Swing Space and Dominos
Planning core facilities to meet today's students where they want to be.

“When you do a master plan, you’re constantly thinking about swing space and dominos. How are projects interrelated? As a tool the masterplan must be flexible enough to reshuffle the deck; you need the armature that allows you to move projects around and sequence them as needs and opportunities dictate.”
The dreaded “demographic cliff” has been on the lips of college admissions counselors and facilities directors everywhere as colleges brace for enrollment dips that could be as much as 15% on some campuses — even as concerns over debt and ever-higher tuition costs fuel further enrollment decline. As institutions across New England grapple with how best to prepare, a master plan for Norwich University outlines a strategy for growth.
As the product of an exercise in what is, what-ifs and therefores, a facilities master plan is both a strategic map and a leap of faith. Facts are gathered, myths busted, scenarios envisioned, and assumptions made on our way to creating an informed guide to an imagined future.
In the case of most college campuses today, that future is inevitably framed largely in terms of what it will take to attract (and keep) students from a rapidly retreating pool of prospects. That might mean expanding recruiting reach, rethinking academic and other programs, zeroing in on student retention, focusing on operational savings or any number of other strategies that address college life and learning.

15-year look ahead
11-month process
10 areas on campus to focus on
10 key themes that emerged from our research
8 meetings with strategic planning and/or steering committee members
3 in-person student forums
3 focus-area workshops (sustainability; cadet/civilian/DEI; future of work)
2 employee forums (~50 attendees)
1 masterful masterplan
Uncommon student body + steep terrain
What it means to Vermont’s Norwich University is slightly more complicated. Late in 2022, Jones completed the rural college’s 2035 masterplan, which is uniquely informed by Norwich’s uncommon student population as well as hilly topography that limits how the campus can evolve.
Norwich is the nation’s oldest military college, with a student population in the 2,200-2,600 range; it has included civilians since 1993, with the ratio of cadets to civilians creeping from roughly two-thirds/one-third ten years ago to 55/45 in 2021. Unlike most college campuses in 2023, males outnumber females by more than two to one. The way these students intermingle — or don’t — has a major effect on campus culture.
Norwich is keen to preserve its military heritage while achieving enrollment of 2500 students over the next 15 years. In part this requires rebalancing the cadet/civilian blend, wherein cadets will comprise two-thirds of the student community. This represents an overall 7.5% increase in enrollment —but 30% growth in cadet enrollment (alongside a 21% decrease for civilians). It also targets an increase (11%) in resident students and decrease in commuters (19%).
Seemingly at odds with this goal would be that some of the school’s growth programs trend civilian (e.g. nursing, health & human performance). It remains to be seen whether this goal is achievable, when the trend appears to be running counter, further stressing the need for adaptability in the master plan recommendations.
These growth trajectories have campus-wide implications when it comes to classroom utilization, bed counts, and parking. But they are not the only factors affecting campus buildings and public spaces.
What does the data tell us?
Master planning is a data-based process. Jones spent six months conducting in-depth interviews with leadership, surveying students, staff and faculty, touring and reviewing all campus buildings and analyzing classroom use (which revealed a disconnect between perceived and actual use). Norwich's overall classroom utilization trends slightly lower than the industry average of 65% of hours used over the course of a week. This was a surprise to faculty, who felt that classrooms are “always in use.”
There are mitigating factors that put this in context. First, Norwich's military culture complicates scheduling. With companies eating as a cohort ("mess"), early morning calisthenics, and corps of cadet obligations, the class schedule is less flexible. Second, the fact that 24% of students are student-athletes requires careful calibration of practice, training, and academics. Last, schools of this size (pop. 2500) and breadth of degree offerings must have all the requisite spaces but they may not be able to schedule them as frequently. For example, analytical chemistry may have three sections per semester at Norwich, but that same lab may see six sections per semester at a larger institution. This is one of many reasons we try to see data through the lens of the unique places we work.
Key themes emerged from this deep and iterative process. These included many with campus-wide implications, for example the desire to leverage cross-disciplinary opportunities, ensure flexible and sustainable spaces, improve wayfinding and find different ways to bring cadet and civilian communities together. Others are more specific, such as a focus on supporting the student population’s commitment to athletics and fitness, and enhancing key academic programs (nursing, cybersecurity, construction management).
Each of the areas speak to the various ways that Norwich hopes to achieve its growth goals in the face of falling enrollment trends nationwide: celebrating its military identity while diminishing boundaries between cadet and civilian learners, enhancing its fitness facilities to meet student expectations — many of whom enjoy top-notch high school athletic amenities — increasing the capacity and visibility of its most popular academic programs, and making it easier, in part through the way various student services are located and designed, for students to stay at Norwich. With these and other approaches, Norwich will further integrate its “whole student” philosophy into the campus culture.
To meet these goals, Jones has recommended six new building projects and five major renovations along with a series of smaller, rolling renovations focused on maintenance and updates. One of the most compelling ideas intrinsic to the plan is how each project can be used to incrementally improve campus accessibility, despite steep grade changes.
It’s a fifteen-year plan. And as we well know, a lot can change in one year, let alone fifteen. That’s where the “leap of faith” comes in. At its best a strong master plan, one that is deeply researched, thoughtfully framed and flexible in its implementation fulfills the maxim “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best — and capitalize on what comes.”
GREEN FACTOR:
Norwich's central plant is powered by a wood pellet facility. Planning for twice daily deliveries at peak times and considering expansion of this plant is instrumental to the sustainable future of the campus.
TEAM:
Rick Jones
Marc Perras
Sarah Tarbet