Student Success Center

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL

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Shelter
Bringing resources together at a campus crossroads, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville saw potential for growing student success. Constructed as a 66,000SF, $16 million addition to the University Center, the Student Success Center meets SIU-E's goals of enhanced student learning, improved graduation and retention rates, and increased student recruitment. By creating a one-stop resource center in the heart of campus, a culture of success has been advanced. Among the services available are career counseling, tutoring, academic counseling, disability services, and health services. Open 24/7, a variety of open study lounges, small group study rooms, coffee house, and seminar rooms invite students to linger, explore and interact with available resources.
Shape
With student government and advisors guiding the way, the student success center concept was planned and fine-tuned with students, faculty, and staff involved in every step of the process. This engagement helped foster student support for increasing fees to fund the project. "It takes a community to educate a student,” said university provost Paul Ferguson. "This project involved the consolidation of numerous departments who had never worked together. Now, each works in sync to ensure individual student's progress." The center is reflective of the campus's modern architecture and includes many features of sustainable design, including day lighting, student-planted green roofs, and interior design that is comfortable, flexible, and easy to maintain.
Inspire
"In the planning and construction of the SSC," said SIU-E President Glenn Poshard, "it was imperative that our facility had our student's trademark on it - down to the artwork on the walls." With a 2010 ACUI Facility Design Award of Excellence and the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Silver Award, SIUE was pleased with their partnership with Mackey Mitchell.

Passion + Perspective

The placement of building additions is tested early in schematic design. Here the design team is testing a number of key programmatic arrangements for the client's review.
Once the general location of the addition is decided, a exercise that we call "blocking and stacking" is performed on the building. Blocking and Stacking helps answer the questions of building height, size and proportion.
Site diagrams help the design team begin to consider the exterior spaces and how they inform and compliment the building design.
This image shows more detail in the design and begins to arrange programmatic spaces within each floor.
Projects are studied both in three dimensions and in two dimensions. Elevation studies are often used to finalize the exterior material composition, window placement and scale.