Hanson Technology Center earns national design award

American School & University calls training hub an architectural marvel

Located on Lake Michigan College’s Benton Harbor campus, pops of yellow accentuate the sharp, angled edges of the 49,376-square-foot building’s exterior, while floor-to-ceiling windows illuminate common spaces with sunshine.  

The center was built as a hub for today’s advanced manufacturing education and skilled-trades training. Still, its interior is designed with enough innovation, transparency, and flexibility to support technological advances and the changing needs of the industry for many years to come.

The building is proof that educational design can be far from boring. Kyle Gorrell, Irene Monis, Stuart Pettitt, and David A. Sanders, judges of the 2019 American School & University Educational Interiors Showcase, seem to agree.

Lake Michigan College and its Hanson Technology Center received American School & University’s Collegiate Citation, the top higher-education design honor, in their 2019 showcase. In conjunction with the award, LMC is featured on the cover and inside the August edition of American School & University magazine.

“The Hanson Technology Center at Lake Michigan College was built to define the future of advanced manufacturing education and skilled-trades training,” LMC President Dr. Trevor Kubatzke said. “That idea includes not only how a space functions but also how it inspires. We already see the impact it has had in our community, and hope this recognition may inspire others as well.”

Named for Merlin and Carolyn Hanson, major donors for the project, Hanson Technology Center was designed by Progressive AE of Grand Rapids, and completed in 2016. Since then, it has been home to a host of fabrication, welding, electronics, and machine tool courses and houses one of the few large-scale interactive Fabrication Labs in the country.