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Sunday, 16 April 2006 | Levent OZLER
Design for Learning Resource Commons at Northwestern College in Iowa
Reflects Community Tradition of Integrating Faith, Learning
Inspired by a deeply rooted community tradition of integrating faith and learning, design has been completed for a new Learning Resource Commons on the campus of Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
Lead architectural firm for the project is Cannon, Moss, Brygger & Associates (CMBA), Sioux City, Iowa, in collaboration with design architects and engineers from four offices of The Durrant Group Inc., in Dubuque, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Madison, Wis.
Estimated cost of construction is $14 million, with a total project cost of $20 million. Design of the 75,000-square-foot Learning Resource Commons will complement the scale and character of other buildings on campus, with an exterior of terra cotta-colored brick, glass and terne metal.
Founded in 1882, Northwestern College is a four-year, faith-based liberal arts institution in the farmland of northwestern Iowa. Current enrollment is 1,273 students.
Light and Enlightenment
Key to the design approach is the concept of enlightenment, in two senses - religious inspiration and the gathering of knowledge. Both are central to the Dutch Reformed Church heritage of the college and the community of Orange City (population 5,582).
The resulting design is anchored by three soaring atriums and includes an abundance of natural light-filled reading spaces, evoking simultaneously images of the traditional library and places of worship. Offices, like the reading spaces, are placed along exterior walls to take advantage of natural light. Books are stored "inboard," protected from sunlight. Individual study desks located in window alcoves project out to suggest a feeling of quiet solitude, even within communal areas.
Emphasis was on creating spaces that could function equally well for study by individuals or for collaborative work by groups of four to twelve students who might be sharing ideas, gathering information from books or researching online.
The design team says a phrase it heard frequently on campus, "God is light," informed the overall concept. This phrase appears on the college seal.
"The goal was not just creating spaces that are inspiring in their own right," said Durrant designer Karl Ermanis, AIA, "but rather an environment that quietly facilitates inspiration as part of the learning process."
The Building Design Includes
- Library space for 180,000 volumes
- Facilities for an advanced AV-media program where students can not only listen to music but compose in a suite
- Writing composition center
- Two-story reading room in a quiet, wood-paneled space with plush armchairs, in the grand tradition of libraries
- Advanced technology, wired and wireless
- Prayer room
- Special collections room
- Home base for the all-campus information technology center
- Classrooms and seminar rooms of varying sizes in a variety of locations
- Education Resource Room, part of the elementary education curriculum, with spaces for teachers-in-training to practice "story time"
- The Lyceum, an inviting space furnished with comfortable chairs and sofas, for listening to speakers and holding discussions in an informal setting
The architectural team headed by CMBA includes specialists from The Durrant Group in architecture, engineering and programming.
Durrant: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7493/
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