2007 Design Merit Awards • Category: Institutional
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Onondaga Community College
Gordon Student Center
King & King Architects
Syracuse, New York
Date of Completion: 2006
The Gordon Student Center is located in the eastern portion of Onondaga Community College’s (OCC) campus on one of the campus’ major pedestrian corridors. Philosophically, it is located at the institution’s heart, existing to serve the needs of the students.
In order to better serve the students, the campus decided to reshape the way it provided student services by consolidating the majority of them into one building, and the existing Gordon Student Center was the clear choice. The new philosophy of student services was translated into a transformation of the existing building’s aesthetic. The existing structure was a dark, uninviting 1970’s building. The college wanted the new facility to speak to its student focus and quality of education, providing a positive gateway into OCC for prospective and new students, as well as the larger community.
This new focus is developed through the large semi-circular help desk and the adjacent great room addition that is immediately noticed when entering from the east entrance’s rotunda. The rotundas form the rest of the design’s primary elements, linked by a long “alumni gallery” that is informed by, as well as a subsidiary of, the pedestrian artery that it parallels. These rotundas also help to respond to the triangular projections on the Whitney building, which draw students in from the same pathway as well as provide much needed articulation to the long space of the pedestrian corridor.
The great room provides a dramatic focal point to an often nondescript campus, as well as one which can continually change according to the needs of the school and its students. A sign of its success in this capacity is that it is now known on campus as Student Central. It is situated on a hill overlooking the city of Syracuse and Onondaga Lake; on a clear day the view extends all the way to the shores of Lake Ontario. A large curved glass wall frames this panorama with horizontal banding throughout the space emphasizing this gaze to the horizon. The curve of this surface is mirrored on the interior by a nautilus-shaped wall terminating in the help desk structure and perforated with public computer terminals. The extensive glazing provides a warm and bright space in the day and a glowing beacon to the surrounding community at night.
The support office space for the collective services provided in the building are found in the renovated, pre-existing portion of the building. They are open in plan and utilize raised access flooring and displacement ventilation, ensuring the flexibility to be reconfigured as the needs of the student services departments change.
| CLIENT: Onondaga Community College 4941 Onondaga Road Syracuse, NY 13215 |
SUBSTANTIAL COMPLETION: May 2006 |
| PROJECT TEAM: King & King Architects, LLP Design Team: Zoriana Dunham, NCIDQ DSA Architects, a member of SHW Group Kevin Leslie |
CONSULTANTS: Keplinger Freeman Associates, LLC Ryan-Biggs Associates, PC Robson Woese, Inc. Consulting Engineers |
