UW Bothell is committed to ensuring the work is developed in close collaboration with the campus community. To ensure this commitment is met, we’ve developed a platform for you to share your thoughts.
The following is a summary of our engagements to date, as well as open forum for any thoughts you’d like to share with us. We’d like your feedback.
In late March – early April of 2022, MKThink and the University planning team conducted interviews with multiple stakeholders in the community, including students, staff and faculty. Interviews were conducted in groups and questions focused on gaining an understanding the essence of UW Bothell, and how the space does or does not serve the needs of its community. As discussions developed, a series of themes began to emerge.
To help validate the themes we had heard, and to uncover other elements that may or may not have been voiced in the interview discussions, the team launched the red-dot, green-dot map. The map invites the entire community to share their thoughts on specific indoor or outdoor locations that they like, and places that could be improved.
In early June 2022, as the team started to develop future strategies for the campus, we conducted a multi-modal community forum to share the consultant’s insights and findings, and gather insights into future campus opportunities. Click the video link for a summary of key conversation points that came up in one of the three sessions.
Video extract of the presentation prepared for the online community forum sessions, as delivered on June 3, 2022
General Feedback
Whatever your plans are for expansion, please try to avoid using the dwindling green space on campus. It is really important to protect those areas (and also make them more accessible to be enjoyed, with better paths and study spaces).
Faculty
The planning framework for open space on campus has been planned under the Campus Master Plan 2017 update (page 83). It includes design principal parameters of the public realm, campus vegetation and landscape character, tree canopy, the wetlands, hydrology, topography, geotechnical considerations, exterior view corridors, sustainability, and durability.
We really need a centrally located faculty and staff lounge. It is hard to mix with faculty from other schools unless you are on a committee, and we really would benefit from a gathering space that is attractive and comfortable (and that has access to good food).
The campus is currently organized without rhyme or reason. Departments, faculty offices and classes are currently located in random locations. As a student, it is not intuitive when trying to find a specific department or faculty office. It would be beneficial to have all departments located in one location, so you don’t have to keep running back and forth to get to where you’re going.
Contributor
‘Space and identity’ is a key insight and one of the priorities in the efforts. ‘Each building contains multiple use types (currently). This makes a relatively small campus hard to navigate and the integrated delivery of services more difficult.’ More information about Space and Identity
It is important to prioritize having faculty office space near the classrooms in the center of campus. Faculty who are on campus often, conducting research and meeting students, should have priority for prime office space. Faculty engaging in mentorship, teaching, and research should be what the campus is built to enable and this is the nexus of campus community. We often lose sight of this. For offices that students only need to visit occasionally, like once per quarter (for example, academic advising, HR staff, etc.), would be best placed on the periphery (e.g. Husky Hall, Beardslee Crossing). Let us prioritize placement of faculty space that maximizes the potential for building the “faculty-student relationship,” which is “paramount” according to our mission statement.
There are quite a few faculty offices that go unoccupied for large swaths of time if the faculty member is only here once or twice per week, including offices with windows. Pushing staff who are here every day of the workweek to the periphery results in lower quality of life for staff and less accessible support for the students who need it the most.
I think that the most sensible arrangement is to have the staff and faculty who work closely together to be nearby each other. This is especially helpful for the students, who can have most of the resources they need in the same general vicinity.
Contributor
One of the key insights of the project are to ‘Realign faculty and staff office policies according to on-campus utilization’ to free up space for other needs, including group study, online class participation, and faculty-staff collaboration.
The student experience with people is important, Bothell is not a online college. Science can not be taught without hands on equipment and materials. Refreshments provision is very poor especially for those who work and study here in the summer quarter. Limited co-operation/communication between Cascadia and UWB. The computer networks for UWB and Cascadia are incompatible. No social space for spontaneous sports, and other activities.
Contributor
‘Governance and Identity’ is a key opportunity relative to cooperation between the two institutions. Key opportunities of the project: Strategically align departments and space types to provide intention to campus buildings and reduce inefficiencies from space dis-aggregation. Schedule office and non-specialized lab space centrally to enable more workplace efficiencies and alleviate pressures on classroom capacity. Consider a shared governance model with Cascadia to encourage shared scheduling of key spaces, alleviate the pressure on the current inventory and reduce spatial duplication between institutions. For issues regarding technology, a first step is to contact UW Bothell IT at https://www.uwb.edu/it/get-help.
State of Washington OFM report from April 2020 projected that UW Bothell to a calculated benchmark need – that when including STEM4, NRV lease, UWBB lease, and UWBX lease – would total a need of 133,812 ASF. Should a marker be added to the “Campus net square feet per student FTE, and per employee FTE (or a separate chart detail) that would show the targeted space per FTE if the OFM space needs were fulfilled?
Capital Planner
Building a new facility may not be necessary to accommodate the OFM calculated space needs. Several of the priorities regarding ‘instruction’ and the ‘workplace’ results in utilizing existing space more efficiently and consolidate room use and assignments. (a) Right-size large underutilized rooms and consider more Friday and/or Saturday classes to better match class sizes and smooth out peaks in classroom utilization. (b) Recapture underutilized space, explore flexible solutions and shared use to increase available options for students seeking to take classes on-line and collaborate while on campus. (c) Realign faculty and staff office policies according to on-campus utilization to free up space for other needs, including group study, on-line class participation, and faculty-staff collaboration.
Moving Academic Student Services and Student Support Services from both UWB and Cascadia into the Library Buildings will make it easier for students to find the academic and support services they use and need, build community, and help increase student retention. The Library Building can then become a more student-focused institutionally collaborative space, where space and resource efficiencies can be realized between academic and student services of both UWB and Cascadia.
Moving academic programs and employee services like the UWB Curriculum Lab, Cascadia Classrooms, Faculty Conference Rooms, Digital Learning and Innovation, and UWB IT out of the Library Buildings and back to corresponding institutional buildings, will place them in more functional proximity to employees and students using those programs and services.
Staff Member
Several of the key insights have been considered relative to library optimization, shared governance between institutions. Key Opportunities of the project: Strategically align departments and space types to provide intention to campus buildings and reduce inefficiencies from space disaggregation. Consider a shared governance model with Cascadia to encourage shared scheduling of key spaces, alleviate the pressure on the current inventory and reduce spatial duplication between institutions.
