"Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy." -Albert Einstein

Who Makes Building Decisions at Brown University?
Many members of the Brown community work to ensure the University's physical facilities support its academic, research, social, and administrative objectives. The Facilities and Design Committee of the Corporation, the Provost's Office, the University's Advising Architect, the Department of Facilities Management, and the Campus Planning Advisory Board work to establish a balance between programming requirements and financial, land, and technical limitations. Throughout the building process, these decision-makers confer with building stakeholders as well as outside consultants, government officials, and contractors.

The Life of a Brown Building Project
My thesis primarily recommends design strategies to increase the performance of new construction and major renovation projects at Brown University. The following description refers to the design phase of major construction projects at Brown. The planning and design process for smaller projects is generally less complicated and may not require participation from all the parties listed above. The following fictitious story is meant to provide insight into Brown's current building design process.

The "High Performance Building Department" is busting at the seams, so its director approaches the Provost's Space Committee and says, "We need more room. So many students, professors, and researchers are interested in high performance building technologies and applications that there isn't enough space in our department building." The Space Committee meets with Facilities Management to assess this request for additional department space. If they determine it is a valid need, they outline a budget and possible funding sources. The project intent and budget information is then presented to the Space Committee. The Space Committee considers the high performance department proposal along with many other building project applications and approves the highest priority projects. A major building project necessitates a significant investment from Brown University and must be carefully considered. The Economics Department and the Environmental Studies Department also need more space. Aware of the connections between economics, building performance, and the environment, the Space Committee recommends a building project that would house all three departments. Facilities Management and the Provost's Office go back and design a budget, financing, and project statement for a multi-discipline building. Since it was their own suggestion, the Space Committee readily approves the new, larger proposal.

At this point, Brown's available resources and department programming needs are evaluated keeping the "Strategic Framework for Physical Planning" in mind. Facilities management, the advising architect, and the Provost's Office suggests a few locations, but none stands out as ideal. Facilities Management comes up with the great idea to renovate and enlarge an underutilized building on campus to accommodate the Economics, Environmental Studies, and High Performance Building Departments. The Provost's Office, the Facilities and Design Committee, the Advising Architect, and the Campus Planning Advisory Board all agree; this is a wonderful idea. A few dissenters in the three academic departments in question do not readily see the connection between economics, high performance building and environmental studies, but everyone is looking forward to more space and a new building. After debating over the proposed budget, the Corporations Budget and Finance Committee approves the project intent. When Brown knows what it wants in terms of building size and scope, a group forms to choose an architect. The architect selection group includes representatives from each of the three departments, Brown's consulting architect, trustees, facilities professionals, operations staff, the VP of Planning, members of the Campus Planning Advisory Board, among others. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is sent out to potential architectural firms. In its submission, each firm must identify:

• relevant, prior experience
• specific personnel (and how much time each will allocate to the project) that will be working on the project
• the firm's availability (what other projects it is committed to),
• a realistic project schedule
• reference contacts (past client responses regarding the firm's performance and relations significantly influence the architect selection process)

A firm or architect qualifies for a short list based on the criteria addressed in its submission. Facilities Management distributes a Request for Proposals (RFP) to the short list. Interested, qualified architects present to the architect selection group. Based on the proposals, the architect selection group's opinion, and its own preferences, Facilities Management names its architect of choice. Final architect decision rests with the Facilities and Design Committee of the Corporation. In this case, as in most, Facilities and Design and Facilities Management agree on the architect choice.

The chosen architect firm and its selected engineers begin by compiling and prioritizing all design requirements and requests. Throughout the planning and design process, Facilities Management, with the help of outside consultants, reviews the progress. After much design and redesign, the final construction documents (CDs) are put out for contractor's bid. That is one student's take on Brown's Current Building Project Design Process.

What effect do Brown University planners have on the bigger picture? The next background page examines universities role in society.