As the construction wraps up at the Welcome Center, I am reminded of how all the pieces came together to design the building. It is quite gratifying to see how the conceptual ideas turn into built environment. It is even more gratifying to walk through the building, which is nearly two months from completion, with the Owners and remind them of the concepts discussed during schematic design and witness their experience.

This project was a joy to design. The project type and site is rich with symbolism. The Hubbard Welcome Center is a dual purpose building meant to offer a “front door” for the college as well as offer “back door” interaction between the college and the community. Housing the Butler Foundation, the building must be able to address all the functions to fulfill the goals of visibility, accessibility, and entertainment;  housing the Office of the President, the building must be able to relate to the college directly while remaining very public. Taking that “front door/gateway entrance” approach, and blending with it the public/college parity became the overall driving concept for the siting, floor plan arrangement and material selections.

The main campus in El Dorado, constructed in late 1960’s, honors a fifteen degree offset from true north. This offset, looked at in site plan, effectively opens up the campus to the primary approach from south Haverhill Road, giving the visitor a larger view of the campus from the street. Intersecting this fifteen degree offset with the true north axis offered a colliding grid used to inform the building plan. Starting a major datum line that is on axis with the entrance drive established the organizing element used to delineate a gateway. This datum is visible in the site layout, floor plan arrangement, building section, and carries through building elevation.

From there several other symbolic element within the design concept were employed to reinforce the purpose of the building. Stay tuned for more snippets into the design theory of the building.