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Texas Tech University partnered with us to perform a strategic alignment study. TTU has experienced explosive enrollment growth while also supporting a strong research mission. Planning has historically happened at the system office, but given the university’s aspirations to join the AAU, they sought to create a holistic planning environment that ensures future capital investment, physical development, and space allocations are optimized in support of mission.

The strategic alignment study included substantive stakeholder engagement, land use, natural systems, open space and landscape, mobility, community and campus edge conditions, real estate, campus history, space use, research space alignment, collaboration network analysis, student and residential life, athletics and recreation, the establishment of priority projects, and the definition of principles that can serve as substantive evaluation criteria as the university moves forward.

Foundational to the work was a comprehensive space utilization analysis. A modest classroom surplus allowed TTU to deaccession select underutilized rooms and attain closer alignment with state utilization guidelines. As part of the larger campus-wide alignment work, we also explored a scenario with new primary classroom nodes and provided estimates on appropriate allocations of classroom space for them.

We also identified a surplus of office space. For select office size tiers, there were more rooms than there were FTEs at that tier, suggesting there may be opportunities for consolidation and relocation. One such opportunity focused on relocating student services for improved adjacencies along an existing high-traffic corridor, increasing shared resources and accessibility.

Our work has supported positive culture change at the university, insisting planning decisions are data informed, and ensuring the university’s broader goals are always supported, while also meeting individual stakeholder needs.