Matt Adams is president of The Adams Consulting Group, a management/ engineering consulting firm located in Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in the facility maintenance and management within higher education, school districts, and other institutions. He can be reached at matt@adams-grp.com.

Several times each year one or more administrators or the provost survey the facility stock. Each time they look for more useable space. It's almost a clichÄ to suggest that there is never enough. Today, this old slogan is becoming more and more real. The last of "Generation X" and the new "Generation Y" students are quite particular about their education. Some programs like education or engineering remain popular while others are redesigned to be more specialized. Art studies as a major is too general and now is broken down into Computer Graphic Design or Art Therapy or other niches. Some middle-sized to smaller institutions are even forced to abandon dated programs and replace them with more "market sensitive" courses.

This year, for the first time in history, over 15 million students are enrolled in our colleges. The number will continue to increase for at least the next five years by as much as 200,000 per year. The physical demand created by this enormous population of students is profound. Even 15 years ago, when class enrollments of 100, 200, or more were common, this demand would be a problem. However, the physical standards of learning have changed, and educational programs have changed as well.

All of the new standards improve the quality of education for students while drastically exacerbating existing shortages of space. The cost to construct new space to fill the need is prohibitive. The resulting reduction in measured classroom utilization created by new space also seems blatantly wasteful. The sensible way to meet this new demand is to closely examine the existing inventories. Proper analysis reveals new possibilities for the reuse or recycling of current space.

Prior to the current scramble by many institutions to reinvent themselves in order to remain competitive, one segment had previously figured out this changing market's demands. The community colleges have always operated with a nimbleness that allowed the flexibility to alter or invent new programs to meet market demand. This demand is created by both industry (the ones hiring the graduates) as well as the new students themselves (education is now a "right" and they are particular buyers). This higher standard now extends to the other 2,400 institutions of higher learning and it has had a profound effect. This new dynamic affects space inventories in two significant ways: Space used for years in a traditional course of study must be altered to serve a radically new "market sensitive" program, and the ratios of almost every resource (faculty, teaching assistants, computer hardware, desk space, etc.) to the number of students must be decreased considerably.

Space Recycle Analysis
Old Home Economics Lab Recycled into Possible New Business Communications Lab
30 stations per classroom facility
15 stations per classroom facility
Fixed tables
Modular computer stations
Moderate noise control
High level of sound attenuation
Minimum HVAC capacity
Air changes suitable for PC lab
Adjacent to English Department
Adjacent to English and Information Systems
One faculty office per class
One faculty and one small T.A. office per class
One network connection per class
17 network connections per classroom
Two electrical outlets per class and office
Modular connections for each PC

As the Business Communication Program expands and the Home Economics Program contracts, the space is altered and reused. Unfortunately, old space is not always easy to recycle. At least 30 percent of the nation's building stock was constructed prior to 1960. The flexible classroom design was not widely embraced at the time. Entire buildings were built to meet the physical needs of programs that today are no longer popular. New construction is the obvious solution but not practical. The only way to make use of old space is to specifically test its ability to be recycled. Each space demand is clearly defined and compared with the physical analysis of available "reusable" space. For example:

This type of analysis is appropriate in maximizing the utilization of existing space inventories. In this way, the wish-list is paired with the current physical description. The next step is to identify the basic actions required to reuse space and qualify their availability. In the most basic sense there are only a few actions that can affect the space. They are as follows.

Each possible recycle comparison illustrates, on paper, the relative feasibility of altering the space for new use. In earlier years, space was considered for reuse in only less intensive forms, e.g. large classrooms were divided into several offices. The great demand for more intensive and technologically modern space requires the option of recycling space into more intensive uses. The costs of new construction is much less often justified when objective analysis of existing space inventories is utilized.