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

  • University of Connecticut Upgrades Basketball Facility’s AV Systems

    The University of Connecticut recently partnered with Metinteractive to upgrade the AV systems of the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility on its campus in Mansfield, Conn., according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Adds ALPR Technology to Parking Solutions

    Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, recently integrated automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology into its parking services and enforcement strategies, according to a news release. The university’s Transportation Services division deployed Genetec AutoVu ALPR to manage the campus’ 36,000+ parking spaces.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2025 New Product Awards

    Spaces4Learning is now accepting entries for the 2025 New Product Awards! The program’s goal is to honor the outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products and services are particularly noteworthy in helping to improve K–12 and Higher Education learning environments.

  • Illinois Elementary School Breaks Ground on Campus Expansion

    Heather Hill Elementary School, part of Flossmoor School District 161 in Palatine, Ill., recently broke ground on a new addition to the school focused on student support and security, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers for the expansion as part of a longer-term facility planning and modernization initiative.

Digital Edition