Oklahoma’s Francis Tuttle Technology Center, which provides career-specific training to adults and high school students, has completed its Francis Tuttle Danforth Campus—a two-story, 155,000-sf academic building. The project aims to fill the growing community’s rising demand for affordable education and training.
Designed by Bockus Payne, the project provides space for core classes and student support areas. Classes at Francis Tuttle Danforth Campus will cover subjects such as entrepreneurship, engineering, biosciences and medicine, computer science, pre-nursing, cosmetology, automotive service technology, and interactive media. The building also houses a business incubator, seminar and training spaces for conferences, continuing education, and corporate training.
The exterior materials include a mix of wood, concrete, and stone that flow into the building’s interior. Set back from the main road, the split-level building is located on a site that drops 55 feet between the northwest and southwest corners. This reduces the impact of the building’s height on the surrounding residential neighborhoods. Oklahoma-centered landscaping complements the building design.
Students and visitors enter the building under a glass canopy. A glass-railed bridge, overlooking the light-filled rotunda, offers views of the front landscape and ponds. The rotunda provides a space to work, connect, and enjoy the abundant natural light. It also encourages instructors to come out of their classrooms and use the grand stair for student seating and learning. The corridors’ glass exterior walls filter light into the classrooms and labs.
With its new building, Francis Tuttle wants to facilitate the design thinking process, which centers empathy, expansive thinking, and experimentation. To achieve this, the highly flexible design includes classrooms with several furniture layouts, fostering small group collaboration and individual learning.
Glass entries in all classrooms and labs reveal the activities inside. Classrooms are open to corresponding labs, so concepts can be quickly demonstrated. And nooks in the corridor provide space for small group discussion.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Francis Tuttle Technology Center
Design architect: Bockus Payne
Architect of record: Bockus Payne
MEP engineer: Allen Consulting
Structural engineer: KFC Engineering
General contractor/construction manager: T. Scott Construction
Related Stories
| May 15, 2014
'Virtually indestructible': Utah architect applies thin-shell dome concept for safer schools
At $94 a square foot and "virtually indestructible," some school districts in Utah are opting to build concrete dome schools in lieu of traditional structures.
| May 13, 2014
Steven Holl's sculptural Institute for Contemporary Art set to break ground at VCU
The facility will have two entrances—one facing the city of Richmond, Va., the other toward VCU's campus—to serve as a connection between "town and gown."
| May 13, 2014
Universities embrace creative finance strategies
After Moody’s and other credit ratings agencies tightened their standards a few years ago, universities had to become much more disciplined about their financing mechanisms.
| May 13, 2014
19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials
The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.
| May 11, 2014
Final call for entries: 2014 Giants 300 survey
BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 survey forms are due Wednesday, May 21. Survey results will be published in our July 2014 issue. The annual Giants 300 Report ranks the top AEC firms in commercial construction, by revenue.
| May 10, 2014
How your firm can gain an edge on university projects
Top administrators from five major universities describe how they are optimizing value on capital expenditures, financing, and design trends—and how their AEC partners can better serve them and other academic clients.
| May 9, 2014
5 trends transforming higher education
Performance-based funding models and the adoption of advanced technologies like augmented reality for teaching are just a few of the predictions offered by CannonDesign's higher education sector leader, Brad Lukanic.
| May 5, 2014
8 modern trends in student dining
Creating a dining experience for the modern millennial requires not only a deep knowledge of good design, but also an understanding of what makes today’s students tick. Culinary designers and consultants provide insights into what trends are transforming the campus table.
| May 1, 2014
First look: Cal State San Marcos's posh student union complex
The new 89,000-sf University Student Union at CSUSM features a massive, open-air amphitheater, student activity center with a game lounge, rooftop garden and patio, and ballroom space.
| Apr 29, 2014
USGBC launches real-time green building data dashboard
The online data visualization resource highlights green building data for each state and Washington, D.C.