As the only technical community college in Massachusetts, with an annual enrollment of more than 7,400 day, evening, weekend, and online students, Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) offers educational and career programs unparalleled in the state. The college was founded in 1967 and occupies 35 acres of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. ABA’s design for a new Student Learning Center in a former armory storehouse integrates sustainable site design, modern building systems, and technology upgrades to a 767-foot-long, 150-year-old building while maintaining the site’s historical integrity.

Constructed in four phases from 1846 through 1863, the masonry storehouse was inherited by STCC in 1968. The transformation of the deteriorated structure into the Student Learning Center provided an innovative solution to a longstanding and vexing campus problem known as the “STCC Shuffle.” Because student services were dispersed across the site, often in difficult-to-find locations, prospective students get lost, discouraged, or simply abandon the frustrating process of enrolling and continuing their education.

Working with STCC, ABA consolidated the Student Learning Center program into four major hubs and centers, integrating essential student services to ensure students receive the necessary support to transform their lives. The Student Enrollment and Academic Advising Centers simplify enrollment processes and improve access to student services. The Learning Commons combines the STCC library with instructional spaces, tutoring, and information technology services. The Student Center includes a café, bookstore, and meeting areas for students to study and socialize at the new center of their campus. The site design provides a new campus identity by recovering former green space and creating a walkable landscape. Pedestrian connections to other buildings and open spaces are improved and created while restoring the historical character of the campus.

The Student Learning Commons project has received numerous planning, design,
and preservation awards, including a BSA Higher Education Facilities Design Award, an AIA New England Citation Award, a SCUP Excellence in Planning Honor Award, a SCUP Excellence in  Architecture Honorable Mention, a Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award from  Preservation Massachusetts, and a Building Design + Construction Reconstruction Award.