USD Community College for Sioux Falls Classroom Building and USD GEAR Center

LOCATION:
Sioux Falls, SD

DETAILS:
Campus master plan, new 61,000 sf classroom building, and 21,000 sf research building

SERVICES:
Architecture
Electrical Engineering
Interior Design
Mechanical Engineering
Structural Engineering

Balancing traditional and modern this Sioux Falls campus was formed to uniquely shape the future of higher education by offering classes and degree programs from South Dakota’s six public universities. TSP worked with the South Dakota Board of Regents and stakeholders to lead master-planning for the 263-acre campus, which originally was known as the South Dakota Public Universities & Research Center. The TSP team followed with full design for the first built projects: a Classroom Building and the Graduate Education and Applied Research (GEAR) Center. The names changed in the years that followed, as the campus became USDSU and then University Center. Its purpose, though, remained unchanged.

In 2019, the Classroom Building was rebranded and repurposed to serve a new vision: The USD Community College for Sioux Falls. University of South Dakota is the managing institution of the partnership, which also includes Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, and Southeast Tech. All four will offer courses and programs through CCSF.

The Classroom Building evokes a nostalgic “21st Century Old Main” sentiment, developing a trademark campus focal point and initiating a consistent aesthetic and materials palette. The building is grounded with regional stone and brick to symbolize a solid foundation for higher education. As the building rises, materials become more modern, communicating the Universities’ vision for the future.

Linked by an iconic skywalk, the Graduate Education & Applied Research (GEAR) Center includes wet, electronic, light-sensitive, and clean room accessible laboratories clustered together to encourage collaboration across disciplines. State-of-the-art communications infrastructure enables researchers to interact with other scientists and offer research results to the broader scientific community. These same features are incorporated into classrooms, enhancing interaction among students, researchers, and scientists locally and around the world. The GEAR Center remains under the management of the same USD arm that’s developing the USD Discovery District.