Architect(s): Ankrom Moisan
Electrical Contractor: Veca Electric
General Contractor: Tiger Construction
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Project Summary:
Whatcom Community College’s new Cedar Hall is designed to bring students together, as advisors more than architects and designers. The floor plan intentionally guides interactions between student programs, architectural planning, and thoughtful design all running together. Students can find impromptu spaces for interaction abound from lounge areas or study rooms in the building itself.
The upper-level library, and the “grand stair” to it, face east toward Mount Baker and the Cascade Range. The communal heart of Whatcom Community College is also known as “the Pod,” a double-height shed that glows like a beacon at night with socialization encouraged through human connection.
Cedar Hall, the first of three buildings to be constructed on campus for Whatcom Community College, is a living space meant primarily as interaction with public spaces but also includes private and academic areas. The building’s layout was originally intended because it has a smaller footprint than other schools in order to maximize available land while holding plenty of room for future expansion. Above Cedar Hall’s entry door are study areas that visually reveal its program from the social interaction at street level up through more traditional classrooms near the top floor where students may find privacy and quiet time studying or reading books under natural light filtering into their windowless surroundings
