{"id":103326,"date":"2022-01-11T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T14:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/?p=103326"},"modified":"2022-08-18T12:29:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T16:29:30","slug":"som-air-force-academy-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/practice\/details\/som-air-force-academy-addition\/","title":{"rendered":"Architectural Details: SOM\u2019s Latest Air Force Academy Addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The judging process for <\/i>Architizer's 14th A+Awards<\/i><\/span><\/a> is now underway. Subscribe to our <\/i>Awards Newsletter<\/i><\/span><\/a> to receive updates about Public Voting, and stay tuned \u2014 winners will be announced later this spring. \u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

Few structures by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill<\/a> (SOM) are as iconic as their US Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel. In 1954, SOM was commissioned to design the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel in El Paso Country, Colorado. The building was completed just 6 years later, in 1962. Located just outside of Colorado Springs and abutting the Rocky Mountains, the campus is the training center for officers of the United States Air Force. Five decades after the masterplan and cadet chapel design, SOM returned to the campus to design a home for the newly created Center for Character & Leadership Development<\/a> (CCLD) in the National Historic Landmark District, which was completed in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"Polaris \"PolarisThe CCLD supports the U.S. Air Force Academy\u2019s mission to integrate character and leadership development into all aspects of the Cadet experience as an education and research center. The sprawling education center is located at a critical meeting point between the campus\u2019 cadet and public areas. The building serves as a nexus in the masterplan, with spaces dedicated to cadets, professors, distinguished visitors and the public.<\/p>\n

At the center of the CCLD is the Forum, a flexible and terraced gathering space for academic and social interaction. Surrounding the Forum are glass-walled break-out rooms that further increase the building\u2019s flexibility and transparency. The space is clad in maple and provides a warmth to these levels. As the team explains, outside the Forum, the seminar rooms, break-out rooms, and offices face onto gardens on either side of the building. With turf and formal arrangements of trees, fountains, and benches, these terraces recall the Air Garden at the center of the Academy campus.<\/p>\n

\"Polaris\"PolarisDesigned to be a contemporary counterpoint to the Academy\u2019s iconic Cadet Chapel, the CCLD’s most prominent features is a towering skylight. SOM created the landmark to symbolically serve as a navigation aid and as a reminder of the Academy\u2019s core values. It also precisely with the North Star, Polaris, a symbol of the Academy\u2019s mission to develop leaders of character. Thanks to the skylight and floor-to-ceiling glazing for all offices and classrooms, natural light fills the building\u2019s interior. Energy-efficient lighting fixtures, daylight and occupancy sensors, and motorized shades work in concert to conserve energy. The towering element also serves as a solar chimney, exhausting hot air at its peak.<\/p>\n

\"Polaris \"PolarisThe signature skylight is shaped like an aircraft tailfin, a glass-enclosed structure that aligns with the astronomical movement of the North Star.\u00a0The structure of the skylight consists of steel plates that are arranged in a triangular grid and calibrated to resist the lateral forces produced by wind loading. The planar geometry of the skylight determines the exterior profiles of each structural member, while the forces under lateral loading determine the interior profile of each member, resulting in a continuously curving profile that maximizes structural efficiency and minimizes material use.<\/p>\n