Proof that Stanford is, in Fact, Always Under Construction

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Some of you may have heard about Stanford’s Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation process. However, I think that almost everyone has noticed that Stanford seems to be perpetually under construction. We now have proof that this is, in fact, true.

As one of the appendices to the WASC preparatory report, there is a listing of every capital project – any new building or major renovation – begun or completed from 2000-2010. In total, there are 103 projects listed, ranging from the “Wilbur Hall Kitchen and Servery Renovation” to the new Knight Management center. Fully 57 of the projects involved the construction of new buildings or significant expansion of existing facilities. This means that, on average, Stanford has added over five buildings per year over the past decade (we’ll assume that the newly begun and as yet uncompleted buildings are cancelled out by the completions that were carryovers from last decade), with another 4.5 buildings receiving significant renovations each year. What’s going on?

To be sure, some of these projects may not attract as much notice – did you catch the epic Escondido Village Mid-Rise Seismic Renovations or the classic Boswell Fish Facility Renovation? – but it’s incredible how fast Stanford continues to grow and does a lot to explain why I sometimes think that we should go ahead and just buy some of our own chain-link fencing, instead of using all of those rent-a-fences.

[](http://blog.stanfordreview.org/content/images/2011/01/Screen-shot-2011-01-27-at-1.13.49-AM.png)

What’s next for Stanford? If some of the current projects are any indication, a lot more gorgeous architecture. Check out the [Bing Concert Hall](http://binghall.stanford.edu/) or the recently completed [Huang Engineering Center](http://engineering.stanford.edu/visit/huang_center/). Someday, maybe we’ll slow down, but that day clearly isn’t today. Or, from the looks of it, tomorrow.