GREELEY, Colo.—A college campus can be intimidating, particularly for 18-year-olds stepping onto one for the first time. Thus, Aims Community College has a new Student Welcome Center that aims to be a warm transitory portal from everyday life to the higher learning environment.

Architecture and design firm Hord Coplan Macht designed the 105,720-square-foot welcome center, which is envisioned as a comforting space for students. It is meant to be the first place on campus new students see at Aims and will also be the space where they enjoy their graduation ceremony—thus creating a full circle for the student experience at the college.

Inside, the welcome center will be home to offices for admissions, academic records, enrollment, financial aid, counseling and various other divisions. To host large gatherings, the building features a 1,300-seat auditorium that can be further divided for smaller events. An additional 800-seat ballroom with a rooftop patio will also be available year-round. A second-floor skybridge will allow people to have stellar views onto the welcome center’s courtyard as well as peer down at the first floor.

Hord Coplan Macht’s design aesthetic for the welcome center took note of the area’s farming community and the natural features that help keep that industry going. Accordingly, the facade features a metal structure that wends along the front of the building to unite two different bars, which stand in for the educational institution itself as well as the agribusiness interests of surrounding Greeley—known for producing beef, dairy, sugar beets and grain, all of which depend on the South Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers.

Hord Coplan Macht worked on the $55 million project in conjunction with general contractor Fransen Pittman. In a statement to School Construction News, an architect with Hord Coplan Macht said that the firm was rather cognizant of the importance of the project both to Aims as well as the educational sector of the Centennial State.

“Aims Community College plays a vital role in students’ academic success in Northern Colorado, and the college feels a tremendous responsibility to provide value to their students and the community,” stated Jennifer Cordes, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, Higher Education Market Sector Leader at Hord Coplan Mach. “The new Welcome Center was the new front door for the Aims CC’s main campus, and it needed to be inviting and welcoming to current students, prospective students, alumni, staff and community members. Additionally, the school was planning to revolutionize student services to better support their students; the building also needed to support this operational innovation.”

Hord Coplan Macht maintained they are proud of their design work on the welcome center, but one particularly rewarding part of the work was adding an interactive exhibit on the building’s first floor that relates not just the history of the school but also the tale of Colorado as well.

“With interactive displays and historical data provided by the college,” Cordes added, “prospective students and visitors can learn how Aims has been an integral part of the Greeley community since its inception.”

The post Colorado Community College Unveils New Student Hub appeared first on School Construction News.

RADFORD, Va.—Swedish design-build firm Skanska and architect Hord Coplan Macht, based in Baltimore, indeed have reason to celebrate at Radford University, located in the southwestern portion of the Old Dominion.

The two firms joined with personnel from Radford for a topping-out ceremony, held this summer, for the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity Project, or CAIC, an interdisciplinary educational facility that is the largest capital construction project at Radford ever in terms of both cost and space. The 178,000-square-foot structure is replacing the current College of Visual and Performing Arts.

The CAIC will be home to courses in technology, health sciences and the arts across a cross-curricular environment. In addition to traditional classrooms, the CAIC will host fashion and design labs, arts studios, a photography studio and darkroom, dance studios, offices, administrative spaces as well as collaborative areas. Furthermore, the CAIC will be the home of a new 500-seat performing arts space for all manner of events.

According to the design specifications from architect Hord Coplan Macht, the CAIC will be anchored by a central performance hub and cafeteria space that is meant to foster gatherings.  Multiple classrooms with large windows located along this central axis will allow visitors to observe learning happening in real time.

Materials used throughout the CAIC as part of the designer’s modern motif include operable partitions and interior glazing. Barn doors stand in as a literal representation of removing the “barriers” that might exist between various learning disciplines. Hord Coplan Macht, the architect, claims that the CAIC will be a center not only of innovative learning but also a hub for the entire campus.

“Radford University is excited about the transformational educational opportunities this new facility will provide our students with an innovative approach to visual and performing arts and health education through interdisciplinary research,” Stephanie Jennelle, interim vice president for finance and administration at Radford University, said during the groundbreaking ceremony.

Added Greg Peele, executive vice president responsible for Skanska’s North Carolina and Virginia building operations: “The new Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity will offer modern classrooms and other spaces to welcome and inspire students, faculty, and staff at Radford University for generations to come.”

At the topping-out event, representatives of all three entities signed the ceremonial top steel beam. Under the project’s current timeline, the CAIC will be finished by the end of 2023.

Skanska, which has been in business for over 135 years, has grown into one of the largest construction and development firms in the world, with satellite offices in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States.

The post Radford University Innovation Center Celebrates Project Milestone appeared first on School Construction News.

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Education Market Association (EDmarket) recently announced the winning classroom designs to be featured at EDspaces this November in Charlotte, North Carolina. EDspaces is an event to explore how the convergence of pedagogy, space and technology—combined with innovation—affects facility design and use and student outcomes.

Each of the innovative classrooms were designed for physical distancing in a safe learning environment, similar to the challenges facing educators returning to school this fall. These unique educational environments provide an extension of learning for participants to experience first-hand the latest product and space innovations.

The following firms chosen to design classrooms for EDspaces 2020 are Hord Coplan Macht, Legat Architects, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Marotta Main Architects, Media Technologies, and Moseley Architects.

Classroom design judges—comprised of past winners of the design competition, school purchasing influencers, and AIA-CAE member architects—conducted an extensive review to make final selections. Proposals were evaluated for aesthetics, overall functionality, vendor engagement, relevance to the future of educational facilities, and flexibility of the learning space. This year’s classroom designers met the additional challenge of creating learning environments in the COVID-19 era.

Education sessions will be held in these six designed classrooms throughout the event, allowing attendees to experience how different products work in a variety of collaborative, flexible educational settings.

The post Six Classroom Designs Selected for EDspaces 2020 appeared first on School Construction News.

LAKE COUNTY, Colo.—Construction has begun on a new PreK-2 primary school in Leadville, Colo., for the Lake County School District. Excavation began in early May at the West Park Elementary School site for a facility that is scheduled to be ready for students in August 2021.

Last November, Lake County voters approved a bond proposal that cleared the way for the district to receive a $20.8 million Building Excellent Schools Today grant. The new $34.7 million school will serve students that attend West Park and Pitts elementary school, which the Colorado Department of Education has ranked among the facilities with the poorest conditions in the state.

“This new PK–2 school is such an important project for the future of our community,” said West Park Elementary School Principal Kathleen Fitzsimmons in a statement.

“Due to the pandemic, we held an informal groundbreaking ceremony aligned with social-distancing protocols. However, we will involve the whole community in celebrations at a later date.”

The groundbreaking involved months of work by the district’s Design Advisory Group, comprising staff and community members. The group provided input and guidance to Dynamic Program Management, the district’s owner’s representative, and to Hord Coplan Macht, the project’s architectural firm. FCI Contractors is the general contractor.

The new PK–2 building will include spaces that support student collaboration as well as a large gym for student and community use. The facility will also include a large gym for student and community use.

“These are challenging times for everyone,” said Lake County School District Superintendent Wendy Wyman. “In many ways, the new PK-2 school is a beacon of hope for students, teachers and families in our community. It’s a reminder that, in the future, there will be a return to normalcy. We can’t wait for students to fill our buildings again. It is exciting that, in the not-too-distant future, our youngest students will have access to a new building designed to enhance their learning and promote their wellbeing.”

Demolition of the old West Park school is slated for the fall 2021 after students have started in the new school building. Paving and final landscaping will take place in the summer of 2022.

The post Construction Begins on New Colorado Primary School appeared first on School Construction News.

Located in a 1920s-era structure that once housed Gwynns Falls High School, Green Street Academy opened in fall 2015 following a $23 million renovation to the landmark building. The academy was developed by Seawall Development Co. and designed by architecture firm Hord Coplan Macht — both of Baltimore. Southway Builders, also of Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.-based MCN Build completed the extensive renovations in a joint venture.

Academy leaders received word of the school’s LEED Platinum certification in May, but were officially awarded the certification in October. School officials and students as well as representatives of the development, design and construction teams attended the award ceremony.

Green Street Academy’s recent honor is a strong example of how the school puts its mission of offering sustainable, future-focused education into action, according to a statement by Dan Schochor, Green Street Academy’s executive director. “Much has been made about the importance of creating 21st century-prepared students through education, and there is no better way to accomplish that goal than to surround those same students with a structure that very literally supports that mission and vision,” Schochor said.

The 111,000-square-foot facility achieved LEED Platinum certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor-environmental quality. Sustainability and resiliency strategies were integrated throughout the building process. For example, the site offers a variety of connections to the surrounding community and supports public transportation, bikes and pedestrian traffic. Preferred parking was added for fuel-efficient vehicles and carpools, and open spaces were maximized to create outdoor learning areas. The heat-island effect was also reduced with the addition of reflective roofs.

The project team also ensured the responsible use of natural resources via water-efficient landscaping and enhanced commissioning system verification. Nearly 8 percent of the school’s energy is produced through photovoltaic parking canopies.

The careful renovation reused 100 percent of the existing building’s walls, floors and roofs as well as 66 percent of its existing interior non-structural elements. More than 80 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills, and recycled materials constituted 41 percent of new materials installed. Sustainable strategies were further developed into an overall site master plan, including the addition of a cistern-fed gardens, an entrance canopy with a green roof, a community fruit orchard and a global outdoor classroom, among other initiatives.

The post Baltimore School Named World’s Second-Largest LEED Platinum Project appeared first on School Construction News.