Identifying an opportunity to create stronger program synergies and increase visibility and accessibility to the community it serves, MCC made the strategic decision to move its Business & Technology campus to the urban core in hopes to build the workforce pipeline with a new population of workforce innovators.
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The Herndon Institute of Culinary Arts needed a new facility, but faced budget and site restraints of the existing building’s footprint. Hollis + Miller designed a new center twice the size of the existing one, including a commercial kitchen outfitted with new technology and a dining area.
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Now a decade after the deadly Joplin tornado, one elementary school looks back at what they did right when building anew.
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The new Carl B. Bruce Middle School worked with Hollis + Miller Architects to incorporate graphics to brand the facility in powerful ways.
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Hollis + Miller designs used an aviation setting to create a perfect balance between open-air learning, providing a secure environment and encouraging imaginative thinking.
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Hollis + Miller worked with Grain Valley Schools to develop the long-range master plan that would serve as the road map moving forward.
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As a partner of the Shawnee Mission School District, Hollis + Miller donated the design and construction of its signature outdoor learning classroom, known as Learnscape.
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With more than 14,000 students, the Blue Springs School District is one of the largest districts in the Kansas City area. Yet, for more than two decades, all ninth-graders at Blue Springs South High School attended a separate Freshman Center.
After a bond issue was approved by area voters in August 2018, the district began working on a new Freshman Center, which would become a part of the existing high school. The center was part of the district’s long-range plan as a way to strengthen the sense of school community.
And because entering high school is a huge transition, the goal of the new center was to alleviate stress points and make that transition as easy as possible for the students, while creating a strong sense of community and Jaguar pride.
The district chose Hollis + Miller Architects for the project, and Assistant Superintendent Jason Woolf said the firm’s track record on previous projects was the driving factor.
“We’ve had great success with them over the years,” he said. “We didn’t want to use anybody else because we know the job and the quality of work they do.”
To begin the process, the firm drove a couple of vans filled with architects and school representatives to Oklahoma to learn some best practices from a recently built freshman academy. Using the lessons they learned there, the team began the design process, placing a lot of focus on how Blue Springs students would use the new space, and how the design could reinforce the school’s overall goals. The firm worked closely with educators, staff and even students, said Dan Anderson, director of buildings and grounds for the district.
“When kids get out of class, where do they huddle up? Making that environment rich – making it purpose-driven – they spent a lot of time focused on, ‘What are your values in the schools?’ Then, they centered their designs and ideas on those kinds of mission statements or mottos.”
To accomplish that, the team created a large commons area to serve as a cohesive connection point between the existing building and the new center. The space was punctuated by a large wall of wooden slats (solving an acoustic issue in a nonobvious way), learning stairs and a vibrant jaguar, the school mascot. This space would offer many options for socializing or studying, and could be used by both the freshman wing as well as the upperclassmen.
Lively graphics were also added in school colors to reinforce the Blue Springs South brand, from the school interior to the street view, where a 56-foot, lighted stainless steel jaguar instills a sense of school pride in students and visitors. All students, staff and parents now enter through the same doors, creating a sense of community for the overall student body.
The new freshman center was fast-tracked and completed in August 2019 in time for the new school year, and incoming freshman were finally united under one roof alongside their peers. Woolf said the early collaboration led by Hollis + Miller was key to the project’s success:
“They do a really good job of reaching out to all the stakeholders at the district,” he said. “They don’t act like they know more than a teacher does; they sit down, they listen to you and they want your opinion. And if it’s not what you want, they’re not forcing it. They want to collaborate with everybody to make it a great product at the end.”
As the most diverse location of Kansas City’s Metropolitan Community College, the Penn Valley campus welcomes nearly 6,000 students each fall. However, the school recognized the need to upgrade its Student Success Center to more effectively serve the student population and provide a better sense of student life.
Originally built in the 1970s, the concrete building didn’t offer many student-friendly areas, lacked a modern look and comforts, and was barely used. The college turned to Hollis + Miller, its on-call architect, to provide a new solution for one floor of the building, which had been divided up into extra, unneeded classrooms and lacked a good source of natural light.
The floor in question was located just above a library, and the Hollis + Miller team began working to open up the space so it could be more easily used for tutoring. The college also wanted to provide room for a lounge space, food options, and a comfortable gathering area.
Instead of the existing classrooms, the team built a help desk with plenty of computer pods, creating an approachable setting for students. The new design introduced plenty of natural light, a cheery color palette, and various types of furniture (all of which can be moved) to accommodate different learning and study styles. The space also included new conference rooms and larger classrooms with plenty of glass to allow light in.
To help transform the space from one big box, the team also introduced a new ceiling system with a wood look and feel that added needed warmth to the space.
The college hoped the work could be done over the summer months to minimize disruption to the normal class schedule, so the Hollis + Miller team accelerated six months’ of work down to about three months (with a small amount of prep work completed before the spring semester ended). In 2018, the team finished the project in time for the new school year to begin.
John Southard, partner at Hollis + Miller, said the project had an even larger impact than he expected:
“We really enjoyed working with the MCC team, and it’s clear they really care about their students,” he said. “We worked together to co-create this space and really reimagine what they could add to their campus. I know the college has been excited to see so many students take advantage of the area, and I think it’s a perfect illustration of their commitment to higher education in the Kansas City region.”
Jeffco Public Schools in Denver area needed more space to accommodate the additional 400 children coming the following year, and also wanted to incorporate collaborative learning in a way that could benefit every Summit Ridge student.
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