Lone Star College System— Maverick Student Services and Conference Center
Architects: HarrisonKornberg Architects
Design
“The project consists of a new two-story 50,000 sq. ft. student services building located on the existing Lone Star College Montgomery campus. The new building is a prominent focal point for students, visitors, and staff. It houses administrative and student support functions in an easy to use, state-of-the-art facility that prioritizes intuitive wayfinding, functional flow, and social interaction. The double-height entry/lobby space offers a light-filled and inviting atmosphere where students can meet, collaborate, or just relax throughout the semester, and is large and flexible enough to accommodate peak registration periods. In addition to providing ongoing student support, the building provides much-needed conference space to serve the campus and broader community.
The Montgomery campus has a well-established presence with a strong campus plan and many existing buildings. Nonetheless, this new building reimagines the western end of campus which had been defined only by roadways and parking areas, by creating a strong campus edge and a new pedestrian portal into campus from the parking areas. The open portal aligns with a major drive within the parking lots, creating a highly visible landmark, and ties visually to major pedestrian walkways within campus.
The building comprises two masses, one housing student services and the other housing the conference center. These masses are united by a large roof that creates a “back porch” facing campus and defines the main pedestrian axis into campus.
To differentiate it from academic buildings, the cladding is a reduced palette of burnished concrete block, curtainwall and the plaster roof soffit. The building is sized to fit comfortably within the campus of predominantly two- and three-story structures, while also having a slightly larger exterior scale than surrounding academic buildings – befitting its role as entry portal and first impression for new students.
The interior spaces are unpretentious, welcoming and light filled, with comfortable furnishings and obvious wayfinding. Visitors to the MSSC are greeted by staff at an oval triage desk, who are often able to assist with registration without further meetings. If students need more help, they can get assistance from roving enrollment specialists at self-help computer stations, or they can meet with their enrollment team in one of the many technology-equipped meeting rooms.
The building also provides welcoming, coffee-activated spaces for formal and informal meetings, tutoring sessions, student activities and ‘hanging out’ between classes during non-registration periods. Large covered outdoor areas accommodate study, socialization and relaxation between classes, and have become important places for public gatherings, events and ceremonies.
The office areas are democratically arranged to maximize access to natural light and views, and foster interaction among staff from different departments. Open office furnishings are located near the facade. Enclosed offices, while located inboard, have glass front walls so they too receive daylight and views of the outside. Similarly, the testing center spaces have controlled natural light, which has been demonstrated to improve performance on tests.”
Value
“Lone Star College System (LSCS) is one of the largest community college systems in the country and serves students with a broad array of backgrounds, economic resources, educational preparedness and college familiarity. LSC-Montgomery serves a large and varied population, some with little or no previous experience of higher education.
By supporting a reimagined enrollment and registration process that addresses each student’s individual needs, this facility removes bureaucratic barriers to college application, encourages enrollment and fosters academic success. By helping LSCS increase enrollment and reach a larger audience, the MSSC helps LSCS improve the economic well-being of the larger community, increasing job opportunities and commensurate salaries and buying power. The MSSC also provides a venue for community events from high-school graduations to Chamber of Commerce annual meetings in its Conference Center.
Construction of this new facility also freed up existing space on campus. Spaces that had been housing enrollment and advising functions, but that were not designed for that purpose, can now be put to more appropriate academic or student life use.”
Wellness
“This facility helps demystify the registration and enrollment process, welcoming students and their families into the LSCS family. Working with the LSCS team, we defined a new registration and enrollment procedure, and designed the building to accommodate that new service model. The team homed in on the concept of transparency: the process should be easy and clear at every stage, and the building should be similarly open, intuitive and welcoming in all physical aspects.
The building’s organization is very direct and evident from every perspective. Simple visual clues make wayfinding obvious and large areas of interior and exterior glass allow building users to understand where to go, and what to do next. The large, protected curtainwalls also provide excellent views of the beautiful, forested campus. The deep overhang shading the ‘back porch’ allows the outdoor spaces to be used in any weather.
During non-registration periods the building’s approachable, informal character welcomes students to use the lobbies, meeting rooms and porches for studying, collaboration, tutoring or just hanging out on campus between classes – always a challenge for community colleges. The covered outdoor spaces have happily been adopted by the administration and student groups to host events and are now the most popular gathering spaces on campus.”
Community
“The Lone Star College System (LSCS) campuses are located in Houston’s northern suburbs, a rapidly growing and evolving set of communities anchored by the Woodlands development. The Montgomery campus is nestled into its 100+ acre site and is generously wooded with mature pines and oaks. The site is easily accessed by major thoroughfares and is surrounded by commercial developments similarly shielded from the roadways by treed buffers. Within a few driving minutes are large residential tracts accommodating various socio-economic strata.
The program called for a new Conference Center that provides much-needed meeting space for local businesses and organizations. The building’s location at the western side of campus offers easy access, drop-off and parking for campus visitors. Co-locating the conference center, academic support and student services functions allows visitors to campus insight into campus life, offers students access to industry events, provides necessary overflow and waiting space during peak-registration periods, and creates new space for extracurricular student activities.”
Planning
“For many, the term “academic advising” is synonymous with dread. The stress and anxiety of the traditional registration experience that has students traipsing over campus with scant guidance leaves students feeling they are little more than a number to be processed. LSCS sought to dramatically change this model – to focus a ‘registration team’ on each student’s individual needs.
Considering different service models from retail banking to the Apple Genius Bar, we set out to curate a welcoming, personable, and modern student-focused center that demystifies and enhances the student enrollment experience. To accomplish this, we outlined and accomplished four project goals:
1. Re-imagine the service model to improve efficiency and student satisfaction. For each student triage the problem, then provide appropriate support for each unique circumstance.
2. Make the process and the building intuitive.
3. Provide secure, functional, and comfortable facilities for staff.
4. Present a welcoming, dynamic, engaging and comfortable interior and exterior environments.
Today’s students adeptly use technology to complete coursework, handle administrative tasks and research program opportunities. While this is especially true post-COVID, many students continue to seek in-person support to optimize their Student Services experience. With the multi-dimensional “modern student” in mind, our design team was tasked to reinvent the traditional student service model to better align with students of today and tomorrow.
The Maverick Student Center supports each person’s unique student services support needs, whether one-on-one, small group, or virtual. The design fosters successful interactions between students and staff with meeting spaces offering appropriate privacy levels in a welcoming, intuitive, stress-free setting. Added amenities like a study lounge, espresso bar, and covered outdoor seating transform the building into a year-round student hub.
The MSSC design addressed the following issues:
– Innovating the Student Services Delivery Model
– Enabling the experience with Technology
– Supporting engagement with Architectural Design
– Flexibility = Resilience = Good Investment”
School Transformation
“Community colleges can often seem ‘less-than’ their four-year cousins. The Montgomery President and the system Chancellor challenged the design team to create a building (within budget) that looks and feels like it could be first-in-class on any university campus.
A clear intuitive plan, beautiful materials carefully detailed, ample natural light and views, and thoughtful, functional spaces distinguish this building from a typical ‘brick box’ classroom building. The finishes and furnishings signal that the College values its students, faculty and staff, and considers them ‘first-in-class.’
The building is flexible and multi-functional, providing ample support for students during peak-registration and beautiful facilities for their use during the rest of the year. Outdoor spaces provide contact with the beautiful tree canopy and great views of campus life.
Our one-year warranty-walk confirmed our efforts: students have adopted the facility as their own and it is bustling with activities even during non-peak registration.”
Star of Distinction Category Winner