Gallaudet University was established in 1864, becoming the first American educational institution for the deaf and hard of hearing. The university is officially bilingual, with American Sign Language (ASL) and written English used throughout the educational programs. Over the years, the university has grown, adapting both its teaching methods and its spaces to the needs of its students, in turn learning from them how to counter the challenges they face and create a safer and more comfortable environment. These lessons turned into design guidelines, created to educate the architectural community about the strategies they can employ to create more accessible spaces for all.

Publicly occupied spaces can be overwhelming. Airports, schools, stadiums, and workplaces all feature environments with visual chaos that can be disorienting and stressful for individuals, especially those who are neurodiverse. The bombardment of stimuli, unpredictable movements, and competing visual information can create barriers to occupant comfort. Architects are regularly encouraged to create spaces that recognize and honor individual differences. Designing for neurodiversity is one way of championing inclusivity and extending principles of universal design.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new focus on well-being, not just physical, but also emotional well-being and other factors that support a multidimensional approach to health. This is especially relevant on college and university campuses, where the current cohort of students had their education disrupted by the pandemic. Whether in high school or college at the time, they were forced to isolate during a critical point in their personal and academic development.

Because a large portion of campuses are made up of office space, many of our higher education clients are wondering if they are making the best use of this real estate. In our work at Gensler, across all project types, we look to the needs of the future users of the space to inform key decisions about strategy, planning, and design. In the case of campus office space, especially now in the age of hybrid work, we are helping many campuses understand the workstyles and attendance patterns of educators and staff in order to determine the right balance of space.

Heading into 2025, it is increasingly apparent that the design of the university campus plays a critical role in meeting a university’s goals and mission during this period of economic headwinds and cultural change.

As reported in Gensler’s 2025 Design Forecast, hybrid teaching and learning, remote working, new technologies, and high operational and capital costs point to a new reality for educational institutions: Change is the new normal. At the same time, schools are contending with declining student motivation and well-being.