Programming

Steps in Programming

Programming generally consists of the following steps:

1. Establish a user (building) committee.
2. Review existing campus documents.
3. Determine the functional needs of the project.
4. Illustrate relationships between activities.
5. Determine growth patterns as exactly as possible.
6. Translate functional needs into planning guidelines.
7. Identify occupying units, functions, and support facilities.
8. Determine general and specific space requirements for each.
9. Diagram building component sizes and shapes (including height, width, and bulk).
10. Prepare specific room data sheets for each individual and distinct space.
11. Assist the User Committee in preparing the project documentation.

Each of these steps is further discussed below. As noted in the following discussion, there is a degree of overlap among certain steps. Moreover, some of them can and should be done simultaneously, rather than in a linear fashion, to allow for interaction among the steps and to gain relevant feedback. Most of the steps have a defined product that is also identified below.

1. Establish a User (Building) Committee

Product: Building Committee

Committee Formation

The programming process should begin with the appointment of a program planning or oversight committee. For academic facilities, this committee can include faculty and other users representing the programs involved, representative(s) from other departments, and representatives of the dean’s office and student leaders, as well as campus planning and budget staff and campus architects and engineers.

The program planning committee is charged with preparing a project program. It begins by examining the underlying academic or other program needs and current and projected numbers of students, faculty, and staff. As a rule of thumb, it is good to project this population-driven need for space to a target year following expected project occupancy, with generally at least two years following estimated completion of the building as a good starting point.

Inquiry

The committee begins by asking questions. What is the campus doing academically today, what do we need to be doing, what are we going to be doing a few years from now? What are our projections of undergraduate students, graduate students? What problems do we have with existing facilities? What are the alternatives to this renovation or proposed new building? What happens if we do not do this project? What changes are occurring in pedagogy? All of these questions should eventually be asked by campus staff, staff from potential funding agencies, or external consultants.

2. Review Existing Campus Documents

Product: Written analysis of campus documents.

Information in the Program

The context for the facility program is the campus organization for the project. If the following are available, they should be identified or referenced. If these background materials are not available, a list of planning assumptions that will serve as the basis for the program should be developed and agreed upon.

• Instructional or use plans
• Descriptive information about users
• Design goals and objectives
• Relationships between disciplines or activities. Is this a single-user building or a multiuser building?

Analysis

Programming is a process of collecting and analyzing data. During programming, a review is done of existing campus reports—accreditation, facility conditions, market analysis, program justification. Likewise, it is important to review enrollment projections or other indicators of growth or change to be sure the facility is not out-of-date the day it opens. This should include:

• Review of the existing academic plan, commenting on its goals and objectives as related to the proposed project
• Careful review of campus enrollment and growth prospects
• Analysis of the existing proposed project description, space program, and budget as contained in the capital improvement plan
• Review of operational policies, facilities handbook, design guidelines, construction standards, master plans, and strategic plans

3. Determine the Functional Needs of the Project

Product: Preliminary listing of project functional needs.

Clearly, the identified user needs are the backbone of the facility program. The most important components are:

• Project justification based on existing or projected conditions
• Functions
• Activities
• Internal environments that allow the users to best carry out their activities. This could include privacy, shared meeting spaces, etc.

Interviews

Interviews of users and service providers, occupant staff, and operational staff are the cornerstone of this information gathering. A series of interviews with deans, directors, department heads, and decision makers is important, in addition to in-depth interviews, working sessions, and continuous conversations with the proposed users.

• Interview persons presently connected with the project.
• Interview others who may have an interest in the proposed project, especially students.
• Prepare a preliminary estimate of functional requirements for the project in conjunction with the building committee.
• Determine facility needs by phases of facility construction.

Figure 4 is a sample list of typical interview questions.

Figure 4. Typical Interview Questions

Source: Ira Fink and Associates, Inc.

4. Illustrate Relationships between Activities

Product: Written and graphic analysis of relationships.

Support Services

Buildings do not stand alone. They are linked or tethered to other campus activities, including support needs such as safety, security, maintenance, delivery, and communication links. There are often other related campus requirements that need to be considered if new space is added. These requirements could pertain to site improvements, utilities, communications, system capacity and location, and the capabilities of these systems to serve the project. Linkages to other programs and their location on the campus need to be identified.

In this step, it is useful to:

• Examine relationships between facilities by preparing utilization diagrams for each major space.
• Determine the capability of shared spaces for various uses in both the initial and future phases of the project.
• Describe relationships that might exist between locations of facilities and access points.
• Prepare a simple “bubble” diagram of space adjacencies.
• Alert campus to special needs for safety, security, management, entry and exit, control, operation, and administration.
• Identify utility requirements.

Figures 5 and 6 show two types of space relationship diagrams. Figure 5  is for a rural science research laboratory building. This diagram shows both the adjacency of the major exterior to interior areas of the proposed project, and the flow of materials. Figure 6 is for a small college administration building.

Figure 5. Adjacency Diagram, Rural Science Research Laboratory Building

Source: Ira Fink and Associates, Inc.

Figure 6. Adjacency Diagram, Small College Administration Building, First Floor

Source: Ira Fink and Associates, Inc.

5. Determine Growth Patterns as Exactly as Possible

Product: Refinement of preliminary program needs and preliminary space needs.

Because programs change and evolve, space should be flexible to meet these changes. It is useful to consider meeting future needs as well as solving unmet current needs.

• Carefully review university enrollments, by campus, for the immediate past three years and the projected next 10 years.
• List facility components of both fixed and variable size that should occur in particular phases of the project.
• Refine phases of facility construction.

6. Translate Functional Needs into Planning Guidelines

Product: Statement of planning guidelines.

Guidelines

Many universities, like Auburn University and Stanford University, have developed and published space and design guidelines that illustrate how much area can be devoted to certain types of space, and that provide guidance on and allowances for office furniture and furnishings. The following need to be included in the program.

• Define room size dimensions for activities that have clearly defined sizes.
• Define optimal areas consistent with campus program needs and enrollment projections for areas that are more flexible in configuration.

Performance Criteria

With the significance of building and environmental sustainability, including LEED, the performance criteria for the building should also be covered. For example, issues of energy conservation as a component of the building need to be identified. Moreover, the potential disruption of adjacent users, during construction and after occupancy, such as fume hood exhaust or the location of a trash collector, needs to be mentioned. The impact of construction noise on existing users and adjacent uses and users should also be identified, along with other opportunities to improve the sustainability of the project over time. Finally, life cycle costs of building operations need to be addressed.

7. Identify Occupying Units, Functions, and Support Facilities

Product: List of occupying units.

Based on interviews, workshops, campus-prepared materials, and programmer knowledge, it should now be possible to pinpoint the following:

• Space factors and space needed in relationship to this project
• Functional relationships with other units
• Functional relationships within and between administrative, student, faculty, and staff activities

This will make it possible to start assigning a target amount of space to each activity, based on:

• Current and proposed activities, including expansion and/or change
• Program adjacencies and relationships
• Functional requirements and special needs
• Current space requirements
• Midterm space expansion requirements
• Long-term space expansion requirements
• Identification of other issues

8. Determine General and Specific Space Requirements for Each

Product: Numerical facility program.

With the knowledge gained in the discovery process, it is now possible to develop a precise building facility program using the following methodology:

• Identify activities for which space is needed.
• Provide a distinct name for each required room or space.
• Develop an estimate of net assignable square footage (NASF) for each space or room based on population and enrollment information.
• Summarize these needs by major user and occupancy group.
• Estimate total building area.
• Identify general area requirements for nonassignable spaces.
• Estimate total building area (GSF).

Figure 7 shows one page of a completed facility program.

Figure 7. Sample Facility Program Space Name and Area Listing

Source: Ira Fink and Associates, Inc.

9. Diagram Building Component Sizes and Shapes (Including Height, Width, and Bulk)

Product: Building facility space diagrams.

Because it is often easier to understand the components of a facility program in graphic format, it is useful to create diagrams. These need not be elaborate, although they often are, even including suggested furniture layouts. Figure 8 shows an example of a simple set of room space blocks.

As this example illustrates, the components of the facility program are approximately to scale and show the number of repetitions of each space type.

• Provide block diagrams of other spaces to show gross area.

Figure 8. Sample Room Block Diagrams

10. Prepare Specific Room Data Sheets for Each Individual and Distinct Space

Product: Room data sheets.

Room or space data sheets are important components of a facility program because they provide a unique way to communicate baseline information about every space in a building program. The data sheets contain information that could influence the design of the facilities as classified by architectural, systems, and furniture criteria.

• Architectural criteria include ceiling height of rooms; floor, wall, and ceiling finishes; special acoustical needs; special lighting; security; lecture capture and webcam technology; and other.
• Systems controls include telephone; data; computer; audiovisual; electrical; HVAC; plumbing; fire protection; and other.
• Furniture criteria include fixed equipment; loose equipment; and miscellaneous equipment, installed by either the contractor or the owner.
• List minimum ceiling heights where applicable.
• Note any special floor, wall, or ceiling conditions.
• Note any special storage or equipment needs related to the activity.

Figure 9 shows a sample room data sheet with these items.

A preliminary room data form for each of the major spaces defined in the program should be completed. Augment the standard room data sheets in those areas where special products, materials, or space needs that are not covered on the form should be used.

These forms should be prepared in concert with the users and the campus facilities office. They should be widely circulated in draft form for review and comment.

Figure 9. Sample Data Sheet, Faculty Offices

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Source: Ira Fink and Associates, Inc.

11. Assist the User Committee in Preparing the Project Documentation

Product: Final report.

Facility Program

In addition to assembling the products of the steps above, the product, or facility program, has many components. First is an executive summary so that a person on the periphery of the proposed project does not have to read the detail. The summary is followed by specific campus planning and building needs. Where is this building to be located within the overall campus? What are the constraints on that particular site? What are some of the design guidelines on that site?

Next is the technical detail on the individual spaces, room by room. Illustrations showing roughly what furniture is going to be in the room, and any special constraints in terms of heating or ventilation or other building systems can be used to identify needs. The program can also include an outline specification that has more technical detail as to the component means and materials of construction. It can include a cost model that looks at all aspects of construction. Is this going to be an articulated building that is expected to have a very articulated perimeter and outside walls, or will it be a very compact building? It may be important also to program outdoor spaces.

In short, it is important to prepare a thorough final report so that the user committee can extract large portions of it directly into the project documentation, and those responsible for approval and funding can have a complete overview of the proposed project. If a consultant has worked on the project, the consultant should assist the user committee in documenting the need for a facility that will be architecturally delightful, as well as functional and economical. Often, facility programs contain a sign-off sheet providing signature space for those who have to approve the project.

Scheduling

Another useful piece of information in a facility program is a proposed project schedule. This is generally an outline schedule that identifies the steps remaining in the process and highlights the milestone dates from schematic design through construction documents, construction, commissioning, and occupancy. Because of the need to draw down funds, programming often includes campus project scheduling, covering:

• Construction document preparation
• Building construction
• Commissioning
• Occupancy

Scheduling activities are often organized and managed by a project manager, who in addition to keeping the project on schedule, is also responsible for keeping the building committee informed.