Ruth & Steve West Workforce Development Center

The facility seeks to celebrate the knowledge and craft of the programs housed within - including welding, advanced manufacturing, engineering technology, computer science, cyber defense, robotics, and culinary arts. The building labs are flexible and reconfigurable, accommodating academic and workforce development programs that evolve with changing technologies and workforce needs. The design responds to the campus’s existing traditional architecture with technical, modern spaces that reflect the curriculum. Located on the edge of an existing campus green space, the facility opens to pedestrians with a shaded patio space that leads into a large multi-function space. The custom sunshades are crafted from aluminum, a nod to the local aluminum industry in nearby Alcoa and perforated using symbols derived from welding shop drawings.

Within the building, the exposed steel structure and systems are instructive to the welding and electrical students. The building utilizes sustainable design elements like clerestory windows to maximize daylight and roofs designed for solar panels and rainwater collection to both reduce utility demands and integrate with educational programming.

The design team worked with the college to preserve part of its history in the community. In the new building, reclaimed marble slabs hang in the main lobby and corridor, where they are engraved with building dedication information and the names of donors. The Tennessee Marble slabs are from the Bungalow School in Maryville, a former K-12 school founded in 1934. Pellissippi State met at the Bungalow school from 1985-2010. The Workforce Development Center honors that heritage by reusing these marble slabs, returning them to use nearly 90 years after they were first installed at Bungalow.