Cooper Carry - The Center for Connective Architecture

Location: Athens, Georgia
Client: Georgia Board of Regents
Contact: Roger Miller & Tim Fish

The Student Learning Center embodies the University of Georgia’s mission to teach, serve and encourage inquiry through the integration of classroom and library experience. The center promotes interaction and collaboration between the students, faculty and the extended academic community. The 205,000 square foot facility integrates 26 classrooms that seat over 2,400 students with a 2,600-seat “virtual library.” The library offers study areas for individuals and groups to promote information literacy with computer network connections—there are no traditional library stacks in the facility. Located in the center of campus, the Student Learning Center serves as a link between the north and south campuses and is designed in the aesthetic tradition of UGA’s North campus. The scale, form and articulation of the four-story structure observe the traditional campus architecture, while expressing an aesthetic that is both progressive and familiar. The design incorporates two flat lock copper domes, precast concrete cornices and structural precast concrete columns. The design also acknowledges the importance of the exterior space it creates as well as the programmed space within. The successful planning of the Student Learning Center is a by-product of a clear and intelligent program developed and sequentially implemented by a framework of user groups, steering committees and the design team. This planning framework was a direct result of the unique challenge presented by the University to create a place at the heart of the campus where teaching and research will be seamlessly combined. With the University’s desire to integrate technology within the research and teaching experience, and with the desire to have these experiences more closely connected, the planning framework mirrors the overall mission. The planning process for this project was user-based, and therefore extremely effective because all departments of the University with a stake in the final product were given a forum to effectively exchange ideas and represent themselves. The building will be the center for learning for students at the University of Georgia and in many ways it will define the University for the next century.

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University of Georgia Student Learning Center