Stanford Law School

2020 ‘FUTURE FORWARD’ FRAMEWORK PLAN UPDATE  

Defining the next ten years of campus experience to adapt to changing expectations for face-to-face, on-campus experiences

Recent faculty and staff growth, changing facility and staff use patterns, and new curricular and technology trends were proving increasingly difficult for Stanford Law School (SLS) to accommodate within the existing physical framework of the campus. The law school enlisted MKThink to update its 2001 'Future Forward plan and create a dynamic framework for the next era of growth into 2035. With MKThink, SLS initiated an audit assessment process to gain qualitative and quantitative insights into its current space's effectiveness and identify future-forward strategies that could be achieved over the next ten years. Investigations revealed the need to expand facilities and right-size and modernized key spaces around student and faculty experience. SLS prioritized optimizing its current facilities first, focusing on underperforming portions of the Crown Quad before considering its need to expand. As a result of MKThink's findings and strategies, Stanford Law School enlisted MKThink to design a multi-year program of classroom and event space renovations to right-size learning spaces, increase teaching flexibility, and improve student interaction and sense of inclusion and belonging.