There are four keystones of masterplanning: a powerful vision as a foundation, expandability to allow for future growth, identifying obsolescent infrastructure as opportunities for renewal and designing in flexibility for inevitable change - be it changing needs, changes of use or changes in models of care.

A masterplan is a concrete expression of a vision statement. It is a dynamic set of documents that will change over time, but always to control the relationships between a site’s moving parts and shifting priorities over time to be sure the site as a whole doesn’t lose out (and even benefits) from change.

The masterplan will be there to guide all decisions that alter the site in some way – which means it’s there both to validate appropriate ideas and plans, encourage synergies between old and new developments. It also serves to encourage new developments to identify obsolete infrastructure for redevelopment, to protect valuable yet vulnerable spaces, and to outline creative constraints to prevent new developments from blocking further, possibly more valuable developments.

A powerful vision is a foundation.

A good masterplan is first and foremost a scaffold for a powerful vision. It’s there to make sure the vision is never lost, even while designers and other decision-makers get lost in the complexities of the design or construction. It prevents the overarching vision from being forgotten when smaller, detailed decisions are being made. It’s there to protect the big picture over time – even when management turns over, taking with them the decisions made in the past regarding the future of the site.

Finding opportunities for expandability to allow for future growth.

A masterplan is intended as a template for future development and a design strategy aimed at setting foundations for an unknown future. Think of Mendeleev, who created the periodic table, yet didn’t know all the elements. He successfully laid a dinner table for guests (elements) to arrive 100 years later, to complete the setting, long after he was gone. Similarly, a masterplan tells future planners which infrastructure is replaceable, thereby maximising the value of a new development not imagined at the outset.  A masterplan will suggest ways that new buildings can contribute to the entirety of the site (perhaps by presenting a new façade, perhaps by securing a garden, perhaps by blocking noise from nearby roads, perhaps by allowing buildings to eventually cluster with appropriate adjacencies). In short, the masterplan is there to make sure new buildings are effective and never exist in isolation. A masterplan should identify opportunities to make all affordances (including open space) as usable and valuable as possible, for as long as possible. 

The masterplan also serves to capture lessons from past mistakes by setting appropriate rules to make sure they aren’t repeated. An example may be ensuring surplus capacity and minimum spatial standards to maintain flexibility in a site – if requirements change, bigger spaces are easier to adapt. The masterplan thus leverages the disruptive forces that drive innovation over time, allowing the buildings to adapt to emergent trends, future shifts and paradigm and program changes.