December 3-December 16, 2014 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 11AA
Center for Character and
Leadership Development
rests on a foundation of
integrity, transparency
• Sited in the heart of the Cadet Area at the United States Air Force
Academy
• Brings noted architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill back to the
campus it shaped in the 1950s
• Gives the Center for Character and Leadership Development its
first centralized home on campus
• A soaring skylight points to Polaris, the North Star and a symbol
of integrity and navigating through life
• GH Phipps is providing field supervision and concrete services,
working with international federal contractor ECC
• Completion expected in April 2015
©SOM
© SOM
I
t is a campus unlike any
other: Set against the
beauty of Colorado’s
mountains, a natural backdrop
that is all about vertical drama,
the buildings of the U.S. Air
Force Academy are low-slung
and solid, strong horizontal
masses that could only be
made by human hands.
Decades of planning – and
controversy – drove the birth of
the final major service academy
constructed in this country. It
was designed to fit its century
and well into the future. The
architecture firm that designed
the early, important buildings
there set a tone that did not
try to emulate the Collegiate
Gothic or Neoclassical styles
that define so many college
campuses. Instead, Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill (SOM)
was known for its Modernist
sensibilities – clean, sharply
detailed buildings that relied
on mastery of materials rather
than overt decoration.
From the cadet dorms to the
academic buildings that served
the academy when it opened in
1958, SOM’s work looked to the
future, crafted in concrete, glass,
and aluminum. The chapel –
spiky and clad in aluminum –
seemed to reference the aircraft
that students were being taught
to master.
In the years since, other
architects have worked on the
Academy campus, but in 2012,
SOM returned with a dramatic
design for a building to be
sited at the heart of the much-
admired Cadet Area, which
was designated a National
Historic Landmark District in
2004: a Center for Character
and Leadership Development,
or CCLD, which embodies
the academy’s vision for
developing leaders of character
for the academy, the Air Force,
even the nation. Although a
national design competition
was considered, there was not
time for that process; instead,
the academy asked that
three SOM offices produce
competing designs, and a jury
and advisory committee were
named. The winning design
emerged from the New York
office.
Though only 46,000 square
feet (small compared to
nearby Vandenberg Hall’s
mega 995,000 square feet
of cadet dorm space), the
CCLD will stand out for its
design elements and its intent.
The transparent glass and
aluminum skin will be topped
by a canted, 105-foot-tall, 460-
ton skylight that is shaped
like the tail of an airplane,
soars into the air, and aligns
with Polar, the North Star.
Below, the building will feature
a polished concrete floor,
conference and glass-walled
break-out rooms, offices, a
gathering place called the
Forum, and the Honor Board
Room. In this crucial space, a
cadet accused of committing
an infraction of the academy’s
Honor Code will sit in a
location that is in line with
Polaris through an oculus at
the top of the skylight. He or
she will be in Polaris’ sights,
and the academy’s, so that
True North leads the way.
“Polaris has always been a
symbol of how people have
navigated,” said Duane Boyle,
Campus Architect and Deputy
Director of Installations for
the Air Force Academy. “It’s
also a symbol of how you travel
through your life.”
For the first time, the center
will house all of the academy’s
programs concerning character
and leadership in a single
facility – at the heart of the
campus and in a building
that carries symbolic weight.
The Scholarship Division,
Character and Leadership
Education Division, Honor
Division, and Capstone Events
Division will operate out of
the center, coming together
as a community. The Center
was founded in 1993 as a
focal point of the academy’s
commitment to developing
leaders for whom integrity is
woven into all aspects of cadet
– and, later, graduate – life.
“The CCLD program is the
academy’s No. 1 program,” says
Boyle. “The building had to be
well-integrated into the cadet
area and at the intersection
of where cadets travel and the
public travels.” The center
will be the venue for hands-
on, interactive discussions
on character and leadership
development and major
national symposiums, and will
become a national think tank
for discussions of integrity and
the concept of leadership.
The team working on the
$40 million CCLD broke
ground for the project in late
October 2012. It is the first
building to be erected on
the Terrazzo of the campus
since 1981, and located on
a prominent and tight site.
GH Phipps is working with
ECC, a major international
federal contractor on the
project, and providing field
supervision as well as concrete
services for the project. The
CCLD builds on the list of
projects Phipps has completed
for the academy, including
the Association of Graduates
South East Asia Pavilion, the
Memorial Pavilion, the Cadet
Gym Modernization, and
renovations at Vandenberg
Hall.
The CCLD project is
supported through both
government funding as well as
the USAFA Endowment, which
generously provided funding
for project enhancements such
as the skylight. The project
team is aiming for LEED Silver
certification. Topping out is
expected later this month, with
completion expected in late
April.
Mary Chandler
Marketing Communications
Specialist, GH Phipps
