Showcasing opportunity in an urban setting
Advanced Manufacturing & Information Technology Center - Jefferson Community & Technical College
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Manufacturing and IT companies are in high demand across the country. There are approximately 4,500 facilities throughout Kentucky that employ around 260,00 employees, with more on the horizon. These companies need to recruit quality, pre-trained employees. Louisville is the most urban area in the state of Kentucky. In the heart of the city’s downtown SoBro district, an abandoned corner lot offered the perfect site for a new workforce training center. Jefferson Community and Technical College (JCTC) had a desire to transform this corner into an easily accessible location for faculty and students and an example of opportunity to inspire the surrounding urban community.
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We began our process by meeting with Jefferson faculty and regional manufacturing representatives to understand their processes and develop a program. It was immediately clear that Jefferson needed an innovative structure that supports skills training for work-ready employees in a facility that is easily adaptable to evolving manufacturing methodologies and technologies.
Instead of separating the technical and academic activities, our design concept creates large spaces that allow these spaces to overlap. On the upper level, this intersection occurs within a technology enabled active learning (TEAL) classroom and an after-class collaboration space, including observation balconies that visually connect the two floors. The balconies allow potential students, high school students and other transitional students to observe firsthand the cutting-edge programs offered. Hubs at building crossroads enable potential students to witness the benefits of team study and faculty collaboration outside the classroom.
To address the flexibility and adaptability needed for constantly evolving manufacturing technologies, we designed the large high-bays, using a modular planning approach and demountable utility service walls that can be easily adjusted to accommodate expanding programs without disrupting interior finishes. The lecture classrooms for the Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) courses on the lower plant floor also serve as general education classrooms and are accessible from the open high-bay training environment or public corridor.
The building features large expanses of glass that introduce controlled daylighting to the interior, providingoccupants with downtown views, and give passersby a glimpse of the technology and programs housed within—a key component in promoting workforce training opportunities and learning environments to the area's underserved residents. The site is easily accessible via a new bus drop-off and is walkable for those who live within the SoBro (South of Broadway) neighborhood.
The AMIT features a number of sustainable and energy-efficient components, such as solar hot water heaters, LED lighting fixtures, high-efficiency gas-fired condensing boilers, and HVLS fans to increase air circulation and reduce electric loads from the buildings HVAC system.
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