Southern Illinois University: Student Services Building

Southern Illinois University: Student Services Building

PHOTOS © HOWARD DOUGHTY / IMMORTAL IMAGES

The student services Building at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL, is an excellent example of architecture that effectively responds to the owner’s goals. Key owner goals that were met were to provide a new welcoming “front door” to the campus that is a one-stop student services shop that puts students first and fuses together an exterior design that blends with the existing adjacent 19th-century campus buildings and an interior design that is state-of-the-art.

Students are welcomed into the building by a four-story atrium space that is centrally located to 19 different student support services departments, including the offices of Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, Bursar, Graduate School, Transfer Student Services, University College, University Housing, Dean of Students, Student Legal Assistance and Rights, Career Services, Enrollment Management and Information Technology. The atrium features a 45-foot chandelier of color-changing LED lights, and vibrant banners hang form the ceiling 60 feet above. This energetic public space provides areas for interaction, student orientation, exhibitions and gathering. Warm and intimately scaled service areas are strategically positioned as “help desks” for student support.

The site offers exterior spaces that include a pergola structure with a central water feature at the main south entry, a large pavilion at the north courtyard area entry, and generous landscaping to provide for pedestrian-scaled gathering places.

The building was designed to LEED-certified requirements and provides features that help protect environmental resources, including the following: Daylight harvesting systems that monitor incoming light and adjust electric lighting to reduce electrical consumption, motion sensor office lighting, regenerative drive systems in elevators, synthetic slate roofing of 80 percent recycled materials with a 50-year life expectancy, and water-efficient landscaping.

Designed by White & Borgognoni Architects of Carbondale, the total building area is 129,263 gross square feet at a cost of $36,000,000. It was completed in October 2013.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • K–12 Safety Trends Report Reveals Reliance on Training, Technology

    Wearable safety technology provider CENTEGIX recently released its 2025 School Safety Trends Report, according to a news release. The report is based on more than 265,000 incidents during the 2024–25 school year as reported through the CENTEGIX Safety Platform, used by more than 800 school districts across the U.S.

  • Designing Learning Spaces that Support Student Mental Health and Wellness

    In today’s education landscape, schools are more than just centers for learning; they are integral to the holistic development and well-being of students. The global pandemic underscored the importance of addressing mental health in schools, as productivity dropped, stress levels rose and students faced challenges managing emotions.

  • StarRez Releases 2025 State of Student Housing Report

    Student housing software solutions provider StarRez recently released its second State of the Student Housing Industry Report, according to a news release. The report is based on the results of survey data from more than 400 higher education institutions around the world, both StarRez clients and not.

  • Three U.S. Universities Install Acre Security Access Control Platform

    Cloud-native physical and digital security solutions company Acre Security recently announced that it has deployed its access control platform at three major universities in the U.S., according to a news release. Acre partnered with Atrium Campus to provide coverage for more than 69,000 students at the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University, and Rockhurst University.

Digital Edition