |
| Stay the same, however, eliminate leased space. |
| I believe we will move to smaller classes -days of 600 students in one room may be over. We are considering extending the day and running classes on weekends to allow for smaller class sizes. it will end up being smaller numbers in larger spaces due to social distancing. |
| Funding will need to be reallocated. |
| More square ft. for each person. |
| Social distancing will impact density of use, the portfolio would potentially be used differently but not less space. |
| Telecommuting will decrease pressure on space use and space expansion. Should be able to re-purpose some space for higher/better uses. |
| Virtual classes and meetings will decrease the need for space to a point. |
| Lower population density. |
| I expect distancing measures will continue for some time. It may be a couple years before a vaccine is widespread, if it’s effective. There is a possibility increased distance will become the norm to prevent future pandemics. |
| Decreasing – More long-term teleworkers now that the company has figured out it works very well, and employees are starting to ask about it. |
| Increase in s.f. / person. |
| We have excess space prior to the pandemic. Demolition is needed on the smaller, inefficient buildings. |
| With de-densification the new norm, the level of instruction and operations must remain high and will need to employ and implement all possible tools (technology, processes, modifications and flexibility). Space optimization will be one of the most effective measures used to approach space utilization reconsiderations. |
| Adding more face to face classes and workforce development programs. Also hoping to expand science program with adding equipment into these classes to enhance student learning experience. |
| Social Distancing requirements will significantly impact current space utilization. In particular; classrooms/labs, dining halls, auditorium or gymnasium events and scheduling, student union activities, all will require additional space that is not there to be had. |
| Our campus plans to bring students back in the fall and change our classroom and class labs to accommodate smaller size classes due to the pandemic. That means we may have to increase the amount of space being used for teaching. Remodeling rooms and/or reclassifying space to meet our needs. Even with a potential enrollment drop, our space may increase because we will need to spread out for social distancing. |
| Social distancing will require more space for less students |
| Most of our class sizes are small, we only have two classrooms that can seat approximately 100 students. However, our small classes meet in small classrooms. The new normal may require our classes to be spaced out more. We do not have that luxury. We may need to split classes, using the rooms twice as much. Small, private college = very few classes on Friday. We will need to consider hosting more classes on Fridays. |
| increasing, we need more space between students in classrooms. |
| We have moved many classes to an online format. Now that instructors and students have adopted this newer way of taking classes (without the choice) they may not go back to in-classroom sessions. |
| Space utilization may be increased as opportunities are pursued to decommission building(s) and consolidate. |
| Potential for enrollment decline for the fall. Possibility of increase in online learning. |
| Measures put in place for increased ongoing (social) distancing will require more space to undertake the same activities. |
| Federal. State, or other regulation on public health safety such as how close people can sit, how sports will operate, cleaning requirements for spaces. |
| Social distancing would require more classroom space. Our space utilization of classrooms was already extremely high. We may be looking to reduce seating capacity which would require more sections of courses to be taught. |
| Cost to maintain and projected reduction in enrollment will likely require closure of some physical spaces. |
| Temporary decrease as summer campus that typically use residence housing have been cancelled through July |
| Greater demand by academic needs. |
| Enrollment increases and more space needed potentially for social distancing. |
| A possible drop in enrollment, more online classes. |
| The Community College of Denver leases a space from the Aurora Higher Education Center (AHEC), and we were planning on rehabilitating an older building we were given. Our intent was to move the individuals out of the leased space into the rehabilitated building. Our reduction in student enrollment has accelerated that process following the reduction of tuition. In addition, as a result of working at home, because of COVID-19, our college president will support this move since we will not have enough office space for all of the individuals in the refurbished building we have in the AHEC leased space. |
| Reduction in class size. |
| In the short-term, social distancing requirements will decrease space utilization. |
| Lower utilization rates should adversely impact space usage, but it could be offset by growing the campus’ online learning program. |
| More students on campus. |
| Enrollment is bound to decrease. |
| To comply with social distancing guidelines, we have discussed cutting class sizes by half. This would mean more sections, which mean more spaces need to be scheduled. This would produce less downtime in classrooms, creating a fully booked schedule throughout the day and evening. |
| More spaces will be needed to cover less people in each space. |
| Enrollment has been decreasing and the trend will continue. Our space remains the same so utilization goes down in some areas like classrooms and housing. |
| Being a Community College, more and more of our classes are going online decreasing the number of face to face classes. |
| All non-“lab” classes have been moved online for the immediate future; this represents a significant change in our in-face vs online mix of classes. |
| Social Distancing will force less students per classroom. |
| We think that we will start decreasing the amount of space we are using, by the opportunity for more staff to work remotely. This may let us reduce the amount of leased space in favor of owned space. This will allow us to find some more space for classrooms and labs, which may need to have more square footage per seat, to allow more seat-distancing. |
| Spaces will be utilized more during non-peak to accomplish social distancing. |
| Seating reduced by a minimum of 50%. |
| It’s expected to decrease at least temporarily to accommodate social distancing. Ultimately, I see it increasing. |
| Class size and spacing. |
| We believe there will be either a governmental or a societal push toward greater physical distances among all people; students, staff, faculty, and administration. This will lower our campus human density. |
| Decreased at first, and then hopefully increased back to prior space utilization rates once the COVID-19 pandemic is over (or low enough to not cause alarm). |
| If we need to limit classrooms to lower student numbers, more space would be needed. Also, giving staff more room between workspaces. |
| Anticipate more acceptance of telework and flex schedule options for staff which may decrease utilization of office spaces. Anticipate laboratory space utilization to increase and instructional space utilization to pivot to a currently unknown model. |
| Reduced operating cost per provincial funding and fewer enrollment numbers. |
| We will have to use more spaces and facilities in new and creative ways – using them more frequently and heavily as far as scheduling goes, but for fewer participants per space. |
| Space for students will remain the same for some time, but I think office staff space will decrease since we have shown we can work from home/off site. They should take this space and turn it to over for student use. |
| Seat utilization could be decreased. Public events could be limited or decreased. Blended learning may be considered more. |
| Social distancing requirements will dictate the need to make sure we are using all spaces in the most useful way. |
| It will increase, due to the need of space for social distancing, classrooms or labs are being utilized at 1/2 the capacity as before, which will result in utilizing more space or the same space more often than before. |
| Movement to more online instruction, reducing budgets. I think it’s really right-sizing campus spaces for occupancy and use. |
| We will look to utilize all spaces to support social distancing measures. |
| It’s actually hard to predict at this point whether space utilization will increase or decrease, but what seems likely, is that it will be utilized in a different way. |
| Our space will not be increasing but our utilization will be scrutinized, and scheduling will be impacted. |
| We will likely have more personal spaces, single seating areas, larger tables, fewer desks in classrooms, … |
| If we have to space people out more than our space utilization will allow easily, we will have to decrease programming. The question is will this be temporary i.e. until a vaccine is out (18-24 months) or permanent? |
| Need for physical separation will greatly increase need for space. Additionally, time utilization will be increased, i.e., hours per day utilization for available space. |
| If we downsize the classroom environment, we will need to add more meeting/class space. |
| Social Distancing requirements, however, combining new work from home opportunities, many spaces will become vacant. Space density is impacted. |
| Social distancing is going to require increased utilization of space that was underutilized prior to COVID-19. |
| Social distancing guidelines will lead to different functionality of classrooms. |
| I think our residential space use will be decreased because of COVID-19. Academic and auxiliary spaces will be used differently in the short-term at a minimum. |
| Number of students attending is expected to decline due to economic reasons. |
| Changing enrollment numbers and lower permissible density. |
| The space itself won’t be increasing but our utilization rate will increase due to COVID-19 impact on class scheduling. |
| The pandemic is a shock to our habitual ways of thinking and behaving that allows us to make changes that we would have procrastinated on making prior to the pandemic. |
| Enrollment decline; more online classes; more telework for faculty and staff. |
| Alternating sections of teams to work every other week from home. |
| Space utilization will adjust. Faculty and staff may continue to work part-time from home. Residence halls and classroom occupancies will adjust to maintain social distancing. While we don’t anticipate a drop in research funds, lab occupancy may also be adjusted. Classes will likely be scheduled more hours per day to add sections to offset reduced enrollments. |
| Increased utilization of on-line classes, reduced overall employee head count, and increased remote employee work may balance with requirements for social distancing in buildings that remain in use. |
| We will most likely need to be reducing size of classes but increasing the times that classes will be available. Smaller classes, more sections, filling the classrooms from earlier to later in the day. |
| We have an empty building that needs to be fully renovated before occupying. With the university and state budgets impacted by the pandemic, we neither have the funding or potential enrollment to support the needed renovation. The building will need to sit empty. |
| Lower student enrollment in person, more online classes. |
| Greater expectations from faculty, staff and students for the ability to work and learn remotely. |
| I think in the very short term, we will be using less space. Within the next year, though, as we try to bring our students back to campus, we’ll be making use of more space, even though there’s not more to distribute. I think this means we’ll be holding smaller classes in larger spaces well into what was formally considered off-hours. We may also be prioritizing spaces formerly used by staff or non-instructional use for classes and encouraging people who can work from home to continue to do so. In a sense, we will be leveraging people’s home offices as an expansion of the campus until we return to a time where gathering in large groups is a reality. |
| Would believe that this will be driven by guidelines provided by the government going forward in the short term. When we return to campus will the governments cap of a 15-person gathering remain? That will impact our space use and ability to deliver course content and reduce costs. |
| Reducing density of people in same space requiring extra space/hours. |
| Reducing density will likely be a theme in planning future buildings. |
| Social distancing will require more residence hall space. |
| We may have fewer students in some of the classrooms to allow for social/physical distancing. |
| We will increase utilization and decrease overall footprint. Drivers will be: 1. Academic Enterprise Re-imagined- centralization, combination of programs, or elimination; 2. Digital Transformation that enables process improvement and a connected portfolio that reduces silos and duplication; 3. Space Principles that prioritize space for function, not people, removal of room type and scheduling rights that open up portfolio, centralized scheduling tools that transparently show all that is available, and focused energy on portfolio reduction to limit capital and operational costs. |
| We will be consolidating space and attempting to eliminate some leased space. |
| Uncertainties with distancing considerations…. likely will impact classroom utilization, perhaps spreading use further across the day. Housing will be occupied at a lesser rate, limiting income. |
| Work from home provides some insight into critical in-office staff requirements. With limited staff on campus for the next several weeks/months Facilities will have an opportunity to inventory all space and possibly consolidate. Senior Administration will have this information available for short and long term planning. |
| Online instruction is likely to increase. |
| Social distancing will require existing space to be used more often. This will increase utilization even though the space/person ratio will be high! |
| Lowering density to respond to physical distancing expectations. |
| Space funding formulas impact new construction. |
| Physical distancing may require broader and higher scheduled use of space as we will generally need more square feet per student. |
| Cost-reduction measures, particularly for rented or leased facilities. |
| Anticipate needing more room to meet social distancing preferences for offices and classes. |
| Though we indicated a decrease, it might be more accurate to say that it might be re-envisioned. The programming of space moving forward will be a response to the “new normal” at least for the foreseeable future. |
| We anticipate smaller class sizes or increased numbers of course sections which will increase utilization as fewer numbers of people meet with increased class times or meeting times. |
| Right now, we are looking toward putting fewer people in spaces in order to social distance. Whether it goes back to previous standards in 2021 remains to be seen. |
| With the proliferation of online course instruction, I think many universities will re-think both current space utilization as well planning for future space particularly general use space. |
| Increasing to separate students, faculty, employees. |
| In the short term, our space needs will increase due to social distancing, but in the longer term space needs MUST decrease due to the long term impacts of State budget cuts and enrollment stagnation. |
| Decreased due to the social distancing requirements. Also, increased pressure on EVS staff. |
| Enrollment is already in a decline, so making class sizes smaller will actually “right size” university space utilization, as well as, faculty load requirements (i.e. not just 10 – 2 classes). |
| It’s really too soon to tell, but we will need to make modifications to our plan based on social distancing guidelines. |
| Use of each square foot of space will likely decrease since people will require more space between them. However, remote learning and work may offset some of the density. |
| Re-configuring labs, other rooms to accommodate less students, requiring adding new sections. |
| Looking beyond the next 12 months where social distancing may require less utilization of space, I expect that we will need to close some existing buildings as enrollments drop and resources for facilities can’t keep up. |
| Telecommuting and remote delivery of education became acceptable, and perhaps even preferable in some instances, overnight. As we return to campus there will be less density, and less of a need for space. Strategic mothballing and demolition of certain high maintenance/low function buildings is inevitable. |
| My sense is that we will see lower densities in classrooms, assembly spaces, and offices throughout campus, at least in the coming year. It’s not clear how long-term these conditions will extend. |
| We will be looking at changing the way we deliver our programming. Perhaps offering more online options to mix with place based. Also, fewer students may come back. |
| Looking at increasing efficient utilization of space was an issue we were planning to work on before COVID-19. This pandemic will accelerate that plan. |
| Increasing due to insatiable appetite for new facilities. |
| I anticipate decreased enrollment. Our square foot per student was already at the upper end of the FPI data for 2018. Fewer students will necessitate a reduction in our footprint. |
| We will need more time in between classes and have fewer classrooms available for use due to size. For the classrooms that will be rostered, I foresee our schedule stretching from 8 am to 10 pm, instead of 8-5. |
| Distancing practices could have a huge impact if they remain, we also are adding new programs and not eliminating any. |
| At least short term the attendance of students and workforce should be down. Additionally, classrooms and labs will most likely see a dip in density but an increase in time usage. |
| This is just a guess, but implementation of social distancing while trying to maintain a face-to-face college experience will have fewer people in more and larger spaces. |
| We are looking at holding classes later in the day/night, as well as Saturdays in order to have smaller class sizes to yield greater social distancing. Some of the larger lecture classes may be offered virtually. |
| Utilization of space will be less efficient because of people’s paranoia of close quarters with others. There will be larger spaces with less people for the foreseeable future. |
| Will be maximizing use of classroom occupancy to decrease the density of students per classroom. Allow for better “social distancing”. This may require science classes being held in Language Arts buildings and vice versus. |
| Decreasing due to declining enrollments and online classes due to COVID-19. |
| Social distancing will reduce utilization in the short term. |
| We were way too tight before, 75 sqft / student. Will need more space now. |
| More online learning, less people on campus. |
| Decreasing = Reduction in programs and people. |
| Class schedules will have to be changed to utilize classrooms during off peak hours to accomplish social distancing. |
| Increase in space due to social distancing guidelines. |
| Additional class sections and blended online/remote options to compensate for large auditoriums/classroom/teaching labs/computer labs/various studios reconfigured/seminar rooms/library space reconfiguration/etc. being required due to physical distancing rqmts for the foreseeable future. |
| Possible physical distancing requirements will decrease our normal classroom space. We will more than likely re-purpose some of our larger multi-purpose and meeting rooms. |
| With social distancing and smaller crowds, we will have to divide up and have more classes or move to bigger spaces which will be used more often. |
| More sections of smaller classes will increase hours of operation into evenings and weekends. |
| Increase due to enhancing required social distancing in housing, dining & common areas. Decreasing because we may not be able to fill spaces to capacity, be it housing, dining or classrooms. |
| To social distance we will run longer days and smaller sections, but coincidentally distance learning may be increased. Gut feel we will need more space, and different space, but it’s too early to tell. |
| The unique nature of the research ongoing at our campus is driven by experiments requiring labor-intensive equipment. The amount of shared office spaces and confined/low air exchange spaces will drive a wider separation of furniture and other work surfaces. The offset of people working from home is ostensibly a short term (~1 year) event. We have over 700 workspaces shared for a population of 3000 staff. |
| Space will be increasing or number of users lowering so to create more individual and separate spaces. |
| The impact to the Tri-State Area and Northeast is severe. Decreases in enrollment, housing and increases in online courses are a reality, so space needs are reduced. At least for the foreseeable future the new operations metric will be cost / occupied square footage. |
| Decreasing because requires 6′-0″ between people (students). In an instructional setting this results in the student stations being reduced to approximately 25% of the typical room capacity. |
| Utilization will likely decrease if social distance requirements remain and classroom occupancy is reduced. That said, hours of use (different than utilization) are likely to increase. |
| Hopefully campus reopens and the board lets us refill positions. |
| Social distancing will mean less people in the same space i.e…. reduced utilization or at least less efficient. |
| 1. Decreasing enrollment due to e-learning, 2. Concern about COVID 19 |
| Our physical plant will most likely remain unchanged, but we are exploring how we can compress our footprint in order to generate lease opportunities. |
| Increasing due to growth in student population. |
| Most likely we will limit the number of events taking place or the number of participants allowed to congregate during an event. For public spaces, we will practice social distancing guidelines, but we will see a decrease in student usage of common area spaces if the enrollment numbers shift, public safety conditions are not met, and if PPE supplies are not accessible to skilled laborers to maintain the spaces. Also, individuals will more than likely choose to practice social distancing as well. |
| I predict that we will now increase the use of spaces that were previously underutilized because of the potential of more classes offered to reduce class size. |
| More remote working and teaching. Also expect social distancing to continue at some level |
| Increasing of space in the short term to allow for a resumption of activity utilizing social distancing guidelines and increasing in the long term as the recognition that our density creates problems that can be unforeseen. |
| Space use will change. The density use by staff and students will be lower, but the hours of operations might be altered. |
| New leadership, new research and clinical faculty are being hired. |
| Social distancing for those on campus and going online will limit overall space used. |
| More work from home options and increased online instruction. |
| Enrollment decline, but with gaps between students in spaces. Maybe it will be neutral. |
| Social distancing will impact how we entertain large gatherings and how we house students. It will also affect class sizes and locations. This doesn’t work with a traditional university business model. Tough decisions will have to be made…. again, short term…. |
| Possibly decreasing but definitely better allocation. |
| We have several private offices assigned to one faculty that are grossly underutilized. We are considering moving to private office sharing with assigned schedules for 2-3 people. This still provides private office time while on campus but can be utilized by another staff member on off schedule days. This will also allow us to decompress existing shared spaces where people are working in close proximity (less than 6 feet). As leases expire, we can potentially release space back to the landlord or other departments. Conference rooms will decrease in utilization as we anticipate practicing virtual meetings for the long term. Classrooms are still to be determined. Academic medical clinic space utilization has remained the same. However, we have begun to reconfigure numerous spaces to spread out patient waiting area, isolation rooms, etc. |
| In the long run, more than 1-2 years I think it will remain the same, if there is an effective treatment in place. If not, then we will be spreading people out more than planned. |
| Enrollment changes and the potential need for social distancing and student expectations…lower density seating arrangements. |
| In our particular building, we will be decreasing office density to help with distancing. There are also hiring freezes; so, as people graduate/leave they will not be replaced. |
| Social distancing could potentially decrease space utilization in academic, student life, social spaces by as much as 50%. |
| Non-classroom space will be used as classroom space to accommodate social distancing. |
| Smaller classes for social distancing so more classes with longer days and potentially weekends. |
| Social distancing needs, reduced enrollment possible. |
| Less students on campus. More online classes. |
| Increased in that we may need to create smaller class sizes to support social distancing. Also, may need to consider placing less students in each suite in our housing. |
| We believe we will see an increase in enrollment. |
| We continue to have an overbuilt campus with ever declining enrollment. We must reduce overall square footage if we ever hope to maintain the facilities we have to any sort of reasonable standard. COVID-19 may have a short-term impact on how quickly we reduce campus size. This is likely due to social distancing restrictions and potential impacts on classroom capacity. That said, once that normalizes, we will continue to divest of classrooms and facilities that don’t meet our needs or are excess to our requirements. |
| Social distancing and pandemic related Emergency Response Plans will require consideration of social distancing. |
| No more large academic teaching spaces. Will be broken down into much smaller classroom settings for students. |
| Need to define utilization…any vacant spaces that were about to change will likely be used as-is and occupied. |
| Due to decreasing appropriations and lower enrollment our campus needs to adjust to the current space needs. |
| We are anticipating mandated social distancing inside the classrooms which will necessitate smaller classroom sizes. We are anxiously awaiting some governmental guidance, or barring that, some guidance from APPA, Sightlines, EAB or other professional forum. |
| Likely lower enrollment. Potentially less need for space for adjuncts. But some staff areas that are in cubicles may want/need larger spaces for effective social distancing. |
| Increased enrollment, increased faculty, increased research. |
| Potential hybrid options for fall quarter include expanding our class schedule to reduce contact as well as offering smaller classes or alternating portions of classes to reduce contact. This translates to more hours of building use but less dense occupancy. |
| We will be utilizing MORE spaces (i.e. using unconventional spaces as classrooms) but will have to allocate LESS students per available square-foot (conversely, more SF/student). |
| Current visitation is self-governing, which results in peaks and valleys of visitor density. In the new normal, we may need to throttle the visitation to prevent overcrowding and enable/assure social distancing, which will increase the average density of visitation across visiting hours, and “flatten the curve”, to coin a phrase. |
| New construction already underway = 10% of current campus square footage, plus unavoidable need for additional bed capacity due to there being currently no dorm swing space to allow major renovations. |
| We are looking to decrease the amount of space rented. Therefore, we will be looking to be bring more teams back to campus owned space. |
| Will need to use more space, but less densely populated. |
| If we lacked adequate space before the pandemic, this will drive future use even after considering increased online courses. |
| Consolidation of space to take advantage of under-utilization of some current spaces. Scheduling of space. |
| We need to figure how to put a limited number of students in a space – we still have not figured that out. |
| Physical distancing may cause us to reschedule classes 30 minutes apart to allow for inflow/outflow and disinfecting classrooms, along with making the class size smaller. |
| Enrollment changes due to an environment of “not knowing” what the future holds. |
| As we work to limit the number of people in a space at one time, we’ll have to use spaces in many different ways and more often than normal. We expect that in general our spaces on campus will be used more often by fewer people at the same time. |
| Decreasing. Less personnel, more flexible schedules, more work from home. |
| This fall, online learning will be taking place and may move to a hybrid model. As time progresses and the situation improves, we must decrease space density, while increasing online learning and working remotely where possible. |
| Moving away from single-office occupancy and assigned office spaces and moving toward flexible office spaces / shared office spaces. |
