LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State College Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center has received a Learning by Design magazine’s 2022 Outstanding Project Award for its design.
The magazine honored the project with the Outstanding Award for Specialized Education Facility New Construction/Addition for Career-Technical/Vocational Education.
Integrus Architecture of Spokane, which designed the building, submitted an application for the award earlier this year. The design team for the building included Integrus Architecture as the architect, structural engineer and interior designer, while MW Consulting Engineers of Spokane provided the mechanical, electrical and plumbing aspects of the building’s design. Leone & Keeble Inc. of Spokane and Kenaston Corporation of Lewiston were the contractors.
The three-story 86,000-square foot Schweitzer CTE Center project cost $27 million to construct and opened in January of 2021 for the spring semester. It serves as the home for seven Technical & Industrial Division programs. The Schweitzer CTE Center is located next to the new Lewiston High School in the Lewiston Orchards, thus encouraging dual-education opportunities, a natural pipeline from high school to college in CTE programs, and pathways to CTE careers.
In its proposal, Intergrus discussed how the design team and LC State officials worked together to incorporate local workforce needs into the design, following the college’s “Connect Learning to Life” motto. The proposal pointed out how the building’s design included transparent spaces to celebrate exploratory education to value each student’s educational story; spaces for lounging, collaboration, breakouts, shops, and labs that encourage interpersonal interactions; off-the-shelf locally-sourced lumber and steel, left unfinished, combined with outdoor farmland views to pay homage to local culture, and classrooms, shops and space that allow for public use and training, as well as student engagement opportunities.
In 2017, the Idaho Legislature approved the CTE building project and appropriated $10 million with the requirement that LC State match the funds. In 2020, the Legislature, through the Permanent Building Fund, appropriated another $2.5 million. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories donated $2 million to the project, while SEL founder Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, and his wife Beatriz donated another $1 million as did the J.A. and Kathyrn Albertson Family Foundation. In all, donations have helped generate just under $7.6 million towards the CTE center. Construction on the Schweitzer CTE Center began on April 19, 2019.
The seven programs housed at the Schweitzer CTE Center include auto mechanics technology, CNC machining technology, information technology, engineering technology, industrial electronics technology, industrial maintenance and millwright technology, and heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC-R) technology.