Tour College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus Student Center designed by Legat. See construction and drone footage, interior highlights from the first-floor Welcome and One Stop Center to the fifth-floor Eleanor Murkey Community Center, and of course, the top-floor deck offering unobstructed views of Lake Michigan.
Sustainable urban campus expansion increases programming, reinforces college brand, and offers stunning views of Lake Michigan
College of Lake County’s (CLC) new, six-story Lakeshore Campus Student Center stems from a 40-year relationship between CLC and Legat Architects. The six-story center, which connects to the college’s existing buildings on the second and third floors, paves the way for a wider variety of courses at CLC’s Waukegan campus.
Throughout the 63,000-square-foot facility, green and blue design elements reinforce the college brand. Each floor also features a distinctive ceiling, ranging from the acoustical felt baffles that ripple above the library to the perforated metal dotted by light circles above the Health Sciences corridor.
Tall windows displaying downtown Waukegan surround the fifth-floor Eleanor Murkey Community Center, named after the first dean of the campus. The top floor also opens to the facility’s showcase space: an outside deck with a cantilevered roof offers unobstructed views of Lake Michigan just a quarter mile to the east.
The center’s sustainable highlights include fritted glass to prevent bird collisions, east-facing electrochromic glazing that tints in sunlight to reduce heat gain, 140 rooftop solar panels, a chilled-beam HVAC system, and much more. The facility also offers a small outdoor terrace on the link between the new and existing buildings.
Project Awards
Award of Merit,
Chicago Building Congress
This facility will support student life, with every option ranging from the testing center to the library, the adult education hub to the medical office assistant labs, nursing classrooms and a phlebotomy lab.
JB Pritzker,
Governor, State of Illinois
This expansion represents more than just a building – it celebrates the success of our community. The Student Center is bringing an air of unity and collaboration to us all.
Jesus Ruiz,
Dean, CLC Lakeshore Campus Student Center