College of DuPage, Technology Education Center

Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Firm

DeStefano and Partners Ltd.

Client

College of DuPage

Area

178,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$40,000,000

Completion Date

02/2009

The 178,000-square-foot Technology Education Center (TEC) is a three-story structure containing a diverse set of program components, including laboratory, classroom and office areas to support the college’s technology-based, career-training courses.
The building is designed to be used as a teaching tool, revealing structural and MEP systems to students pursuing those trades. From the grit of welding and automotive laboratories to architecture and interior-design studios, the facility reflects in massing and architectural expression the character of each mode of teaching.
Contrasting exterior materials visually articulate the rich, functional mix of interior spaces. Large concrete panels define the lab spaces with minimal natural-light requirements, and a more transparent curtainwall system of glass and fiber-reinforced cement panels defines the classroom and office spaces requiring greater natural light.
A separate, adjacent greenhouse structure, used as a laboratory for horticulture students, takes advantage of the site’s southern exposure.
Registered for LEED certification upon completion, the TEC is intended to support a broad sustainable and educational agenda, promoting environmental consciousness through the synthesis of technological expertise and design principles.