North Hennepin Community College - Allsteel

“The furnishings had to have flair and pizzazzthat said, ‘Yes, this is a business center.’”Renae Fry, Dean of Business and Career Programs, North Hennepin Community CollegeChallengeSolutionGainsNorth Hennepin Community College, located in the TwinCities metro area, is one of the largest community collegesin Minnesota. It has built a reputation as a strong school forbusiness education, and enrollment in its business programshad outgrown the campus business center. In fact, classroomswere consistently at 150% capacity. The center, built in the’70s, was designed with some unusual angles that madeadapting the space to meet evolving needs difficult.After years of making do, the college received funding andapproval to build a new 70,000-square-foot business andtechnology center on campus. While the decision processwas lengthy, Renae Fry, Dean of Business and CareerPrograms, and her team had a relatively short period of timeto research furniture solutions and make a recommendation.“We needed to purchase furniture for the whole building, andwe wanted to work with only one partner, a supplier who offeredflexibility, breadth of products, could deliver in stages, and couldmeet our tight timeline,” says Fry. “Our goal for the businesscenter was to make it rival some of the best private businessschools in the region, so it had to have a very professional look.”Because the new building would support so many academicprograms across the business spectrum, from computerscience to workforce training, Fry and her team held aseries of discussions with faculty members to develop adesign that would be flexible and work well for everyone.“We wanted this to be a little different. We wanted a realreason for people to want to be on campus,” she says.They settled on a mix of classrooms outfitted to supportdifferent teaching and learning needs and disciplines. Inaddition to the traditional classroom layout with tablesand chairs facing the front of the room, the team designedtwo other unique layouts. The first is designed to fosterdiscussion and interaction by using large U-shaped tables,which allow students to see each other clearly while stillproviding a space for the professor at the head of theroom. The second design employs a mix of standing-heighttables, soft seating, and small-group trapezoid tables alongwith traditional seating. This allows students to choosewhere they sit based on their comfort level and needs. “Wehad a lot of professors saying this wouldn’t work, but it’sproven to be a very, very popular classroom for us,” saysFry. The computer lab utilizes Stride benching for efficientuse of space, and clean power and cord management.“We needed space, but what weachieved was a very functional,professional environment,” Fry says.Some of those improvements include:• Ability to launch new and morediverse curriculum.• Expanding partnerships tooffer four-year degrees becausethe college has more functionaltraining space.• Flexible furnishings that staff canrearrange easily to accommodatea wide variety of events.• Height-adjustable tables thatpromote healthy work posturesfor professors.• Greater visibility within thebusiness community.• A high-end business atmospherethat reflects the college’s top-notchofferings and elevates the school’scompetitive appearance.ALLSteel PRODUCTSStride ® desking and benching, Cadence ®freestanding desking, Merge ® and GetSet ® tables, Acuity ® , Relate ® , and Inspire ®seating, Gunlocke ® Ciji soft seating

North HennepinCommunity College{ Brooklyn Park, Minnesota }Experience“We knew the decision-making process would take quite a whileand the build-out time would be very short, so we spent a lotof time finding the right partner,” says Fry. “All our hard work paidoff. The Allsteel dealer did an excellent job of leading discussions,guiding the process, and showing us furniture solutions thatreally worked for us, both functionally and aesthetically. Overallthere were no challenges during or after installation that were notresolved to our satisfaction.”“It’s a great space for learning. I feelimportant here.”Student reacting to the new business centerFor more information about Allsteel solutions, pleasevisit allsteeloffice.com.Allsteel Inc.Muscatine, Iowa 52761-5257allsteeloffice.comForm # A8189 (01/13)Printed in USA©2013 Allsteel Inc.Allsteel, Acuity, Cadence, Get Set, Inspire,Merge, Relate and Stride are registeredtrademarks. Gunlocke is a registeredtrademark. Ciji is a trademark of Gunlocke.Indoor Advantage is a trademark ofScientific Certification Systems. Levelis a registered trademark of BIFMAInternational.Allsteel supports green initiatives in the contract furnitureindustry as a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.All Allsteel products are SCS Indoor Advantage or IndoorAdvantage Gold certified and level ® 2 certified.This FSC-certified papercontains 10% post-consumerrecycled content.certified by SCS