For the last few decades, improving learning space has generally meant renovations to existing space, because raising new buildings has simply not been within most public or private institutions' budgetary capacity. But sometimes, the opportunity to oversee the development of a new building occurs. The dean who is given such an important project has the primary responsibility to make certain that student learning is optimized in the college and so should be prepared to serve as the primary advocate for the core users, the faculty and students, in both the design and construction phases of the new building. This decanal stake may or may not be acknowledged as the design process unfolds. Sometimes the dean is an integral part of the process from the beginning; sometimes she or he is asked only for cursory contributions before the actual building begins. In either case, the office must sustain a significant amount of additional, often complex, work, which in most instances is entirely new to the dean and her or his staff. This article presents a comprehensive overview of how effective academic leadership, particularly that of the dean, functions in planning and advocating for the appropriate design for an academic building based on 21st-century learning needs. (Contains 4 figures and a list of 5 recommended readings.)