A More Connected Campus

As an architect, Erinn McGurn ’94 has always been drawn to mission-driven projects, which led her to the newly created position she now holds at Smith as associate vice president for sustainable capital programs. She is tasked with overseeing the planning, capital projects, and sustainability of the massive Campus Use Plan (CUP), a long-term initiative to make the Smith campus more accessible, welcoming, and sustainable.

In 2007, McGurn founded SCALEAfrica, a nonprofit that uses a sustainable, culturally-responsive architecture and an active community participation model to directly address the need in sub-Saharan Africa for access to education, shelter, clean water, and sanitation. The organization was thriving until the pandemic brought fundraising and ongoing projects to a halt. Because of this, coming out of lockdown, McGurn felt it wasn’t the right time to return to her work in Africa. She went back to doing more traditional architecture, which reminded her of her desire to work on more purposeful projects. 

Then Smith came calling. 

“I thought about all the skills that I had built over the last 30 years since I graduated,” she says, “and was excited about taking that social impact lens and apply[ing] it to Smith.” 

She comes to her position with a unique perspective on the Smith experience. As a student and alum who has served on the boards of both the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design & Sustainability (CEEDS) and the Alumnae Association of Smith College (AASC), McGurn has extensive knowledge about Smith, as well as a deep connection with the college.

Here, McGurn talks about how she sees the priorities for the CUP, how they will be achieved, and why the benefits of the CUP go far beyond just a change in how the campus looks. 

How is your background as an architect of benefit in this role?
I think I have a deep understanding of what it takes to deliver these kinds of complex projects. I can now work closely with our designers, architects, and consultants, understand what they do, why they make the decisions that they do, and be a partner in bringing these projects to fruition. I think I’m also bringing more of a design mind to some of the decisions that we’re making—asking how each decision can not only meet a specific need, but create a better, more connected and more meaningful campus experience.

In the process of gathering information for the CUP, what comments did you hear most frequently? 
Every single constituency said that they really wanted a stronger sense of community and belonging. That was just hands down. There were a lot of comments around issues of accessibility—and that was meant in a couple of ways. Some of it was physical accessibility across campus. But people also commented on a lack of quick access to space, a desire for more autonomy and flexibility in the way that spaces can be used. 

What structural changes can you make to create a greater sense of community?
You remove barriers that prevent people from engaging with each other. Students want flexible spaces, where they can throw parties and not have to jump through a lot of hoops. Previously, we didn’t need party space because all the parties happened in the houses. But with dining leaving some of the houses and more first-floor space used for student rooms, that’s not always possible. The result is less of a focus on social life on the ground floor the way there used to be. What we need is a lot more third spaces across campus to fill the gap.

Explain what third spaces are and how you create them.
Essentially your first space is your home. Your second space is your work. And your third space is everywhere else that you are in a kind of community. For some people that might be a religious institution, a coffee shop, a club. It’s where you go to reset and to engage with others. I think this will be the year of third spaces. We’ll be meeting with students and bringing the SGA into the conversation. I’m not yet sure how many will be done this year, but that’s where our focus is going to be. 

What are some examples of how Smith is making optimum use of campus space?
The library is a great example, because you can easily grab a room, study, or meet with a friend. The Compass café is packed all the time; the space is beautiful. Although, it would be better if you didn’t have to order on an app, because it limits flexibility and spontaneity. But, overall the library is the heart of campus life, in large part because of the diversity of spaces and seamless access to it.

What comments did faculty have about campus space?
Two things came up for them. One is that teaching and learning spaces need to evolve with emerging pedagogies. Our classroom spaces were designed for seminar- and discussion-style classes that seat 16–18 people. Today, faculty need more ways to facilitate classroom collaboration and interaction, with classrooms that allow the formation of small student groups from the larger cohort, with flexible furniture and writing surfaces. One of the things we did over the summer is transform the Mary Maples Dunn conference room, which is a giant space, into a classroom. The massive conference table is gone, replaced by flexible furniture, whiteboards, and speakers. Early feedback is that it’s a great place in addition to our classroom typologies.

How else are you currently implementing the CUP?
We’ve started with low-cost, high-impact things, such as outdoor social spaces, where people can move furniture around, talk, eat, hang out, or maybe [host] a class discussion circle. Students asked for more 24-hour study spaces, so we’re building quiet study space in the basement of Alumnae Gym with more study carrels, softer furniture, dimmer lighting—setting a tone that the energy there is that of a quiet space. Plus, we put in vending machines in the more lively study space, because there’s no late-night dining. [This way] students can grab a snack and keep on working!

What is the benefit for the Northampton community as you reimagine campus spaces? 
I think Smith is such an asset and an amenity to Northampton. We are an open campus, and we see our friends and neighbors walking through campus all the time with their dogs or their children. Our goal is to make the campus more accessible for everyone to navigate, for people to be able to engage with our amazing athletics events, and to make the visual and performing arts a civic and performance destination. Overall, we aim to create a more meaningful and direct connection to downtown, bringing Northampton to our doorstep.

What is the most important thing that you would like to convey to the Smith community about the CUP right now? 
I hope people will see their perspectives in the plan, and that they are aware of the vision for a connected campus so their voices can continue to be heard as the plan evolves. I also hope they realize that it’s a long-range, 30-year plan, and there’s a lot of strategizing and collective work needed to sequence big projects in the right order—to build what needs building. I graduated 30 years ago. The campus has changed quite a lot since then, and yet, in many ways, it hasn’t. There’s so much about the Smith campus and the Smith experience that should endure—and we also want to transform and grow in concert with the ever evolving needs of our campus community. That’s really what the CUP is about: being intentional about what we preserve, thoughtful about what we change, and strategic about how we sequence investments over time.