The Power and Promise of Community Colleges

Designing for community colleges hits home—literally—with Ramu Ramachandran, a principal in Perkins Eastman’s Chicago studio. His wife, Reva, got interested in accounting after they had kids; their local community college offered classes, and they figured it would be an affordable way for her to explore the field. Her professors then took her under their wing, inspiring her to complete a full course of study and earn her CPA. “We’re big champions for community colleges around here. It’s a very practical way of managing finances for families,” Ramachandran says.

“I think community colleges are an incredible resource,” says Carisima Koenig, a principal and co-leader of the College + University practice. For older professionals who are switching course midlife, for traditionally aged students who want to save money before transferring to a four-year university, and for those who need specific skill sets to advance in their profession, she says, “community colleges have to be almost all things to all people,” she says.

A newly designed plaza at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA, increases accessibility and widens sightlines across the campus. Both new and existing buildings were painted in a color code for ease of wayfinding, while the new EVC signage provides an “Instagram moment.” Photograph by Andrew Rugge / © Perkins Eastman

A Gallup poll conducted in July revealed that nearly half of all Americans report “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in community colleges across factors such as cost, value of the degree, quality, and student experience.  And while undergraduate enrollment at all colleges and universities is still lower than before the pandemic, according to Inside Higher Ed, the numbers have rebounded more quickly at community colleges. A May, 2024, report from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that they’ve seen the most post-COVID growth of any sector in higher education. “I think now we’re seeing a lot more that it’s a smarter choice, and it’s an active choice. It’s a way for students to very wisely spend their educational dollars,” says Martha Parham, the senior vice president for public relations at the American Association of Community Colleges.

At Perkins Eastman, a cadre of architects, consultants, and planners focus on strategic plans, new-building designs, renovation, and reuse projects that honor these institutions’ standing in their communities, strengthen their ties to area universities and employers, and welcome the broadly diverse population of their students. “We are saying with our actions that, like four-year universities, community colleges also deserve architecture with a big ‘A,’ because the work they are doing is very impactful indeed,” says Principal Omar Calderón Santiago.

Access and Diversity

Perkins Eastman recently completed a new general-education building and a large nursing addition to an existing biology building at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA, which build on many smaller, transformative renovations had previously executed across the institution’s campus. The college also asked the team to implement new accessibility and inclusivity standards throughout the entire campus. The improvements prioritize pedestrians over cars, and the new nursing and general-education buildings are accessible to everyone, regardless of ability.

The new General Education building is set back from an existing service road to give pedestrians priority around its grounds via wide, stair-free pathways. The other side of the building looks out over a pond.
Photograph © Perkins Eastman

The interventions reflect—and respect—the diversity of the school’s population, Perkins Eastman Associate Principal Kathryn Wagner says. “A stereotypical student doesn’t exist, so we’re catering this design to everyone,” she says.

Before and after: Physical and visual barriers rendered the main campus entry into an unwelcoming experience, but the new plaza expands the view and punctuates the buildings with color and signage.
Photographs © Perkins Eastman 

The experience starts at the entry, whose plaza originally posed many obstacles in the form of tiered steps, large granite benches, a fountain, and walls that obstructed views through the campus. Adding to those barriers, Wagner says, “there wasn’t a single clear sign indicating where you were!” The new, curbless plaza was re-graded so it’s open with broad sight lines. And “you’re approaching on a flat or sloped walkway, so everyone uses the same entry,” she adds. Even inside the buildings, where primary circulation stairs were necessary, elevators were placed immediately adjacent to them to ensure a consistent experience between all students. Wayfinding was also democratized, with color keys indicating different buildings and departments, Wagner explains, “so if English isn’t your first language, you can still find your way around.”

Creating a Meaningful Experience

Online education grew exponentially with the onset of COVID-19, and it’s here to stay, says Perkins Eastman Principal Jean Gath. But this new paradigm presents a challenge to campus leaders who want to provide their students a reason to come in person. “What makes it comfortable for them to come when they don’t have to be on campus?” Gath says. “They don’t have a lot of time. They’re not on campus eight hours a day,” she explains, so “the proximity and visibility and concentration of services is really important, plus the ability to collaborate with peers when you’re on campus, and having a place to do so.”

Gath and a team of designers were on hand this month at the ground breaking for the new College of the Desert in Palm Springs, CA. This project follows an adaptive reuse project in Austin, TX, where Austin Community College now occupies what was previously a shopping mall. Each project involved campus planning and space programming to support more collaborative methods of learning and strengthen partnerships with local industries. Central to both is an “Accelerator” containing flexible space for myriad uses and prominent locations for counseling and career-skills training. The College of the Desert is a new, 30-acre campus being designed to support signature programs in hotel and hospitality, digital arts, health and wellness, and sustainability. In addition to the Accelerator, another focus is a welcoming central drop-off area for buses, taxis, and ride sharing. Fifty percent of the school’s students will be arriving in ways other than a private vehicle, Gath says.

The adaptive reuse of a former shopping mall provided good infrastructure for Austin Community College’s needs. Renderings © Perkins Eastman 

Austin Community College makes use of the former Highland Mall’s broad corridors, central courtyards, and storefront windows that give students a glimpse of all that it has to offer. Also paramount are lighting and safety, Gath adds. “These are by their nature very open campuses, more urban areas. You need lighting and clarity of circulation,” she says. Unlike four-year institutions where most students live on campus, commuting students “want to know exactly where they’re going. They don’t have two weeks to get acquainted or to discover things over time.”

Preparing for Takeoff

Community colleges are adept at bridging their students to the next step in their career or education.  “The ebb and flow is constant,” says Parham of the American Association of Community Colleges. Nearly 40 percent of students are enrolled in career and technical education, she says. Others are pursuing an associate’s degree to transfer into a four-year university, which for many is a way to save money on the first two years of their education. Design teams at Perkins Eastman have helped these colleges make those transitions successful.

In San Jose, Evergreen Valley College’s new nursing-program addition includes a hospital-simulation suite that allows students the opportunity to learn in a real-world setting.

A rendering of the new nursing addition at Evergreen Valley College simulates a real healthcare environment, so students can seamlessly transfer from an educational setting to a clinical one. Rendering © Perkins Eastman

The College of the Desert’s campus plan includes a learning hotel and restaurant so graduates can move into upper positions in the region’s tourism industry. And the Perkins Eastman-designed Higher Education Center at Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA) Loudoun County campus features a state-of-the-art broadcast recording studio and advanced Geographic Information Systems lab—an important resource for those seeking jobs with the DC region’s government agencies and contractors. “They’re replicating what students will find in the local workforce,” Gath says.

The Higher Education Center at Northern Virginia Community College’s Loudoun County campus was an early example of how a beautiful, healthy environment can dramatically impact student performance.
Photograph © Alan Karchmer

High Performance

Most of these institutions in the past were utilitarian to the extreme—nondescript buildings amidst a sea of parking so commuters could come and go as quickly as possible. But their profiles have risen—especially given the movement by states and employers to waive four-year degree requirements in favor of skills and experience. Campus planners and architects are helping institutions evolve to meet the moment. Calderón Santiago first started seeing this evolution a decade ago, when he was designing NOVA’s Higher Education Center. The experience was another data point in the team’s efforts to demonstrate the positive effects on student performance that healthy indoor environmental quality, comfortable temperatures, ample natural light, and views of nature can impart.

The building’s material composition of stone and brick, punctuated by an airy glass volume that stretches out over the water, has become the centerpiece of the campus—and a draw for students around the region.
Photograph © Alan Karchmer

“This building was very unexpected—and that’s also the point,” Calderón Santiago says. Fast forward to Perkins Eastman’s latest projects at Evergreen Valley College, and it’s easy to see that this approach has become de rigueur for these progressive, local, and increasingly sought-after institutions.