Thursday, March 03, 2011

COMPLETED HARPER COLLEGE MASTER PLAN CREATES A ROADMAP FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNING AND STUDENT SUCCESS

Access to Services, Student Interaction, and Sustainability are Highlights of Campus Master Plan

March 3, 2011 (New York, NY) Top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that EE&K, a Perkins Eastman company, has completed the master plan for the William Rainey Harper College campus in Palatine, IL. The plan, completed under the joint venture of EE&K/Graywood, will serve as a roadmap for the community college to provide a 21st century campus that will enhance student success.  The plan was presented at the Innovations 2011 Conference in San Diego, CA on February 28.

“21st century community colleges must design campus environments that promote the best use of students’ time and provide numerous opportunities for social and intellectual engagement,” says Sean O’Donnell AIA, LEED AP, principal-in-charge of the project.

Community colleges are playing an increasingly critical role in preparing students of all ages and education levels for a fiercely competitive workforce. In Harper’s case, the master plan calls for a new campus configuration that would establish a more welcoming arrival to the campus. Additionally, access to student services and the importance of student/ faculty interaction are stressed. Accordingly, the master plan creates the new student center as a focal point, which would cluster student services together at the heart of the campus where students, faculty, and staff can interact on a daily basis.

“We are pleased more people than ever are coming to Harper,” says Dr. Kenneth Ender, President of Harper College. He adds, “We want to make sure our facilities can accommodate additional growth and support 21st century learning.”

Developed in close consultation with Harper College key stakeholders, EEK/Graywood’s recommendations go beyond the bounds of a typical master planning effort to address real challenges while linking each recommendation to Harper’s larger goal in becoming a leader in sustainability. The plan recommends making Harper’s campus greener over the next ten years by making the campus more compact, retrofitting buildings to use energy more efficiently, creating a bike trail around the campus, constructing green roofs, and using native landscaping in parking lots to limit water runoff.

About Perkins Eastman
Perkins Eastman is among the top architecture and design firms in the world. The firm prides itself on inventive and compassionate design that enhances the quality of the human experience. Because of its depth and range, Perkins Eastman takes on assignments from niche buildings to complex projects that enrich whole communities. The firm’s practice areas include education, housing, healthcare, senior living, corporate interiors, cultural institutions, public sector facilities, retail, office buildings, and urban design. In 2010, Perkins Eastman announced it would merge with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K), significantly strengthening both practices with an international total of nearly 600 employees. Perkins Eastman provides award-winning design through its domestic offices in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Arlington, VA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Oakland, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Stamford, CT; and internationally in Dubai, UAE; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; and Toronto, Canada.  

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