Boston Community College Debuts Student Success Center

Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new Student Success Center on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The 56,000-square-foot building is the college’s first new facility in more than ten years, and it plays home to the College Library & Learning commons, academic advising, coaching, and wraparound services to support students.

The university partnered with NBBJ as the project architect and the State’s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and Bond Building and Construction for planning, engineering, and construction. The news release reports that all of the college’s buildings but one are about 50 years old and were designed to accommodate about 5,000 students. The campus has since tripled its student population and has seen an accumulation of deferred maintenance issues.

“Today, we are celebrating a new space that will benefit BHCC’s student community now and for years to come, improving their experience and maximizing the resources available to them,” said Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler. ”I want to share a strong congratulations to the BHCC leadership team and the entire student community for nurturing this project forward.”

The building was designed to be Net-Zero-Energy-ready, based on Passive House principles and including sustainability features like a geothermal well field on-campus, a future photovoltaic array, and a “highly insulated, high-performing envelope,” according to the news release.

“It is our genuine pleasure to deliver the space that your students deserve,” said DCAMM Commissioner Baacke. “Your students, faculty, and staff have been creating transformative experiences for 50 years, and they’ve been doing that despite the facilities. Now, they'll be doing it with the facilities that help make their jobs easier and not harder.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • New Jersey Day School Opens New Science & Entrepreneurship Building

    Saddle River Day School (SRDS) in Saddle River, N.J., recently celebrated the grand opening of the new Dr. Kristen Walsh Hall of Science & Entrepreneurship, according to a news release. The school partnered with DIG Architecture on the 32,000 square foot facility, completed on a 17-month construction timeline in time for the beginning of the new school year.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • UPenn Announces Completion of New Veterinary Education Facility

    The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Penn., recently finished construction on an 11,800-square-foot veterinary education building, according to a news release. The Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education is the first dedicated classroom facility at the New Bolton Center, a large-animal hospital and campus about 35 miles west of the campus proper.

  • Photo courtesy of Kraus-Anderson

    Concordia College Completes Memorial Auditorium Renovations

    Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., recently completed a $2.5-million renovation project to Memorial Auditorium, a news release reports. The college partnered with Kraus-Anderson for the project’s construction and ICON Architectural Group for its design.