Across the country, higher education leaders face a dual reality: aging campuses and rising pressure to operate more efficiently. For institutions with historic buildings, the challenge isn’t whether to preserve. It’s how to modernize while protecting what makes a campus distinct.
Strategic historic renovation can improve efficiency, sustainability, and campus identity, at the same time.
At McMillan Pazdan Smith, we have found that successful historic campus renovations share several common principles.
1. Engage Stakeholders Early
Early alignment prevents delays, conflicts, and costly redesigns.
Historic campus buildings often carry emotional weight that extends well beyond current administrators. Alumni, faculty, students and trustees may all have deeply personal connections to a space. In many cases, so do archivists, preservation offices, and state historic review boards.
Our team designing the historic renovation at Lowman Hall, SC State University sought initial input from alumni and stakeholders.
During the renovation of Lowman Hall at South Carolina State, input from alumni who experienced the building decades earlier helped inform decisions that honored its legacy while improving functionality. Identifying stakeholders early and alignment of priorities reduces friction later in the process and builds shared ownership around outcomes.
2. Define Success Before Design Begins
Early clarity prevents scope creep later.
Clarity around goals, scope, and decision-making authority is essential, particularly on active campuses where projects must align with academic calendars and student life.
Decide whether the outcome will be preservation or adaptive reuse of a historic structure. Historic Preservation uses specific terminology set forth in the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. Renovation and Adaptive Reuse apply to properties not requiring governmental oversight at any level.
“It is important to outline character-defining features up front and make sure that the program works well with these features,” says John Kisner, Georgia Higher Education Leader, McMillan Pazdan Smith. Character-defining features can include spatial characteristics of the existing structure.
Documenting shared objectives, whether related to energy performance, accessibility upgrades or programmatic flexibility, provides a framework for navigating inevitable tradeoffs. Establishing cadence and communication protocols early also helps campus leaders prepare for construction impacts and maintain operational continuity.
When MPS was hired by Converse University to revitalize and update a historic residence hall, meticulously rebuilding the exterior elements that give Cudd Hall its Southern charm became a top priority.
3. Align Budget, Schedule, and Quality
Historic renovation rarely follows a straight line. The systemic removal of unknowns, code updates, and material sourcing can influence cost and timeline.
Open conversations about budget, schedule, and quality expectations allow project teams to evaluate delivery methods and risk profiles realistically. Rushing preservation work or prioritizing first cost over long-term value often leads to avoidable setbacks. Thoughtful planning protects both the asset and the institution’s investment. Preservation projects tend to have a higher cost per square foot, and it will cost more if the design must work against the grain of the existing building’s inherent characteristics.
We often need to budget significant contingencies for unknown conditions, and getting a contractor engaged for early investigation will reduce unknowns early.”
– John Kisner / Georgia Higher Education Leader, MPS
To repurpose a former Law School in the heart of University of South Carolina’s campus, the design team prepared separate bidding packages for demolition and abatement followed by construction documents. The result is a LEED Gold adaptive reuse of a modernist building in a historic district that provides new classrooms, collaboration spaces, and laboratories for USC students and faculty to thrive.
A complete transformation of a 1970s Law School into approximately three floors and 180,000 SF of the USC Chemistry Building.
4. Investigate Before You Intervene
Early investigation often reveals value, not just constraints.
During the renovation of Pell Hall at Converse University, (see featured photo, top of article) the removal of sheetrock uncovered original brick archways and beaded wainscoting. Rather than concealing these elements, the team restored and incorporated them into the final design, reinforcing the building’s character while modernizing its systems.
Proactive assessment of existing conditions enables teams to address hazards early, minimize disruption and make informed design decisions that respect original craftsmanship.
Working with a design team that knows existing building codes and how to navigate existing conditions is critical. “It’s important that your architect understands wall envelope science and how interventions can improve a building versus creating new problems,” says Jana Gottlieb, Higher Education Practice Leader, McMillan Pazdan Smith.
5. Embrace Stewardship of History
Universities serve as long-term stewards of place. While replacement may appear simpler in some cases, like Western Carolina’s Brown Dining Hall, preservation carries institutional, cultural and environmental value that cannot be replicated.
The renovation of Brown Dining Hall at Western Carolina University restores a central campus hub and updates breathtaking views.
Historic campus buildings represent more than square footage. They embody institutional memory and long-term value. In an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, the character and continuity of a campus can influence recruitment, alumni engagement, and donor confidence. When you approach renovation as a strategic investment rather than a reactive fix, those spaces can continue to support evolving academic missions for decades to come.
College of Charleston purchased a protected 7,000 SF, three-story, historic building and McMillan Pazdan Smith restored it to serve as the School of Education.
At McMillan Pazdan Smith, our Higher Education practice partners with campus leaders to balance preservation, performance, and practicality. The result is not simply restored buildings, but revitalized assets positioned to inspire and serve the next generation of students.
