While Brailsford & Dunlavey and Design Collective’s core services differ, both companies pride themselves on helping clients plan physical assets that will best support their mission and purpose. Michael Quadrino, a Senior Project Manager at B&D, is proud that B&D was “founded on the development of tools and methodologies that guide owners through important decision-making exercises in an unbiased way.” He explains that their approach to clients has evolved, especially recently, with the knowledge that “higher education in particular was likely to come up against big challenges to sustain itself.” We’ve touched on this uncertainty before in thought leadership installations: the undetermined nature of what fall semester will look like, the necessity for online classes, and the potential shift in student housing. Though while short-term planning is quite obviously happening now, our teams are also looking to what might come next, and how we might best prepare ourselves to create long-lasting impact and stability on college campuses.
We all acknowledge that schools are working “countless hours to ensure the health and safety of their students and staff, while also bracing for potential economic impact to their institutions. ” We also know that the current design and construction focus is on projects and procedures that will immediately impact the safety, flexibility, and response to COVID-related wellness. Though in the spirit of professional betterment and preparation, we must recognize the real-time action with an acknowledgement to what comes next. In the spirit of this foresight, Nick Mansperger, a Senior Associate at Design Collective, talks about the positive planning and design changes that can enhance user experience in the longer-term. He wonders if the real-time discussion on planning to prevent illness and contagion may create a surge in design that enhances the physical and social well-being of students, faculty, and staff. This focus on wellness expands beyond campus to streetscapes, where Nick is prepared to see more planning firms work with college-town municipalities to activate enhanced zoning, allow al-fresco dining and retail, and encourage greater social discourse and chance encounters outdoors. We’re already seeing this approach in Baltimore city streets, where outdoor dining and sidewalk pick-up for stores is becoming a local government–tolerated, if not encouraged approach to bring economic benefits back to local vendors.