Anoka-Ramsey Community College, School of Nursing

Home to the largest program on campus; nursing, as well as the business program and general-purpose classrooms, this 1970s, multi-discipline academic building had maxed out capacity within their existing space. Given the melting pot of student activity, the design evolved with the input of students and faculty to include more than just classrooms, but robust social spaces throughout the building that included open and accessible faculty offices and a commons that extended learning to the outdoors with new terrace. Some of the program elements included:

Active Learning Environments: Created collaborative classroom environments, establishing more flexible and hands-on learning spaces that provide the entire campus community with flexible learning and gathering spaces, maximizing every square foot of the building, and worked to eliminate MN State standard variances and achieve performance and program needs.

Simulation Suite: Provides dedicated control and observation/debrief spaces that increase learning flexibility and student exposure to needed simulation time in supplement to clinical hours.

Open Labs: Created dedicated spaces for individual student hands-on simulated spaces reflective of real-world experiences to close workforce experience gap.

Skills Labs: Were carefully configured with equipment placement, student flow, and realism where appropriate to mimic how students might encounter their first days as a licensed practitioner.

Engineering Infrastructure Upgrades: Replaced and modernized mechanical, electrical, fire and life safety, and A/V infrastructure, improving building and teaching efficiencies and user comfort throughout.