The building currently occupied by the College contains a number of University classrooms, making it difficult for the College to establish an identity. In addition, the building could not support the College's planned growth and changing pedagogy.

As part of the space programming process, RA collected and analyzed existing data, including staff and faculty headcounts, classroom use, existing space assignment and square footage. Additionally, RA held extensive meetings with stakeholders in order to gain insight into current and projected space needs. A space program of 75,000 assignable square feet identified projected needs on a space-by-space basis. This will support a projected enrollment of 3,600 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Room data sheets were also prepared in advance of the architectural design phase. These sheets detailed individual room characteristics, including technology needs and functional adjacencies.

Subsequent to the development of the initial program, a program update was undertaken to reflect the final site decision. This increased the final recommended space program to 103,000 asf (171,000 gsf).