This essay presents the Global Requalification Plan (PGRP) of the Institute of Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (ICB/UFMG), analyzing it as a case study of architectural planning for higher education in Brazil. The text highlights how the modernist brutalist conception of the original building, based on the principle of the “free plan,” provided the necessary environmental flexibility for the modernization of laboratories and infrastructure after forty years of uninterrupted use. The text discusses the logistical strategies adopted to enable the renovations without interrupting academic activities, such as the use of temporary laboratories (buffers), and emphasizes the importance of participatory management with faculty and departments. Finally, it reflects on the fundamental role of public investment and institutional technical resilience in maintaining centers of scientific excellence, especially in the face of budgetary challenges and global crises, such as the 2020 pandemic.