Holyoke Community College - Various Projects

+ Overview

HKT has worked on various projects at Holyoke Community College. We are currently completing the Campus Center renovations and the Culinary Arts Center.

• MGM Resorts Center for Hospitality + Culinary Arts: In conjunction with MGM Resorts, Holyoke Community College has relocated their Culinary Arts Program to downtown Holyoke, MA. Aided by a grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the project converts two floors of a fully renovated mill building into a state-of-the-art teaching environment. Facilities include a demonstration kitchen, bakery, hot and cold labs, and a full production kitchen. Key features include a full dining room for training and receptions, as well as classrooms, offices and conference rooms, which will be shared by the Workforce Development program of the EDA. The Center will assist with training personnel for jobs related to the culinary arts and hospitality to augment the needs of the MGM Resorts’ entertainment facilities now under construction in nearby Springfield, MA.

• Frost/Donahue Buildings and Campus Center/Building G: This project, from study to design and construction, included programming and planning efforts for renovations and improvements to the Frost/Donahue Building and an addition/renovation to the Campus Center / G Building at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, MA. These campus buildings were designed as cast-in-place architectural concrete structures, dramatically set into a hillside on the western part of the campus. The overall linear quality of Frost/Donahue restricted flexibility and adjacencies required for current uses while the Campus Center suffered from a spatial configuration that did not work well as well as water infiltration. Split into two phases, the project involved to expanding and relocating key departments within the college and improving access and circulation to them. Extensive departmental interviews and programming resulted in the workplans moving forward.

• Frost/Donahue Building Renovations: HKT’s redesign incorporated a serpentine corridor creating a meandering path for students to relieve the monotony of the existing linear cast-in-place concrete hallways. Retrofitted areas included the Offices for Students with Disabilities, Student Activities, Institutional Advancement, Student Health Services, upgraded toilet rooms, addition of a transgender single occupancy toilet, and the conversion of two larger classrooms into three. The Office for Students with Disabilities had been constructed before most accessibility requirements had become part of our standard building codes and featured doors and offices too narrow for a wheelchair to navigate. Through reconfiguration of these spaces, HKT was able to create a fully accessible design for students and staff. All services were required to be active during construction, which presented a challenge to phasing the work.

• Campus Center Renovations: The existing Campus Center at Holyoke Community College is an architectural cast-in-place concrete structure partially set into a hill. The original design features sloping cast-in-place concrete roofs and exterior balconies with discontinuous waterproofing barriers. As a result, since it first opened in the early 1980s, the building has been plagued with water infiltration issues. The new design offers solutions to the infrastructure issues, as well as a reorganization and renovation of spaces to create a vibrant student center on campus. HKT suggested recapturing underutilized square footage by squaring off the sloped façade and enclosing balconies to expand the building but not the footprint. The design also relocated the campus store to the same floor level as dining services and Student Activities Department to increase foot traffic and boost sales. A new footbridge that crosses a seasonal stream will bring visitors and users from major parking areas to the new front door of the campus center.

+ Project Details

• Client Holyoke Community College + Division of Capital Assets Management + Maintenance
• Project Type Various