Southeastern Community College (SCC) faced a tough situation. Located in Tornado Zone IV — the highest wind speed risk in the United States — the school had no real protection from severe weather.
Recent storms had been breaking records for severity and duration, and the only safeguard the college had was scattered rooms without windows across campus.
The challenge went beyond just safety. SCC also needed a facility that could serve wrestlers needing practice space, staff needing meeting rooms, and student organizations needing event space. Finding a way to roll all of it — severe weather protection and campus support spaces — into one cohesive structure would allow the school to accomplish even more for less. Yet, by making the new safe room an integral part of everyday campus life, it could not merely be a simple, bunker-like structure. The new building needed to be just as inspiring as the spaces around it.
When the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program offered financial relief, a new hurdle appeared: FEMA released updated, stringent design requirements mid-project, raising the bar for what the building needed to achieve.
“With the recent updates to FEMA regulations, many of the products had not been certified yet. This presented a challenge to meet the grant’s completion deadline and design the building to blend with the other buildings on campus.” – Russell Brissey, Project Manager, Senior Architect – Klingner & Associates, P.C.
The Klingner team rose to the challenge by reinventing the design to meet the new FEMA standards. That meant engineering the building’s walls, doors, and windows to withstand missile impacts and wind pressures far beyond standard construction requirements. Challenging soil conditions on the project site required creative foundation solutions to support the building’s considerable weight and meet FEMA load requirements while still protecting the foundation of the connecting gym.
“The [SCC Safe Room] has already become an important part of our campus emergency preparedness plan and enhances overall safety and resilience.” – Cory Gall, VP of Administrative Services – Southeastern Community College
The Safe Room is designed to blend safety with visual appeal. Containing a large multipurpose space, ample storage, spacious restrooms and locker rooms, and a dedicated officials’ locker room, the facility camouflages advanced safety with average-seeming materials. The steel coiling door is low-profile at the main entrance, but can be deployed at a moment’s notice to protect inhabitants from a storm or fire. Entering the multipurpose space, large windows can be seen, filling the space with natural light. These windows are 2”-thick and rated for up to an EF5 tornado and 250 MPH winds, offering protection without any human intervention. Many details of the structure include SCC’s school colors, such as interior and exterior walls, trim, acoustic tiles, and more. The carefully-planned spatial design allows it to serve a variety of functions, including athletic practices and training, career fairs and STEM events, graduations and ceremonies, and various meetings and events.
“With this new facility, they’re able to set up events a couple days in advance and not have to rearrange everybody’s schedule. It just provides them some more flexibility.” – Russell Brissey, Project Manager, Senior Architect – Klingner & Associates, P.C.
The facility also serves the surrounding community. Its proximity to the Des Moines County Fairgrounds makes it a weatherproof gathering space for fair programming. In the event of severe weather or an otherwise unsafe situation outside of SCC’s hours of operation, the facility is further equipped with emergency access.
“Beyond meeting FEMA and building code requirements, [Klingner] delivered a design that integrates seamlessly with the existing campus, maximizes functionality, and ensures long-term durability and ease of maintenance.” – Cory Gall, VP of Administrative Services – Southeastern Community College
Upon opening in March 2025, the facility was dedicated as Rev. Dr. William Amos “Booker” Smith, Sr. Activity Hall in honor of the college’s first black graduate. His legacy of perseverance serves as a fitting parallel to the safe room. Through challenges, he stood as a pillar of strength to secure a future for himself and the generations that would follow.
What began as several seemingly unrelated problems were solved by one building that offers life-saving technology, optimized grant funding, and serves as a vibrant hub of campus activity.
The SCC FEMA Safe Room received a Grand Place Award from ACEC Iowa in the Buildings and Systems category. The project also earned a National Recognition Award in the American Council of Engineering Companies 2026 Engineering Excellence Awards.
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