Safe and Secure
by Jonathan McGaha | August 31, 2010 12:00 am
The Homeland Security Education Center at the College of DuPage will exude contrasting styles
“Homeland Security” has been a phrase we’ve all come to accept in the past few years, but most of our understanding of the actual practice of homeland security is a bit foggy. Like anything else, the concepts, principles and techniques must be taught, and that requires a school, of sorts.
Enter the College of DuPage campus in Glen Ellyn, Ill. and the Homeland Security Education Center that is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011. Designed by Legat Architects and Brubaker, the $25 million project will house the college’s current Criminal Justice and Fire Science programs, as well as the COD Police Department and Suburban Law Enforcement Academy training center. More than 7,500 students each year participate in the programs that will be housed in the new building.
The design of this 61,100-square-foot (5,676 m2) facility is as distinctive as the programs it will house. Located at the intersection of two busy roads, the HEC displays two volumes: a rectangular glass and steel-gridded event space, and an auditorium whose metal-clad walls undulate.
Project Designer Steve Brubaker wanted the HEC design to be solid enough to support its primary function, yet unique enough to pique curiosity.
“It’s a predictable block accentuated by a series of unpredictable episodes,” said Brubaker. These “episodes” include façade recesses and protrusions, height variations, and color and material differences.
“The differences create a dialogue of contrasts: private and transparent; level and angled; introverted and extroverted,” he added.
Metal panels in three different colors were selected as a cost-effective way to relate to the industrial quality of other campus buildings, yet push the HEC in a new direction. Brubaker commented that the panels’ random arrangement and bluishgreen colors merge technology and nature.
Homeland Security Education Center
Architect of record: Legat Architects, Chicago
Design architect: Brubaker Architects, Wilmette, Ill.
Construction manager: Power Construction Co., Schaumburg, Ill.
Structural engineer: Larson Engineering, White Bear Lake, Minn.
Wall panels: All American Exterior Solutions, Citadel Envelope 2000 System
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/safe-and-secure/