Houston Community College Coleman College student waiting room

Community College Learning Environments

Community colleges have unique educational goals. An increasing majority of their student bodies are part-time students who are juggling additional jobs and family life. They offer programs that require them to be on the front lines of innovation in trade and technical fields. They create new opportunities and offer critical resources that allow both students and community to thrive. 

Community college learning environments should reflect an institution's greatest ambitions while celebrating and supporting it's diverse student body. At HDR, we’ve spent time learning from higher education experts and thinking about how community college trends translate to space. Explore some of our insights, projects and continuing education units offerings. 

Education Architecture

We help make academic visions come to life through strategic facilities planning, the design of new classroom and laboratory buildings, and renovations that modernize facilities.

Virtual. Hybrid. Blended. In-person.

As we enter a pandemic era environment, community colleges are determining how best to deliver a successful learning experience based on what they've learned from the leap to online “virtual” learning necessitated by the pandemic. In this article, higher education leader David Zaiser reflects on the role of student choice in the future of public higher ed curriculum delivery. 

Houston Community College Coleman Health Sciences building hallway and student lounge area

Exploring the Frontlines of Higher Ed

What’s the secret to balancing the needs of “new traditional” community college students with the demands of their future professions? We discuss these topics and more in Part 1 of our interview with Dr. Phillip Nicotera and Dean Jeff Gricar from Houston Community College.

The future of allied health is patient-centric, collaborative, and technologically-advanced. In Part 2 of our interview, we take a closer look at how Houston Community College is integrating emerging technologies, advanced simulation, and interdisciplinary care into their allied health programs to align with the future of healthcare.

How can undergraduate science simultaneously trigger deep curiosity in students while teaching essential skills for the marketplace? In Part 1 of our interview, we talked to Professor John Kyndt at Bellevue University about how his institution supports inquiry-based learning.

The pandemic has expedited the journey to virtual and hybrid learning.  In Part 2 of our interview, Professor John Kyndt shared how hybrid courses may be key to providing both the efficiency and convenience that comes with online learning and the immeasurable benefit of human interaction.

Preparing the Healthcare Professionals of the Future

Live CEUs on Learning Environments

HDR is pleased to offer hour-long learning units that are approved by the AIA for continuing education credit. These courses provide new ideas on how to think about designing higher education learning spaces and what the future holds for them.