Northeast Iowa Community College has ambitious construction plans underway throughout the college district, and are turning to the proven architectural services of Invision Architecture, based in Des Moines and Waterloo.
    The architectural firm will be responsible for designing building expansions and structural plans for new construction. Invision held planning and input sessions for the past two months to learn NICC’s organizational structure, staff needs, the layout of campus buildings and the college’s future plans.
    In addition to informational sessions, Invision invited NICC staff members to participate in an online questionnaire and examined the college’s goals to help its architects understand the college. The sessions and Web-based surveying techniques identified department and office space needs at the college’s campuses and centers. Intense two-day sessions in June helped Invision become familiar with the college’s goals, master plan, strategic planning priorities and how individual departments work together.
    “Part of Invision’s planning and design process for NICC is looking at the collegiate experience for students. Overall, we’re asking how the college is going to grow and what buildings need to grow over the next 10-20 years,” said Brad Leeper, with Invision Architecture.
    Leeper said that presentations to NICC administrators and staff also offered an opportunity to share architectural trends in modern campus design. Many colleges and universities are moving to a student-centered model that encourages student-faculty interaction, modes of interaction on campuses, sustainability, improved access to advanced technology and areas that enhance the college experience for students.
    Invision Architecture staff shared trends at colleges that improve staff and department operations, space allocation and adjacency issues. Architects are helping to create memorable learning experiences for students and promote shared working spaces to improve teamwork and efficiency amongst staff.
    “We’re starting preliminary diagrammatic plan development, based on the information we have, and testing how our work will fit the master facilities plan the college has already developed,” Leeper said.
    The first project the college will complete with proceeds from the December 2007 bond levy vote is the renovation of the upper floor of the Town Clock Center in downtown Dubuque for the creation of a “One Stop” work force center.
    This project involved numerous meetings between Invision, NICC and its partners, Iowa Workforce Development, East Central Intergovernmental Agency and The City of Dubuque. The result of these meetings was the development of the project’s plans and specifications that are now out for bid and due back for review at the next Board of Trustees meeting on July 21. The project is expected to be complete at the end of the year.
    Invision Architecture has worked at all three state universities and is currently working on an addition to the Dental Sciences building at the University of Iowa.