This exterior rendering is taken from the campus side of the building, next to the main entry. The focus of the project entails creating a place, both inside and out, that fosters student interaction.  (Courtesy Photo)

Southwest Tennessee Community College has broken ground on a new academic building to be constructed on its 110-acre Macon Cove Campus, located just off the I-40 and I-240 expressways in the eastern part of the city.

The new academic building is part of phase two of the Macon Cove Campus Master Plan devised in 1990. This project has been on the Tennessee Board of Regents’ Capital Outlay list for requesting new buildings since 1994.

The new two-story, 106,000 gross square foot structure is being designed exclusively with 21st century classrooms and labs. This visual, audio, and interactive technology will employ the -use of multimedia projectors, document cameras, interactive presentation boards and podiums or presentation desks, DVD/VCR combos, and Extron and AMX control systems to address the challenging learning styles of the media-saturated, new millennium student.

Thirty-six classrooms, and 13 laboratories including computer, biology, chemistry, physics, multimedia, and paralegal will be constructed. A presentation theater, honors suite, faculty lounge, 50 offices and three conference rooms are other features.

A major goal in planning the building’s design was to create an environment that fosters student interaction.

“The project focuses on student interaction through the way the building is sited on campus and through its interior design,” said Joseph M. Bucher of Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, Inc.

“The relationship of the entry ‘lanterns’ to the newly created campus quadrangle includes numerous small gathering areas to promote an atmosphere of community and form a connective link between the interior environment and the outdoors.”

Liberal Studies and Education; Business, Career Studies and Technologies; and Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Health Sciences divisions will be housed in the building. It will replace two outdated, high-maintenance permanent buildings – Parrish and Jennings Halls, which are 40 years old.