Campus Planning and Architecture: A comparative Study of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Ghana (LEGON)

A university campus is a place full of memorable experiences and a sense of place. It is an environment that potentially creates a social and intellectual exchange of ideas and brings together diverse people. Campus planning is one essential need for any higher institution and is an instrument used for directing, promoting, and securing orderly physical development of an institution Campus planning present unique opportunities for demonstrating and popularizing contemporary tendencies in urban planning. The purpose of this study is to explore the overall concepts of the campus planning and architecture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Knust) And University of Ghana (Legon). The Study was based mainly on two methods; Documentary research and qualitative Observation to have in depth knowledge about the campuses. Through field observation, the study was limited to the spatial organization and planning, site layout and master planning, land use, use of space, and architectural details. The study adopts A Comparative Analysis Approach and found out that Campus Planning Concept varies and unique to campuses and in developing a campus plan, it involves a time-consuming dynamic process and besides, there are neither shortcuts nor one approach or generic solution to that. The study also revealed that Iconic and unique buildings are usually found on university campuses.

TAXONOMY OF TERTIARY EDUCATION CAMPUS PLANNING

This paper aims to present and discuss phases of planning and designing campuses for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The authors argue that creating a taxonomy to control an environment conducive to learning is of the same order of importance as that for education as depicted by Bloom, given the size, financial burden, and influence on learning outcomes. A specific model is proposed for the taxonomy of planning campuses for HEIs with four ordered phases: educational programming, spaces programming, master planning, and detailed design. The researchers followed four methodologies to support the proposed model: A literature review to seek relevant knowledge and terms used in previous studies; a descriptive discussion of the proposed campus planning and design taxonomy model; a survey of experts in educational and campus planning to examine the proposed phases; and, a case study of the campus of Kingdom University in Bahrain where the phases of taxonomy were implemented. This latter case study further exhibits how the executed campus planning process is developed in adherence with state-of-the-art educational demands and trends. This paper is concluded with guidelines of HEIs campus planning as illustrated a diagram for the proposed model of taxonomy showing the process and illustrating the model domains, together with its phases and planning process considerations. The model also analyses the relationship between the domains that are ordered according to the process flow starting with educational programming up to the detailed design phases.

Public Open Spaces Evaluation Using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) in Saudi Universities: The Case of King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah

Public open spaces (POSs) provide multiple services (such as facilities for physical activities and social interactions) to local people, and these services are important for the well-being of society and for improving the quality of life. Extensive research on POSs has been carried out in developed countries (such as the US and Australia, as well as European countries including Spain, France, and Germany). However, POSs in the Saudi Arabian context remain unexplored. This study aims to examine the importance and performance of public open spaces on King Abdulaziz University (KAU) campus, Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, using importance-performance analysis (IPA). One-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests were performed to identify differences in the importance and performance of POSs. It was observed that there are significant differences between the importance and performance of public open spaces on the KAU campus, as perceived by stakeholders. Therefore, this study may be helpful in understanding the importance and performance of public open spaces, allowing spaces to be prioritized to improve management and restore open spaces to achieve environmental sustainability at a local scale. In addition, this study suggests that decision-makers involved in campus planning should consider the contribution of public open spaces to education, recreation, and the environment, at the campus planning stage.

Leading Digital Transformation in Higher Education

The pace of innovation continues to accelerate. Students expect campuses to keep pace with the technology they use in their daily lives, and the technology they will likely need to use when they enter the workforce as graduates. Students and their families now pay more of the costs associated with earning a degree, and they want to have a voice in campus planning and decision making. Higher education technology leaders will need to help their campuses shift from incremental adoption of disparate technologies to digital transformation. Digital transformation includes adopting innovative technologies to transform mission critical activities and optimizing related processes and data with the objective of increasing customer satisfaction and providing an excellent end user experience. To guide digital transformation, technology leaders in higher education need a toolkit to build buy-in and facilitate cultural transformation on their campuses.

Research on the Suitability Design of University Gate

With the development of university campus construction, the campus planning and architectural design concept also presents a variety of characteristics. The university gate is an important part of the university campus city interface, which is of great significance for the display of the overall image of the campus and the education concept. On the basis of summarizing the development process and morphological characteristics of university gate, this paper analyzes the suitability of its scale, culture and landscape, and puts forward corresponding design strategies. The paper concludes that the school gate scale suitability design should be based on people, from the perspective of human comfort, to determine the appropriate scale, cultural suitability design should take into account the discipline characteristics and regional culture, landscape suitability design should adapt to the climate characteristics.

The Interrelationship Between Restorative Environments and Visual Preferences in University Campus Landscapes

Educational settings are considered some of the most mentally depleting environments since they require high concentration, creativity, and efficiency. University campuses clearly portray these environments. Therefore, there is an immense need for campus settings where users can take outdoor breaks to restore and redirect their attention. Well-designed outdoor landscapes can have restorative effects on users, and in turn increase their concentration and overall productivity. This interdisciplinary research explores key literature on restorative concepts and visual preferences from the field of environmental psychology. It also examines the restorative campus landscape character from an urban design perspective. However, there are no coherent frameworks that correlate the three dimensions: restorative landscape design concepts, visual landscape preferences, and appropriate campus planning strategies. Therefore, the research summarizes the key literature findings, and merges the three parameters into a comprehensive assessment tool designed explicitly for university campuses. The paper concludes with a proposed tool (framework) that can provide guidelines to help landscape architects and planners to design restorative campus open spaces and recognize their insufficiencies.

A dynamic post-evaluation analysis strategy based on Space syntax for optimizing middle school campus layout

Space syntax has injected new vitality into quantitative and parameterized planning and design of middle school campus. Although, there are extensive interpretative problems in space syntax that need to be clarified during engineering planning and design of campus. This paper focuses on: (1) the parameters and models of space syntax are clarified from the perspectives of planning and design; (2) the specific application of space syntax in campus planning and design is discussed from the four stages of preliminary research, scheme analysis, scheme design and scheme optimization; (3) a relatively reliable quantitative, visual and procedural post-evaluation system of campus planning and design is provided with GIS spatial analysis technology and dynamic simulation means.