Samuel Merritt University Master Plan

Location: Oakland, CA
Owner: Samuel Merritt University
Completion: October 2006

Samuel Merritt University—a fully accredited health sciences institution that offers degrees in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and podiatric medicine—commissioned our firm to study the university’s existing campus, its space utilization, and to recommend how to “improve their condition.” We presented a plan that will serve as a guide to making the most efficient use of existing campus buildings and to assist in planning the expansion of their facilities to accommodate a projected 20 to 35 percent increase in student enrollment over the course of the next five years. We worked closely with the steering committee assembled by Samuel Merritt University and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, the University’s sponsoring parent institution, to establish a roster of program and space requirements. Our firm carefully reviewed the existing facilities and campus layout, their levels of utilization, and the types of activities that take place in them—from classroom use, instructional medical laboratories, study spaces, a library, and administrative and faculty offices—to determine the location and type of new facilities that would need to be built and where needs could be met by reconfiguring existing buildings.