Bill Haslam Center for Math and Science

Founded in 1974 with an initial enrollment of 45 students, Pellissippi State Community College is now one of East Tennessee’s largest community colleges with over 11,000 students spread across five campuses. In 1986, 445 acres in west Knoxville was transformed into the flagship campus of the College. Initially consisting of six academic classroom buildings supplemented with minimal recreation and administrative structures, the west Knoxville campus has seen its capacity to accommodate a growing student body diminish in recent years. For over a decade, “temporary” modular classrooms have been deployed in adjacent surface parking lots to ease overcrowding with marginal success. As the first new academic building to be built on campus, the Bill Haslam Center for Math and Science significantly expands access to dedicated learning environments with 18 classrooms, 5 computer labs, and 9 science labs.

Located at the eastern terminus of the existing student quad, the project site eliminates a surface parking lot in favor of the new Math & Science building. The program is organized around a two-story lobby “Connector” that bifurcates the plan and organizes the program into two wings (classrooms & faculty offices to the north, labs to the south). While the building’s primary goal is the expansion of campus academic functions, an underlying design motivation seeks to elevate the student experience. Historically, community colleges have primarily focused on meeting the minimum “transactional” academic needs of commuting students that arrive on campus for class and then immediately depart afterward. The design of the new Math and Science building offers students opportunities for continued engagement beyond the classroom setting – incorporating soft seating areas, student meeting rooms, and built-in lounge benching for a more meaningful scholastic experience.

The prominent location of the new Math and Science building also provides an opportunity to create a welcoming and identifiable new “front door” for the campus. The adjacent existing 1980’s architecture features extensive use of white EIFS with accents of red brick and glass block. The new building exterior respects the campus context while updating & contrasting the material ratios in favor of a highly durable, and low maintenance, majority red brick design with accents of white glazed brick, curtain wall, and translucent glass accents.

Framework for Design Excellence