From hallowed universities to fresh-faced tech companies, how do modern-day campuses respect their past while looking to the future? Campus guidelines serve to preserve existing design, but are they freeing enough for architects to do good work?

We’ll examine the role of context and explore whether stringent design guidelines limit innovation or preserve tradition and create place. Panelists will share how to translate these guidelines into real world settings, helping you bring your next project to life.

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine whether stringent guidelines limit creativity or serve to create a sense of place

2. Explore the definition of a modern-day campus, from corporate to learning environments

3. Define “context” and its link between campus architecture and urban design

4. Discover how to translate urban guidelines in order to bring projects to life

Panelists:

Bill Katz, Design Principal, SmithGroupJJR

Bill Katz AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Design Principal, SmithGroupJJR

With 25 years of experience in architectural design in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bill’s experience with academic projects spans all scales from the overall master planning of new campuses to urban-infill solutions. He believes that the manipulation of space within, around, and between built form carries equal importance in defining a successful learning and working environment. A Design Principal in SmithGroupJJR’s higher education studio, he translates the excitement of academia into architecture, connecting the design to the broader campus context and its historic nature. As a cross-discipline designer, Bill has established himself as leader in higher education, science and technology, and corporate environments. His past clients include Stanford University, Genentech, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and University of California.

Amy Neches, Partner, TMG

Amy joined TMG in 2012 after seventeen years with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, where she served as the Agency’s senior real estate negotiator and manager for developments ranging from complex public-private partnerships to public facilities and retail leases. Ms. Neches served as one of the City’s lead negotiators and managers for the 303-acre master planned Mission Bay redevelopment. She has completed complex mixed-use projects in the Yerba Buena district and was instrumental in the development of AT&T Ballpark and the surrounding areas.

Benjamin Grant,Urban Design Policy Director, SPUR

Benjamin Grant is a city planner, urban designer, curator and lecturer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2009 he has led SPUR's Ocean Beach Master Plan, an award-winning climate adaptation strategy for San Francisco's open coast. He leads SPUR's policy research on physical planning and urban design, including the 2013 report Getting to Great Places, supporting the transformation of San Jose and other suburban communities into walkable, sustainable places. He has developed exhibitions on a range of urban issues, and has taught at San Jose State University and the San Francisco Art Institute. His areas of practice include conceptual urban design, coastal adaptation, open space planning and policy, transportation and land-use integration, and targeted client and stakeholder communications.

Robin Bass, Google Robin Bass, REWS Environment Design & Operations Lead, Google

Robin Bass works in Real Estate and Workplace Services at Google. Her team is responsible for delivering health and sustainability outcomes for Google's global real estate portfolio. Prior to joining Google, Robin worked for over 15 years in design and architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area focusing on sustainability. Aside from raising 2 boys, her newest passion is the Circular Economy. She is currently working on Google's first project with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation focused on circularity in the built environment.

Zac Pozner, AIA Zach Pozner, AIA, Director of Architecture & Campus Planner, Stanford University Land, Building and Real Estate

Zach oversees the planning and design of a broad range of building types at Stanford University and The Stanford Research Park. Believing that good ideas come from everyone, Zach works collaboratively and closely with faculty, staff, and students to translate their values and aspirations into potent place-making programs that support and sustain group interaction and team-based learning. Leveraging Palo Alto’s wonderful climate and Stanford’s renown culture of interdisciplinary collaboration, he works closely with design teams to create campus spaces that, beyond simply supporting the immediate building program, invite cross-pollination from the broader campus community. Prior to his 10 years at Stanford, Zach worked as a designer and project architect for several private-sector architecture firms in San Francisco.

Moderator:

Sonia Johansen, SmithGroupJJR Sonia Johansen, Associate, Designer, SmithGroupJJR

Join the conversation on Twitter: #SGJJRPerspectives

Event Schedule:

5:00pm-6:00pm – Drink, Snack, Chat

6:00pm-7:00pm – Panel Discussion

7:00pm-7:30pm – Audience Q&A

A special thank you to our sponsor - Emily Hagopian Photography

If you need accommodations such as assistive listening devices, or printed matter in alternative format, please call (415) 365-3465 or email brittany.edwards@SmithGroupJJR.com. We will do our best to meet all requests, but we need at least 3 business days' notice prior to the event.

AIA members will receive 1 hour of AIA-CES LU credit.

SmithGroupJJR Perspectives: Is Campus Context More Than Skin Deep?