Miami Dade College-kendall Campus, Academic Support Center

MDC Kendall Academic Support Center Miami, Florida This new 134,000 sf facility will include space for use by the Student services department, the new Business School program and the Campus academic needs at large. In addition it will provide a conferencing center which includes a 200-student multipurpose room and a testing center which is used by the community. The main student atrium at the heart of the building bridges the student center offices and 24 high-tech classrooms providing a central space for student activities and showcasing MDC life. Combining contextual elements found in the unique architectural language of the campus, the academic support center blends elements of the past with contemporary ideas of sustainability and building performance. The new building will provide a new hearth for the campus and allow for visitors to understand and research MDC’s resources and opportunities. It will allow for MDC to benchmark it’s future facilities and position itself nationally as a leader on learning environments, sustainability and student life. One hundred percent of the storm water will be managed onsite. As part of this strategy a dry retention basin is located to the east of the building to provide a collection and filtration area to the superficial storm water generated around the main entrance of the building. Site The primary Design Intent is to provide a sustainable place that responds to the flows entering the site and those leaving the site (solar access, prevailing winds, pedestrian/vehicular circulation, utilities access, storm-water flows, etc) and creates a welcoming experience for people going to the building or using the vicinity of the building to go to another destination on campus. The site design will have two distinct areas of development: a plaza south of the building that extends west to the front of building 9000 and a semi-covered, outdoor open court to the east that seeks to address the main building entry and frame the views out from the building’s central atrium. Vegetation in these two areas will consist of native and adapted planting species.