Norwich University: Wise Campus Center Northfield, VT
Services: ●● Program Development ●● System Design and Documentation ●● Implementation Oversight ●● Architectural / Engineering Design Support Technologies: ●● Audiovisual Systems ●● Structured Cabling Founded in 1819 and located in the Green Mountains of northern Vermont, Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States. With approximately 3,400 students, Norwich is one of the country’s six senior military colleges and is recognized as the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). The 71,000-square-foot Wise Campus Center (WCC) serves as the social hub of the Norwich University campus, known as the oldest private military school in the country. Nestled against a backdrop of the Northfield Mountains, the jeweled-glass-box building offers community members spectacular views of the campus and the surrounding natural areas of Central Vermont. The project encompassed a complete renovation of the original Student Union (the 45,000 square foot Harmon Hall - built in 1958), as well as a 25,000 square foot addition. The WCC is modern in both appearance and functionality - students, staff and faculty can grab a meal at the Mill snack bar, connect to the wireless network and keep tabs on the news and sports with a multi-screen entertainment system. Envisioned as a campus living room where both the military students and a growing civilian student population will share the facility; the building is intended to be a shared social space for civilian students, cadets and freshman cadets known as “Rooks”. Other areas include a large film screening room, meeting rooms with sophisticated audiovisual presentation systems, and a dedicated gaming network and gaming screens located in informal seating areas throughout the building.
Benefits: ●● Spaces designed to encourage shared spaces between the civilian and military populations; “a campus living room” ●● Social hub for the university ●● Center provides benefits associated with a small-college lifestyle
Project Profile
Client: Norwich University Architect: Perry Dean Rogers Project Size: 71,000 sq ft Construction Cost: $42M Completion: July 2007
