Top 10 of 2015: Lee Center—Built for today and the future (1)
In 2015, Oakton Community College celebrated the opening of the Margaret Burke Lee Science and Health Careers Center (Lee Center). The opening of this building was selected as the top story of 2015 because of the impact it will have on student learning for years to come.
Named after the retired president, this 93,000-square-foot architectural masterpiece in glass and steel reflects the natural and artistic beauty of the Des Plaines campus. Designed by Legat Architects and built by Turner Construction Company, it is a showcase of cutting-edge educational design and an engineering marvel of functionality and environmental sustainability.
As visitors walk up to Oakton’s campus from the north, the new Lee Center welcomes them in shades of burnt orange and moss green that reflect the forest. A dramatic staircase that tapers toward a covered outdoor plaza provides an inviting gathering space and vistas of the lake and campus.
Looking up from the top of the stairs, the three-story center widens from the bottom up with only 10 percent of the building touching the ground. Set on footings, the building is designed to allow a worst-case flood by the nearby Des Plaines River to flow harmlessly beneath it until waters recede. The cantilevered third floor provides shade and shelter for the floors below, while integrated solar panels and louvered blinds shade the windows of the third floor. The blinds are mechanically controlled to open for the sun’s warmth or close to provide cooling shade. Nearly 10 percent of the building’s electricity is provided by a solar panel array, lowering costs for lighting, electronics, and air conditioning. Wall-to-wall windows reflect the spectacular views of the Oakton lake and the surrounding forests.
Entering the building, one finds an attractive seating area and study spaces surrounded by windows looking out at the lake, while the inner walls have a warm, rustic glow from reclaimed and recycled barn wood that have been sanded and varnished. Open doorways to division offices located just off the entryway provide easy access for students and visitors to find a helpful face to have their questions answered.
Extensive planning went into the features of the educational spaces. Faculty and student brainstorming sessions informed the design of classrooms, labs, offices, and study spaces. Educational design consultants from the Harley Ellis Devereaux firm used this feedback and information on best practices to design a new breed of interactive learning spaces.
“It’s truly a great learning environment because everything is centered around the classroom,” said Kaitlyn Andler, a first-year student in the Physical Therapist Assistant Program. She and her classmate, Emily Birney, have enrolled in the program after earning bachelor’s degrees from other colleges.
“I like the way the lab is next to the classroom, which is also near the professor’s office. Then there are study spaces just outside the door along the hallway. It makes it very convenient to keep group discussions going even after the class has ended,” said Birney.
In fact, the very design of the building was developed with the goal of keeping disciplines together with similar classroom needs—such as labs and prep stations. With this design parameter and the desire to keep professors’ offices near classrooms and labs, it was clear that one floor (the third) would have to be much larger in square footage than the others. This design feature worked not only for convenience and community building, but it also to lower cooling costs for the building (because the third floor shades the lower floors) and to reduce heating costs (because heat rises).
“I like that every classroom has multiple video screens and electronic whiteboards so that no matter where you are sitting, you can see what the instructor is doing,” Birney explained.
Their physical therapist professor, Luanne Olson, added, “From my perspective, I have a great space where I can see every student and keep them all working together. There is no ‘back of the class’ where students can disappear.”
To make learning more interactive in the science labs, tables are arranged around the professor’s podium Oval lab tables take the place of traditional linear benches so that lab partners can face each other while they work and professors can move easily around the room to observe students’ progress and make suggestions. This layout also allows professors to seamlessly transition from lecture to lab and back again with students never leaving their chairs.
One of the most unique classrooms in the Lee Center is the nursing simulation room where an entire hospital floor has been recreated so that students gain experience with professional-grade equipment before they ever leave the classroom.
“The labs provide a collaborative and interdisciplinary work environment, more like how science and health care are conducted in the real world,” said Michael Carr, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs. “We believe the final design specifications solved the challenge of creating spaces that help students learn and teachers teach.”
The Lee Center is the most substantial project of the $68.5 million, five-year Facilities Master Plan, which has also included a new enrollment center at the Des Plaines campus, the renovation of classroom spaces with new technologies, and a new distance learning center.
