The Southwest Quad Planning Study involves developing a detailed Master Plan for renewal of STEM and Health Related facilities encompassing 1.4 Million SF of space.

The plan addressed modernization, decompression and growth requirements for a total of 17 departments within the College of Letters & Sciences, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Science, the Zilber School of Public Health, and the School of Freshwater Sciences. The study included a detailed facility assessment of campus infrastructure and four buildings in need of comprehensive renewal (Engineering, Nursing, Chemistry and Physics), totaling 625,000 GSF.

Peer institution benchmarking, faculty interviews, utilization analysis, and academic plans all informed the development of a 10-year growth plan and accompanying space needs projections. The plan is focused on creating research space for interdisciplinary collaborative projects; a key component of the academic plan that has been difficult to realize in a climate of limited space and resources. A design strategy to create a pedestrian oriented campus of garden quads with an emphasis on sustainable strategies for storm water management was developed to maximize the potentials of the existing buildings and establish a plan to add new buildings tied to specific funding requests over a 20+ year time frame.

This study also included detailed pre-designs for interim renovations and upgrades to three of the existing buildings, increasing the campus chilled water capacity, expanding the steam and chilled water distribution system on the Southwest Quad, and a new 175,000 GSF Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Research building that will be the first new building to be built as part of the Redevelopment Plan. These six pre-design projects comprise the near term work in the plan, and will be used to facilitate funding requests.