Building Higher Education

Even traditional liberal arts subjects such as history or economics are now taught in new ways that demand new spaces. Students work on computers that must be accommodated. They interact with instructors at other universities via videoconferencing.

What’s more, “the basic pedagogy of higher education has changed,” says Jeff Ziebarth, a principal with the Minneapolis office of architectural firm Perkins + Will, which designed the medical biosciences building under construction at the University of Minnesota. “A lot of it is now team-based learning. That means, for instance, that large lecture halls are becoming obsolete.”

Laird points out that the subject matter and teaching of many of the major sciences has changed and sometimes merged. “Biochemistry is a perfect example,” he says. “Twenty years ago, biology and chemistry were distinct subjects.”

MnSCU has an additional reason for building or renovating classrooms. King says that a number of the system’s two-year schools have partnerships with its four-year universities that allow students to pursue a four-year degree from the two-year college’s campus. A school that offers chemistry and biology courses for an associate degree in nursing might need to add biochemistry and microbiology courses if students are to continue toward a four-year degree. That can mean adding or changing spaces.

“Sustainability” also is a major motivator in many renovations and always a consideration in new construction. Sustainability mainly boils down to energy efficiency, which is both an economic and an ideological goal for colleges. Universities feel that they should be leaders in sustainable design, Fenimore notes. And since most higher-ed buildings are intended to serve for many decades, universities look at energy costs and the payback periods for sustainable design differently than commercial builders do.

All of these factors help to explain why the University of Minnesota is adding not just a football stadium but major new buildings for biomedicine, other sciences, and the Carlson Business School. And don’t forget those other biomedicine facilities on the horizon, one key to the university’s goal to be ranked among the top handful of research institutions in the country.

The factor enabling all of this construction is, of course, money. Sources on the college side and the building-industry side agree that the real drivers behind the continuing strength of Minnesota’s higher-ed market are a state legislature and private donors who take seriously the idea that quality education is the key to the state’s future economic well-being and its ability to compete in a global market.