Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Schools In Focus: Rethinking Higher Ed Spaces

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 08/12/20

Schools In Focus is a Spaces4Learning podcast dedicated to K-12 and higher ed design, planning, and management. Each episode will feature a conversation with industry experts, facility managers, architects, and thought leaders on topics related to educational facilities. Catch up on previous episodes here.

Today's episode is about the challenges higher ed institutions are facing as they reopen.

Schools In Focus, Episode 5: Rethinking Higher Ed Spaces

Schools In Focus Podcast logo and Stu Rothenberger's headshot 

It’s August and the countdown to the start of the fall semester is fast approaching. Colleges and universities across the country have been working hard on their reopening plans, incorporating a mix of online and in-person learning.

I spoke with Stu Rothenberger who leads DLR Group’s Global Higher Education Studio. His team talked to over 85 higher ed institutions and discussed their concerns and questions about reopening in the fall. Stu shared some of their findings with Spaces4Learning and how DLR Group is rethinking higher ed spaces in the process.

“A lot of the issues that came to light really weren’t created by COVID-19, but COVID-19 put a tremendous spotlight on them," Stu says about the issues institutions are encountering.

We discussed flexibility on a campus scale, the need for long-term resiliency plans, tackling equity issues, and creating smaller interaction spaces in a post-COVID19 learning environment.

Where to Listen

Schools In Focus is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. Subscribe today, or listen below!

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.

  • Massachusetts K–12 District Selects Architect for New Junior High

    Swansea Public Schools in Swansea, Mass., recently announced that it has selected Finegold Alexander Architects to design a new junior high school for the district, according to a news release. The firm will create the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design for Joseph Case Junior High School after a lengthy selection process by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

  • El Paso District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The Canutillo Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, recently announced that construction has begun on a 119,000-square-foot elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Pfluger Architects, Carl Daniel Architects, and LDCM Solutions on the new Davenport Elementary School, which has an expected completion date of 2027.