Metropolitan Community College

Blue River East

A new facility that promotes hands-on learning and training for specialized programs, strengthening the future of the workforce in Kansas City

Information

Location Independence, Missouri
Size 25,500 SF
Completion 2022
Services Architecture
Project Type Community Colleges

Metropolitan Community College (MCC) Blue River East Building in Independence, Missouri, establishes a new campus which is home to the Great Plains OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Education Center and MCC’s CDL (Commercial Driver’s License), Forklift, Linework, and Logistics programs. The Blue River East campus serves 800+ students enrolled in these specialized programs. As part of an initiative to consolidate programs from MCC’s former Business Technology campus to better suit program needs, transitioning to the Blue River East site was a transformative move for the College. In a former facility, programs were housed within deep floorplates that lacked access natural daylight and clear wayfinding. MCC recognized the design of the new Blue River East building as a significant opportunity to showcase its programs through transparent, modern, navigable, and human-purposed design.

Impact + Innovation

The new MCC Blue River East building and campus is focused on being a good neighbor with the Independence, MO, community and aims to help strengthen Kansas City’s future workforce, fulfill a high demand for technical skills, and create a positive impact within the local economy. The design maximizes MCC’s resources to create a hands-on learning and training environment that provides useful and engaging spaces for the College’s community of students and faculty. The building is thoughtfully divided into these fully conditioned, high bay heat-only, and exterior training areas in order to better accommodate programmatic needs as well as lower the facility’s EUI (energy use intensity). In exploratory studies at the beginning of the project, the design team discovered that many of the spaces had a much lower energy demand than anticipated, allowing for significant reduction in the building’s energy use. Among these spaces, the design emphasizes a connective interface between the indoor and outdoor environments.

Process

The design team worked within the parameters a pre-engineered metal building system which served as the primary structure of the Blue River East building. Maximizing this pre-engineered structure and building materials, the design team focused on financial and sustainable stewardship within a modest budget. The MCC Blue River East building demonstrates pragmatic and creative design solutions that showcase the notable work of MCC students and their role in the future of the workforce. Located on a 100-year flood plan, the design team worked with MCC to analyze resiliency design options including the building cladding, electrical systems locations, and structural systems. Building systems are intentionally elevated to remove them from flood plain proximity. Stormwater is also managed and maintained onsite, implementing strategies including native planting. In addition to addressing the floodplain, the design team identified the Blue River East building as a strong future candidate for net zero energy with the potential installation of a rooftop solar array.

People

Team

Dan Johnson
Jeremy Kahm
Sarah Murphy
Sarah Johnson
James Pfeiffer
Brian McKinney
Barbara Cugno

Client

Metropolitan Community College

The Blue River Campus building was an immediate unanimous Top Choice for all of us we just all fell in love with this project right away. It is so exceptionally executed. Its compact flexible and raw structure strictly and elegantly economizes resources. It’s just a beautifully simple well-edited highly thoughtful design. The sighting of the structure and zoning of spaces are deliberate in the varieties and strategies for climate.

2023 AIA Kansas City Awards Jury on selecting MCC Blue River as the Project of the Year