New Buildings Help Community Colleges Redefine Themselves

The Madison Connector at Camden County College links new and existing buildings on three levels. (Chronicle photographs by Lawrence Biemiller)

Mention community colleges to campus-architecture fans, and many think of drab Modernist buildings surrounded by indifferent landscaping. But in recent years some community colleges have completed projects that any institution would be proud of.

Some of these buildings — like the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College, in Overland Park, Kan. — are architectural gems that have attracted the attention of critics. The Kansas City Star called the $13-million museum, by Kyu Sung Woo Architects, “a perfect container for art.”

Other projects — like the Madison Connector at Camden County College’s campus in Blackwood, N.J. — offer ingenious solutions to longstanding problems. The multi-part project, by Duca/Huder & Kumlin, includes a major new sculptural element to mark the entrance to the campus as well as a glassy indoor social space that connects existing buildings on several levels.

Read more about recent two-year college projects in an article from the special supplement on community colleges included in this week’s Chronicle.

The Madison Connector creates a new, sculptural landmark to mark the entrance to the campus.

The Connector also provides a new, glass-covered social space for the crowded campus. Madison Hall, at right, was renovated and expanded as part of the project, which also involved shearing one wall off an existing campus center, at left, to open it up to the new social space.