What is the Value of Master Planning?

Whether your organization is thinking about a small addition or an entirely new facility, master planning leads to better decisions and saves time, square footage and, ultimately, money.

Master planning - architects insist on it. Some organizations resist it.  So why do it?  The answers to that question vary widely, but those who've done it and those who haven't agreed, Master planning saves time and resources.

"For some organizations, master planning is as essential as breathing.  Master planning is critical to strategic planning," says Sharon Brenny, executive director of Jones-Harrison Residence, a senior housing community in Minneapolis.  "Master planning forces us to look at both the short and long-term needs of our residents."

For other organizations, master planning offers a new organizational vision.  "For 12 years, we put a building here and a building there," says Pat Mitchell, president and chief operating officer of Cold Spring Granite, one of the nation's leading granite producers.

"Now, after working with GLTArchitects, we are anticipating the future." Finally, for organizations like the College of Saint Benedict, master planning becomes the main map for a bold new institutional direction.

"In the early 1970s, we were a school of 500," recalls former president Sister Colman O'Connell, OSB.  "By the end of the 70s, we had 1,700 students," and, she might have added, a desperate need for housing.  "All the housing we put up looked very temporary," she says.  "We needed to have a campus that looked like it was planned." That's when architectural firms, including GLTArchitects, were brought in to help.  "David Leapaldt said to us, 'From here on out, we're only going to do things in a permanent fashion.'"

Permanent meant creating a comprehensive facilities plan for the entire 130-acre campus.  Particular functions, such as academics or student life activities, were clustered in distinct areas.  A vocabulary for building design and landscaping was chosen.  Every need, whether for classroom space or an entire new building, was examined within the framework of the master plan.

That careful plan, a document which is still used nearly 15 years later, has helped the college achieve an upward trajectory in terms of enrollment, endowment and prestige.

Across town at the St. Cloud Technical College, GLTArchitects worked with Vice President of Administrative Services Bob Larson on a $2 million remodeling project During the project, Larson realized the value of good planning.  "All firms understand construction," states Larson, "But not every firm understands good planning like GLTArchitects."

WHY TRUST ARCHITECTS TO PLAN

"Architects are, by training and by practice, planners," says Daniel Tideman.

And so when an architect begins to work with an organization, he or she begins by using the widest angle lens available.  "We want to understand the culture, the industry, the organization's hopes and it's challenges," continues Tideman.  "We ask big-picture questions as well as very detailed questions."

Understanding the big picture can lead to very simple but cost-saving solutions.  Leapaldt offers an example: When GLTArchitects was designing a new grade school facility for the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District, the plan called for four kindergarten classes.  Leapaldt asked a simple question, "Should we anticipate a fifth classroom?" The answer was a resounding "Yes." So instead of stopping all water and sewer with the fourth classroom, they extended it to the edge of the building at a cost of $3 a foot.  "It would have cost at least IO times that to dig up the floor and add water and sewer later,," remarks Leapaldt.

WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS? 

Developing a decision making model for master planning is critical, says Leapaldt.  "You can come up with a great plan, but if the real decision makers aren't part of the process, chances are you've wasted your time."

Sister Colman O'Connell, OSB, former president of the college of Saint Benedict, put together a planning team that included board members, faculty members, responsible administrators plus a key player or two. "Find people you can really trust," she urges.  "I included one faculty member whose aesthetics and training were ideal for working with architects.  Together, the architects and that faculty member never made a bad decision."

O'Connell says that, the final result of the master planning at the College of Saint Benedict is satisfying to all who live, teach and learn there.  "GLTArchitects helped us create a campus that expresses who we are as an organization."