New Learning Commons Provides Collaborative, Social Spaces

The new Learning Commons at Kettering University located in Flint, Michigan complements the university’s curriculum with a facility  focused on collaboration, ideation and digital technology.

The new 105,000-square-foot Learning Commons incorporates building systems that speak to the permanence and longevity of the institution, while offering durability for the decades ahead. The four-story design features an open-air atrium, and a skylight that fills the entire interior space with natural light. The first and second floors feature public gathering, dining and collaborative spaces, focused on creating dynamic social spaces for students. The third and fourth floors consist of additional collaborative spaces and environments for research, student support, media resources, individual focus and group project work.

Other elements of the new Learning Commons include a digital library, a 200-seat multi-media auditorium, dining facilities, outdoor patios and rooftop terraces and an overnight suite for guest professors and lecturers.

The new Learning Commons features more than a dozen ”D-Spaces.” These spaces serve as collaborative study and team rooms that provide comfortable and functional seating for students, faculty and staff, along with digital and analog work tools. There are two Knowledge Bars hosting an entirely digital library, which holds over 900,000 e-books, 100,000 e-journals and more than 100 databases. Other amenities include a 1,600-square-foot rooftop garden designed to reduce run-off and lower temperatures on its surface and the surrounding area.

The interior was designed to provide optimum flexibility, with power and technology woven throughout. The building can easily transform to meet the needs of students and faculty, while also allowing for easy adaptability to future programs or space reconfigurations.

Project team:

Photography: Jason Keen Photography
General contractor/construction manager: Clark Construction Company
Owner and/or developer: Kettering University
Design architect: Stantec Architecture Inc.
Architect of record: Stantec Architecture Inc.
MEP engineer: Stantec Architecture Inc.
Structural engineer: Stantec Architecture Inc.