Project Summary
Klingner was entrusted with planning and designing a multipurpose facility for Southeastern Community College (SCC) in West Burlington, Iowa. This structure provides the campus with a severe weather shelter with the capacity for more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, this flexible space is capable of hosting a diverse range of events from athletic training to graduation ceremonies.
Attached to the campus’ gymnasium, the 11,000 SF facility features amenities which are essential to the needs of sports and extracurricular activities. The locker rooms (accessible through respective restrooms) include 52 lockers with programmable keypad locks and four showers each, mirroring each other across the building’s main corridor. A spacious dressing room for athletic event officials is located immediately inside the facility’s southeast entrance, allowing for ease of access. This space includes a private restroom and shower as well as eight lockers and a small seating area. In order to accommodate the variety of events the structure may host, two large storage rooms can be found at either end of the multipurpose room housing tables, chairs, athletic equipment, and other readily-available resources.
The structure’s modern design efficiently intertwines practicality and style. Aspects of SCC’s branding can be seen from floor to ceiling, as carpet, tile, and acoustic baffles correspond with the school colors. Due to the magnitude of the multipurpose space, lighting and sound play an important role in the facility. The Klingner team’s choice of light fixtures serves a dual purpose, controlling the sound along with the illumination of the space. Coordinated with the function of acoustic ceiling baffles through size, shape, and composition, these fixtures feature 22 different lighting control zones with six presets to set the tone for the various events.
The FEMA P-316- and ICC-500-compliant facility is centrally located on campus, making it easily accessible to the populace in the event of a weather-related emergency. FEMA’s guidelines provide the structure with the means to withstand the direct impact of an EF5 tornado and 250 mph wind gusts to which the school is geographically prone. Owing to the meticulous evaluation completed by the Klingner team, the project was one of only three in the state of Iowa to receive grant funding via FEMA’s federal disaster relief assistance. Following this, updates made to the grant-mandated FEMA P-361 guidelines prompted the Klingner team to adapt by contacting manufacturers and contractors to confirm that all materials and procedures would meet the new requirements, reconfirming the safety of the structure.
Upon opening the facility to the public, it was dedicated as the Rev. Dr. William Amos “Booker” Smith Sr. Activity Hall after the college’s first person of color to graduate in 1931. About the structure, SCC’s President Dr. Michael Ash said, “This space is more than just a building. It’s a place of empowerment – a space for students to connect, grow, and build community.”
