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RISING TO THE OCCASION

been paid for. Regardless of how
they've been ﬁnanced, because they're
approaching 50 years old, they're
paid for and part of the revenue
stream that makes the department
healthy. It allows the department
to do other things - to take care of
deferred maintenance and to meet
all of its expenses." For Kowalski, the
decision to renovate or raze buildings
comes down to taking a hard look at
the facilities and amenities in their
portfolio. "If you've done a whole lot
of other construction and are carrying
a lot of debt, you're probably not
in a position to knock those things
down and take on more. That's why a
longer-term planning process is not
just about looking at the condition of
your facilities, but it's also looking at
the current market: What are people
paying, what are the good parts of
the programs and services that you
provide? And then - what ultimately
you can afford and what students will
be able to afford. Isn't that becoming
a very important question for many
universities?"
Ranz Calhoun, Blair, and Kowalski
each have some important learned
lessons to share with other institutions
that are either in the process of
renovating similar spaces or are
preparing for a project in the future.
For Ranz Calhoun, it is a matter of
balance between interior and exterior
design. "I think the biggest thing with
some of those high-rises, given their
density - how do you be sure you have
enough green space so that students
have somewhere to go outside? It's
important to have the programmatic
space inside the building, but don't
negate the value of the outdoor
space. The natural light was certainly
something that was important, and I
would do that again, but also making
sure that the outdoor spaces are the
right ratios."
Blair emphasizes the importance
of understanding an institution's
constituents and of always considering
"what is most pressing from the

students' point of view? We hit a real
road block with Watterson where the
budget was such that we couldn't
renovate the student rooms the way
we wanted to and the bathrooms. It
came down to making a choice. We
had a student renovation advisory
council that we used throughout
our whole long-range plan process;
but when we hit one of those
snags, we let the council help make
that determination. In terms of
understanding what the priority was
for them, we had an informed group

of students and worked with them
closely so they could advise us along
the way. They could help tell the story.
In the end, I probably would have
gone with the choice to renovate the
rooms had I not worked with the
students. They went - hands down,
across the board - 'do the bathrooms.
If we have to make a choice between
student rooms and the bathrooms, do
the bathrooms.' They said 'what we
want in the student rooms, though,
is new overhead lighting. If we can
get that and the bathrooms, we're

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JULY + AUGUST 2014

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Talking Stick - July/August 2014

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