The Importance of Campus Planning for Experience, Not Just Capacity: A Conversation With Dimensional Innovations’ Drew Berst
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Esprit de Campus - The Importance of Campus Planning for Experience, Not Just Capacity: A Conversation With Dimensional Innovations’ Drew Berst
Henry David Thoreau famously said, “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
Universities and athletic departments, in many ways, aren’t wired to look back. The pandemic, shifting enrollment trends, social justice issues, virtual learning, and Name-Image-Likeness, to name just a few headlines, are influencing campuses across the country, including how they plan to exhibit their campus to visitors.
AV circles up with Drew Berst, Dimensional Innovations (DI) Executive Director of Collegiate Sports, Higher Education, and Healthcare practices, to see what university leaders, including athletics directors, are doing to stay experientially focused, how important donors are to be looped early in master planning projects, and curating the ‘recruiting path’ around campus.
Campus Plan
“Higher education is an experience,” Berst opened. “We often master plan for capacity, for buildings. It’s not that often we master plan for the experience itself. And the two should really go hand in hand.”
Berst, who leads the collegiate practice for DI, an Experience, Design, and Tech Firm, adds that experiential planning is as important as planning for capacity. The university’s academic ethos is not firewalled from athletics.
“There is no way the academic and athletic mission isn’t commingled. They go hand in hand and need each other. Acknowledging that it’s important, both can help transform the other and build on each other.”
DI does not design buildings per se, though the company works hand-in-hand with university-led architect teams. Cohesive collaboration from the jump is vital with campus planners and architects. “The earlier the collaboration, the better,” Berst said.
The cutting-edge experiential design projects crafted by DI are popping up on university campuses and athletic programs across the country, including at high-profile Division I athletic programs such as Kansas, Florida, Kansas State and Pittsburgh, among others.
“Wake Forest is a fantastic example,” Berst noted, as the Wake Forest master plan project encompassed facilities touching athletics and other parts of campus. “Everyone (at Wake) worked together with the broader vision. The student-athlete experience was prioritized, and the project was able to embrace how integrated the campus and athletic programs are.”
Whether in locker rooms or fan spaces, master planning projects inevitably draw the latest technologies—and having foresight about choices in technology is a critical step, according to Berst. “Planning for technology is a big one because it’s so rapidly evolving. The answer is don’t just put up a screen –think about infrastructure and how it communicates with existing CMS campus systems.”
DI’s team of 100+ personnel working in its design lab and tech space reflects the company’s commitment to stay at the forefront of what’s next. “We are constantly looking for ways to create new experiences. Our people seek out this type of work. It’s part of our culture,” Berst said.
“Technologies will change in some way in the next five years – campus leaders need to think about the background of it, the software.” The team spends a significant amount of time with university IT departments on their systems.
“We have to plug into the university’s networks, which is absolutely a critical aspect,” Berst said, adding that a university’s focus on the technology components should include maximizing the life span of the technology in the project.
Berst noted successful design projects really start with alignment between campus offices involved in master planning. “Facilities, design and construction departments – all are a big part of who we interface with,” Berst explained. “The project manager may come from one of those departments even if it’s an athletics-specific project.”
Beyond Dollars, Donors Can Offer a Vision
“Donors are a lifeblood of college athletics,” Berst affirmed. “More than money, you have passionate people supporting your project. Obviously, their money has an impact, but more importantly, their name and legacy are connected to it. The more you can keep them engaged, the better everything can go.”
Of course, a donor’s involvement has its limits, Berst cautioned. “We all understand the campus leadership may need to draw a line somewhere. Maybe there shouldn’t be an expectation that a donor designs the building.”
“Donors don’t have all the time in the world, either. They are successful and busy people. By bandwidth alone, they can’t be too involved with a process. Their insight is as valuable as anybody else’s and making them a part of the vision development is vital.”
The ability to foster buy-in on priority projects is an essential skill set, especially in athletics. “The good athletic directors help donors see the need and the ‘why’ surrounding their priorities,” Berst said.
As donors consider whether to invest time, vision, and money to support design projects, being able to pitch the visual component is critical, and DI bridges that gap. “We’re able to create visuals reflective of the project’s final design but don’t need to be specked to the final millimeter,” Berst explained. “We provide added value early in the visualization process.”
The Recruiting Path & A ‘Sharing Moment’
One of the priority ingredients driving design projects on college campuses today are the “recruiting paths”--- the route, the purpose, the timing, and overall experience a university (including athletics) is trying to evoke for its visitors. Berst references a familiar example.
“Think of the curated tour of a Disney theme park. There’s a thought to how you walk through the space. Consider how your emotions will change and move throughout your journey in a particular space or experience. The messages you want to get across in the beginning, middle, and end. How do we want to close? Thinking that through in advance is important.”
The immersion of social media in the lives of prospective students thinking about their college choice makes creating a space to brag about your campus visit a must.
“We have to absolutely consider ‘sharable moments’ – that are important and become a bigger part of the campus recruiting tour.” DI gets involved in assisting schools with selecting the lighting, green screens, cameras, and other equipment for these areas focused on visitors, including recruits, creating original content to compliment your school’s branding to tell the world about their visit. This creates a measurable engagement moment for the university.
Universities and athletic departments often have grand visions of what their recruiting path should be, but Berst noted some might be stuck in the ideation phase.
“The difference between having a recruitment path and executing on it is huge,” Berst outlined.
“From clicking on a website to the day the prospect signs an athletics scholarship or applies for admission, it’s an emotional journey for a prospective student. We want someone to feel comfortable and happy and that they belong here.”
The experiential focus of campus tours can equate to the most significant aspect of decision-making for universities and athletic departments.
“Think about what an 18-year-old and their parents are feeling at those moments. It’s about trust.”
Data Leads to Dollars
“We use tech to track the standing time of visitors in front of our installments,” Berst said. “Data helps show what’s working and what’s not. There’s an ROI to it.” Berst added.
“If we can quantify that 5,000 people stood in front of this installment for X amount of time, the university can sell that, too.”
Not Losing Sight of Functionality & Corporate Responsibility
Understanding the behaviors of student-athletes, coaches, and administration is important to these design projects, too. An athletic fieldhouse built for practices and training next to a study hall or tutoring rooms come to mind.
Berst recalled a legendary example where a locker room and training room at a Division I institution were separated by a public lobby.
“Understanding function, flow, schedule and the emotions of multi-purpose venues is critical during the planning stage,” Berst said.
DI has recently featured one-of-a-kind equipment with a commitment to corporate responsibility. “Our 3D printer is one of the largest on Earth, and we are testing printable recycled materials with it,” Berst said, referencing projects born from the 3D printer, such as the 93-foot tall Al Davis Memorial Torch inside Allegiant stadium.
“Finding sustainable materials is a huge part of our efforts.”
[For visuals showcasing DI’s cool 3D print projects and capabilities, click here.]
In Closing: Escaping Mediocrity and the Appeal of the Unknown
“We really do liberate people from mediocre experiences. There’s nothing more vital than having a plan for the campus experience. Emotions drive our decisions, including picking a university,” Berst offered.
The future surrounding higher education and college sports today is an exciting opportunity for DI.
“It is a very impactful opportunity,” Berst noted. “We can adapt and take advantage of changing trends. Seeing what happens with NIL, technology, media rights, and conferences. It can be daunting at times, but we’re excited to see what happens. It’s a new frontier.”
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