Project name: Student Learning Commons at Springfield Technical Community College
Project overview: The transformation of a 19th-century military storehouse on a National Historic Site into a Student Learning Commons for Springfield Technical Community College combines preservation, adaptive reuse, and contemporary design. This one-stop hub campus expands access to student services and enhances student life at a minority-serving institution.
Jury comments: Perhaps initially best represented by the client’s ethos, the Ira H. Rubenzahl Student Learning Commons at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) combines historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and contemporary design in an innovative and admirable way. This project is an outstanding example of thoughtfulness and restraint for a national historic site that also needed to provide a welcoming and lively environment for enrollment, student services, and campus life. With so many of the building’s services available on the ground floor and the artful reuse of an existing structure, an affordable and flexible solution appears to have been found that will benefit STCC for many years to come.
