Omni Architects: Leaders in Workforce Training Center Design

DESIGNING FOR WORKFORCE TRAINING

The future of manufacturing is one of the most critical issues in America today. To meet the demand for a skilled, work-ready labor force, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System and high schools throughout the Commonwealth are collaborating with regional manufacturers to create pathways for students and nonskilled adults to obtain critical, well-paying jobs. Omni Architects is leading the way in designing innovative workforce training centers to facilitate this mission.

Advanced Manufacturing is a transformative, twentyfirst-century business model that is rapidly replacing the traditional mass production and manufacturing systems of the last century. Just as the model has changed, the facilities used for training future workers are changing accordingly, adapting and improving to provide diverse industries with work-ready employees.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has been highly successful in attracting a large number of international manufacturing companies that employ thousands of workers and contribute significantly to the economic and technical strength of the state. These companies demand skilled, workforce-ready employees who are self-motivated, careeroriented, resourceful, driven, and can readily adapt to the manufacturing environment, and Kentucky’s formula for success is being followed closely by other states.

In particular, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) is systematically constructing new or improved workforce training facilities on its campuses across the state to meet the needs of the manufacturers within the areas surrounding those campuses. These Advanced Manufacturing Centers (AMC) offer hands-on training in simulated environments, work-learn programs, and additional specialized training for those who are already in the workforce – an essential component of leveraging the state’s resources in an ever-competitive national and global marketplace.

The national attention KCTCS has received for its successful outcomes and processes can be attributed primarily to the efficient design of its AMCs, which was pioneered by Omni Architects. The firm began working with KCTCS in 2008 when few prototypes existed nationally, and those that did exist didn’t demonstrate the critical relationship between the design of the building and the programs within. Through extensive research and hours of interviews with the

manufacturing partners to better understand their needs, Omni began to design training facilities that accommodate the unique curriculum unique of each facility and provide productive learning environments. The buildings also offer the flexibility needed to adapt infrastructure and fixtures to the constant improvements in manufacturing practices.

The AMC’s design addresses today’s manufacturing processes – lean thinking, just-in-time-delivery, pull systems, and new operational management techniques - and emulate the manufacturing plant typology by employing large and open high-bay spaces, polished concrete lowmaintenance floors, exposed structures, and insulated metal panel exteriors.

The spaces within these buildings range from traditional classrooms, labs, student lounges, and other support spaces, to large-scale, high-bay areas for training on oversized vehicles, full-scale robotics, solar arrays, and wind turbines.

The AMCs are by no means a one-size-fits-all initiative. Although support for these facilities comes from a vast array of stakeholders -- the Governor’s office, the Kentucky Education Workforce Development Cabinet, the Kentucky Finance Cabinet, and many others -- Omni’s success lies in working with and listening to the needs of the manufacturing partners. To accomplish this, we’ve designed the buildings utilizing a collaborative process that includes owner representatives, the entire design team, and - most critical to the successful outcome - representatives from each of the primary manufacturing partners.

Omni Architects’ effective methodology for programming and designing these unique facilities includes working collaboratively with all stakeholders to create spaces that respond to the pedagogical needs of faculty and the skills needed by manufacturers - while creating inviting, vibrant environments that stimulate and encourage student success.

These buildings are by no means a one-size-fits-all initiative. Each has been uniquely designed to benefit the manufacturers within the respective region.

DESIGN APPROACH

Through Omni Architects’ experience in designing over 270,000 square feet of Advanced Manufacturing Centers (AMC), we’ve developed a proven approach to the design of the AMC that reflects the issues and goals identified by the owner, users, and manufacturers. We have found that, although each is unique in regard to the specific programs offered, they share certain design considerations that are critical to long-term success. We call these commonalities the Three Principles for Nimble Design:

1. Flexibility: Omni’s design allows staff to easily and quickly change the usage of a given space at any time.

2. Adaptability: We design spaces and infrastructure so that new services and technologies can be added to designated areas as manufacturing methods and tools evolve. Omni designs the AMCs to anticipate change by integrating architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems.

3. Expandability: Omni’s designers acknowledge the possibility of future growth and respond by configuring the building in a way that accommodates expansion as needed.

There are many ways to approach the design of Advanced Manufacturing Training Centers. The examples in this document illustrate how the buildings can differentiate the respective programs, develop (and even change) the pedagogy, underscore the importance of teamwork in training, and identify the skills needed to be a productive employee.

We’ve found that administrators often need guidance in making the transition from traditional educational facilities to this new typology - whether it be in changing their value stream, or in the way they define community and technical colleges. Even those who readily embrace advanced manufacturing processes are often surprised by the effectiveness of facilities that have been configured to support their goals. It’s more than just buying the right tools; it’s about creating the right spaces to facilitate this new paradigm shift.

Omni Architects applies astute listening skills in association with a hands-on understanding of the teaching and training tools of these industries - both simulators and full-scale equipment. This approach results in customized programs along with the flexibility needed for future use.

MEANING + MAKING

Modern industry relies on highly complex production systems to produce high-quality, economical products for an ever more competitive world. A process known as Mechatronics teaches the “systems thinking” that is required to effectively operate, program, trouble-shoot, and problem-solve in this complex environment.

With the rapid proliferation of automation, mechatronics has become one of the fastest growing technical education programs in the world. Many technologies are integrated to create sophisticated production line systems including robotics, conveyor systems, mechanical operations, electrical, electronics, and software - all components that are typical of what students will see in real-world applications. By recreating the industrial environments in the classroom, students will be job-ready when they enter the workforce. Curriculum can be structured in a way that gives instructors

the flexibility to teach using either self-directed activities, or traditional lecture-lab-formats.

In order to teach these new managerial skills, mechatronics is scalable, and can be understood by using either full scale tools, or with miniaturized systems. Companies such as Amatrol have developed small scale mechatronics lines comprised of learning modules and a portable tabletop mechatronics learning system.

Each of these systems comprises individual stations that can be purchased separately to accommodate limited budgets, or altogether to form a total learning experience. This training experience can apply to various careers such as trouble-shooting, mechatronics engineer/technician, automation engineer/technician, and systems engineer/technician.

mechanics

systems

PROGRAM-SPECIFIC DESIGN

The projects included on the following pages demonstrate the most innovative strategies in the design of advanced manufacturing educational facilities. These images illustrate the variation in floor plans and exterior designs that are the result of an outcome-based approach. Each project achieved a unique solution to accommodate statewide educational goals, the needs of regional manufacturers, and current teaching pedagogy.

Bluegrass Community & Technical College: A Plant Floor model was utilized blending course activities into a singular space.

Gateway Community & Technical College: A Gradient of Usage approach allowed classrooms to be shared for both manufacturing training and as general education classrooms.

Maysville Community & Technical College: The building layout is arranged to accommodate dedicated faculty classrooms/offices/training.

Lab IMC/Shared tools

Circulation

Trainers Office

POSTSECONDARY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Maysville Community & Technical College - Rowan Campus

Morehead, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System in association with Morehead State University

AREA

88,000 GSF

STATUS

Estimated completion: Fall, 2017

SUSTAINABILITY

Targeting LEED Silver

DESIGN DRIVER

Specialized Interactive Learning Environments Model is responsive to curriculum and outcomes.

MCTC’s Rowan County campus was conceived as a collaboration between KCTCS, Morehead State University, and the industrial leaders of Rowan County.

MCTC Postsecondary Center For Excellence In Advanced Manufacturing

Morehead, Kentucky

Located in Eastern Kentucky, the new 88,000 SF Postsecondary Center For Excellence In Advanced Manufacturing incorporates a stand-alone Integrated Manufacturing Center (IMC) that is designed similarly to the studio/lab teaching model known as Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL). This model has been adopted within the higher education system and is found in renowned institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recently, Omni Architects designed classrooms to accommodate this model at the New Science Building at Eastern Kentucky University.

Using this teaching model, the duration of each course is planned to incorporate hands-on learning, merging three distinct learning methods: lecture, teamwork, and tutorial experiences, which requires a very different space than community and technical college bays of the past.

The class begins with the instructor’s lesson material presented lecture-style, utilizing audio/visual materials on large format monitors and white boards. (What is happening

on these devices can be captured as study material for later use.) The second part of the class is centered on small group collaborative exercises and the use of trainers and simulators. The third part of each class allows the instructor to provide one-on-one feedback on the lesson content.

Because most of the coursework is available in advance, much of the material is familiar to students when they enter the classroom. Time is structured to allow students to return to the trainers to complete individual course assignments to demonstrate proficiency. At MCTC, this approach has resulted in specialized classrooms with adjacent faculty offices and support spaces.

The Advanced Manufacturing courses in this facility include robotics, virtual welding, electricity, mechanical drives, PLCs, fluid power, industrial maintenance, virtual welding, and machine tool. A leased facility located adjacent to this structure will house high-bay diesel, welding, and automotive programs.

POSTSECONDARY CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING | SECOND FLOOR PLAN

IMC/Shared tools Trainers Office

The specialized learning environments at the MCTC Postsecondary Center for Excellence are designed to respond to teaching methods, team-building, and Kentucky’s knowledgebased economy. The new facility includes high-bay spaces for the instruction of robotics, machine tooling, fluid power, basic electric, and programmable logic controllers, along with traditional academic classrooms and science labs. Students will also enjoy onsite amenities such as food service, a student lounge, a bookstore, Workforce Development services, and a robust IT infrastructure.

A central atrium (above) simplifies wayfinding and identifies the advanced manufacturing center as a distinct element of the overall facility. Amenities (right) include dining and informal areas to accommodate the needs of staff and commuter students, promoting opportunities for overlapping activities, individual and group study, and on-campus interaction between classes.

CASE STUDY2

CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Gateway Community & Technical College

Florence, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

AREA

104,500 SF

CAPACITY

1,200 Students

STATUS

Completed 2008

HONORS

American Institute of Architects, Kentucky Chapter

Merit Award for Design Excellence

DESIGN DRIVER

Extended Learning Areas

Model leverages a hybrid of shared instructional classrooms and Integrated Manufacturing Center.

Center for Advanced Manufacturing

Located in northern Kentucky within the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area, this innovative, award-winning hybrid educational facility incorporates three programs under one roof: manufacturing, academics, and districtwide administration. The focal point is the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness, which advances a new educational model for the Community & Technical College System throughout Kentucky.

The broad challenge of this project, given a lack of significant precedent for this new typology, was to design a facility that regionally positions KCTCS at the forefront of innovation in both pedagogy and facilities, and illustrates the importance the Commonwealth of Kentucky places on promoting workforce development for the next generation of students and employees through the creation of appropriate advanced manufacturing facilities that closely emulate the workforce setting.

Modern industry relies on complex production systems to produce high-quality and economical products in a globally competitive market. Building 21st Century jobs requires higher skill levels. Rather than providing more traditional and separate tooling bays for teaching industrial programs (such as electronics, relays, pneumatics, mechanical systems, and

fluid power), a plant floor model was adopted to promote the interdisciplinary nature of the workforce of tomorrow. Within the CAM, students work in a team environment and are taught troubleshooting techniques utilizing both simulators and full-scale industry mock-ups for Mechatronics (a mock assembly line), Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Robotics, and Assembly Line Production. This integrated manufacturing approach promotes the principles of Lean Manufacturing and expands student understanding of the interrelated nature of these disciplines.

Since its completion, the Gateway facility has become the flagship prototype for a series of additional, regionallyfocused centers for advanced manufacturing developed by KCTCS. It has also gained national recognition as a model for a new teaching prototype and pedagogy. The innovative building has played an integral role in expanding job training skills for a new generation of manufacturing jobs throughout the greater northern Kentucky region.

The results of redefining this building typology have been shared throughout Kentucky and nationwide, and have advanced a new educational model for community and technical colleges.

This particular design utilizes a gradient of shared uses (see diagram, opposite). Located between the Integrated Manufacturing Center (IMC) and the public corridors are a series of classrooms that can be scheduled for the IMC, and for other general study subjects when not in use. Glass walls and oversized double doors provide an open atmosphere between the classroom and IMC providing the ability to transition back and forth from lecture and team exercises, to the training on tools.

Gateway CTC - Florence, Kentucky

This open floor plan emulates a plant floor similar to the environment in which students will work when they enter the workforce. This open, extended learning area allows each student and instructor the ability to easily transition between didactic and haptic teaching/learning approaches. Acoustical control within large spaces is accomplished with perforated structural ceiling decks and acoustic panels.

Unique to this facility is the balcony walkway that allows prospective students and other visitors to observe the activities in the IMC below without disrupting classes.

Omni’s design concept linked three disparate program elements with open atrium space (opposite) to allow interaction zones for chance encounters between faculty, staff, and students. From the upper balcony and the atrium spaces, you can see and hear the activities associated with “making” that are taking place within the building. Through the use of an expansive glass wall (above), people inside the building can look out to see the business world they will soon occupy and, conversely, passersby can observe the exciting activities occurring within the CAM

The longitudinal section demonstrates the layering of the spaces, which cascades down the naturally rolling hillside.

North-facing classrooms optimize daylighting and views.

Shared-use classrooms at the periphery of the IMC create a smooth transition between hands-on learning and lecture.

DESIGNING FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY

One of the challenges of designing advanced manufacturing centers is separating clean activities from “dirty” ones such as welding and milling. Omni’s solution at Gateway incorporated a gradient of usage, which required close coordination on the design of mechanical systems, but greatly improved air quality.

“Clean” courses such as virtual welding (left) are held in one area of the facility, while “dirty” courses - those that create more noise and debris - are located in a separate area.

Omni Architects organized this 3-story building to facilitate ease in wayfinding with a primary racetrack circulation system with double two-story atria. Student flow patterns were established to minimize disruptions to classes in session.

GATEWAY CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING | FIRST FLOOR PLAN

NATIONAL EXPOSURE

The Center for Advanced Manufacturing was featured on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on March 1, 2011 as part of a series called America at the Crossroads. This segment delved into the emerging national trend of retraining and retooling workers to learn the new skills needed to succeed in today’s high tech manufacturing industry.

NBC highlighted the partnership between GCTC and MAG Industries of Cincinnati, which provides workers with on-the-job training and classroom instruction through an apprenticeship program.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

CENTER

Bluegrass Community & Technical College - Georgetown Campus

Georgetown, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

AREA

77,500 GSF

CAPACITY

1,200 Students

SPACE RATIO

60% Technical Programs

40% General Education

STATUS

Completed Spring, 2017

DESIGN DRIVER

Plant Floor Model

Optimizing flexibility, adaptability, and expandability

“This solid partnership with business sectors to design and offer high-skills training for the workforce is the model of the future. This building is an important part of the program. “

Dr. Augusta Julian - President Bluegrass Community & Technical College

Advanced Manufacturing Center

Bluegrass CTC - Georgetown, Kentucky Campus

Located in Georgetown, Kentucky, adjacent to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), the 80,000 SF Bluegrass CTC Advanced Manufacturing Center is the most plant-like of the three prototypes. Since many of the students will be working within settings very much like this, Omni designed the facility to emulate a real-world plant floor to acclimate the students to the type of environment they will experience in their careers. The open bays also maximize flexibility and adaptability for changes in use and services to occur over time.

Space dividers are accomplished with visually openframed, industrial uni-strut partitions. These frames include services such as power, data, and compressed air. Drop coils are used for overhead electric distribution.

The high-bay design was configured for a continuous hoist beam for the movement of large-scale equipment

throughout the plant. Courses in open areas include trouble shooting, robotics, PLCS, industrial electricity, motor controls, alternative energy, CAD/CAM, fluid power, with an emphasis on training employees and interns for TMMK and other regional manufacturers. Other courses include industrial electronics, industrial maintenance, machine structure/mechanical drives/pumps and rigging, Machine tool and die, welding, and metallurgy. The campus also provides support spaces for student services, a learning resource center, and a student lounge.

The building incorporates numerous sustainable design elements recognized by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), including storm water management, ample green space, water efficient fixtures, sustainable building materials, and HVAC systems that promote energy efficiency as well as optimal indoor air quality.

In the layout for BCTC’s Georgetown facility, all of the trainers and full-scale equipment are located in a single high-bay Integrated Manufacturing Center. Faculty offices are intentionally separated from the IMC into an adjacent open-office suite and ancillary classrooms are located on the other side of an atrium that is used for study and informal gathering between classes. Acoustics are managed within the volume of the space, including acoustic roof decking.

BCTC Advanced Manufacturing Center

Technology-rich training facilities ensure adaptability for future use as well as student success

Omni designed the Bluegrass CTC Advanced Manufacturing Center to take advantage of the north light, which will reduce shadows and maximize energy efficiency.

Omni ensured the flexibility and adaptability of the building by inventing a reconfigurable/expandable utility distribution frame to carry services.

Due to noise and level of cleanliness some programs are taught in saddlebag rooms located adjacent to the IMC. These courses include welding, machine tools, CNC, laser cutting, and fabrication.

The high-bay Integrated Manufacturing Center (shown in blue) emulates the modern factory plant floor with full-scale tools and simulators dispersed to optimize flexibility, adaptability, and expandability.

Design features include clear means of wayfinding and circulation

Spaces are optimized for daylighting and views

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Jefferson Community & Technical College

Louisville, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

AREA

52,898 GSF

CONSTRUCTION COST

$12,599,000 (September, 2018), plus demolition

STATUS

Completed Spring, 2020

DESIGN DRIVER

Plant Floor Model

Urban site; Optimizing flexibility, adaptability, and expandability

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Jefferson CTC - Louisville, Kentucky

As part of Kentucky Education Workforce & Development Cabinet’s Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC) constructed an Advanced Manufacturing & Information Technology Center (AMIT), located on a 1.8-acre site located in the South of Broadway (SoBro) neighborhood of Louisville - an area that is undergoing significant revitalization.

Built upon Omni’s past research development of Advanced Manufacturing Center prototypes at Southeast, Gateway, Bluegrass, and Maysville Community and Technical Colleges, Omni adapted and transformed these industrial park models to meet the needs of JCTC in a more urban campus setting. The Advanced Manufacturing & Information Technology Center sits within Louisville’s South of Broadway (SoBro) district, a major downtown revitalization program that also incorporates other urban campuses such as Spalding University and its Egan Leadership Center, also designed by Omni and only a few blocks away. Both sites were ripe for workforce development.

This two-story building incorporates a high-bay area with ten open labs that overlook First Street. The curriculum includes degree, diploma, and certificate programs in the fields of computerized manufacturing and machining, machine tool, industrial maintenance, electrical technology,

programmable logic control, information technology, and industrial maintenance technology. The open-bay concept models a plant-floor paradigm that emulates workplace settings found in most regional manufacturing facilities. The expanse of double-height glazed curtainwall features ceramic frit and vertical sunscreens along First Street to provide the transparency to showcase the educational activities within while leveraging daylighting and views outward and minimizing glare.

The partial second floor includes a technology-enhanced active learning (TEAL) classroom and a student collaboration zone that cantilever over and into the high-bay training area, like volumes that shift out of their form. These two pushes + pulls are drawer-like spaces that give occupants an opportunity to view and follow the activities on the plant floor below.

This project included the programming, design and construction administration of that Center, as well as the programming, design and construction administration for the partial renovation of JCTC’s existing Building B on the Jefferson Technical Campus in Louisville.

The AMIT Center is approximately 58,000 GSF in size and was designed, built, and submitted for certification to achieve a minimum rating of LEED Certified.

CONDENSED PROGRAM

Programming for the new Advanced Manufacturing & Information Technology Center became fairly complex because of the many different disciplines involved, and the manner in which the faculty teach in their individual disciplines. Each function was assigned a specific color to make understanding the program a little easier, and all of the information in the program is color-coded accordingly.

The new program is based on three values:

AMIT BUILDING AREA: 50,936 GSF

TARGET EFFICIENCY: 63.9%

NET ASSIGNABLE AREA: 32,584 NSF

EXPANDABLE SITE AREA: 18,000 GSF

In condensed form, the program breaks down as follows:

CASE STUDY

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING CENTER

Bluegrass Community & Technical College

Danville, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

AREA

13,780 GSF

CONSTRUCTION BUDGET

$3,500,000

STATUS

Completed Spring 2021

DESIGN DRIVER

Plant Floor Model

Rural site; Optimizing flexibility, adaptability, and expandability

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING CENTER

Bluegrass CTC - Danville, Kentucky Campus

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BCTC is an economic driver for Central Kentucky and supplies the state with the skilled workers needed to fill positions with existing companies and to attract new business. Kentucky is home to numerous manufacturing hubs and is in need of well-trained workers. Because of this, career and technical education is at its highest demand in decades thus the need for the new facility.

The national attention received by the KCTCS workforce training initiative can be largely attributed to the efficient design of the training facilities. The buildings are designed to address today’s manufacturing processes – lean thinking, just-in-time-delivery, pull systems, supply chain management, and new operational management techniques – and emulate the manufacturing plant typology by employing large, open high-bay spaces, polished concrete low-maintenance floors, exposed structures, and insulated metal panel exteriors.

As part of Kentucky Education Workforce & Development Cabinet’s Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, Bluegrass Community & Technical College (BCTC) is constructing the new 13,500 SF Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) as an addition to the existing facility.

Programs to be offered in the new facility include Industrial Maintenance, Engineering and Electronics, Technician Training, Industrial Maintenance Technology, Welding Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Additionally, the building will be used to provide dual credit for area high school students, as well as specialized training in these areas to meet the short-term training needs of local businesses and industry, including training of incumbent workers.

CONCEPT C

CASE STUDY

ON-SITE TRAINING CENTER

Elizabethtown Community & Technical College

Glendale, Kentucky

OWNER

Kentucky Community & Technical College System

AREA

43,937 GSF

CONSTRUCTION BUDGET

$18,750,000

STATUS

To be completed 2024

DESIGN DRIVERS

Plant Floor Model

Manufacturingl site; Flexibility, Adaptability, Expandability

ON-SITE TRAINING CENTER

Elizabethtown CTC - Glendale, Kentucky

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In a move that will significantly advance Kentucky’s growing manufacturing presence, BlueOval SK is developing an EV battery plant on a 1,050-acre mega-site in Glendale, Kentucky. Omni Architects was selected to design an on-site training facility that offers the courses needed to prepare the battery plant’s future workforce. The facility is a joint initiative between ECTC and BlueOval SK.

The new building will be a 42,720 gross square foot, 1-story facility, with single story spaces and double height high bay spaces. The single story portion of the building contains classrooms, an office suite, collaboration and study areas, restrooms, storage, and support spaces organized in a double loaded corridor. The double height portion of the building contains open lab spaces for hands-on learning, storage, and a mechanical room. There will be a mechanical mezzanine above the mechanical room and storage room, accessed by a ship’s ladder. There are two main entrances to the building that link through a collaboration-rich cross corridor that will also be a double height space. This cross corridor serves as the main collaboration space of the building and links the BlueOvalSK high-security portion of the building to the ECTC workforce development functions. The building form was developed in combination with the programmatic floor plan layout of the training spaces inside the building. The 5’ module served to organize the floor plan into 1,050 SF planning blocks that can support multiple

functions, from the typical classroom to the multidiscipline enabled training bay. This organized and consistent spatial layout makes for an efficient building form that will fit in contextually with the manufacturing development that will follow the initial battery plant facility.

Locating the simple linear building form in a pure eastwest orientation allows maximum amounts of ideal northern daylight to fill the classroom and open office spaces on the north side of the building, and filter through the clerestory on the north side of the high bay training spaces.

To create an identity and showcase the importance of the training facility, the facade or building wrapper, has been crafted to differentiate itself from the likely future “plain” box manufacturing facilities. The entrances serve to break the simple building form, by carving the space out of the southern high bay facade and breaking through the single story northern facade as an elevated glass-box. The link between these formal expressions is the oversized mega-truss that provides structural support to the glass-box cantilever.

The other exterior cladding materials, flat and corrugated metal panels, are common to large manufacturing facilities, however the articulation, placement, and color (blue) of the corrugated panels further help in breaking down the simple building form and provide a playful human-scaled intervention that will allow for BlueOvalSK and ECTC branding.

Governor Andy Beshear (right) with members of BlueOval-SK at the topping-out ceremony for the battery production facility in Glendale, KY. The Commonwealth of Kentucky committed to building the On-Site Training Center as an incentive to locate the EV production facility in Glendale - a move that will create 4,000+ new jobs for Kentuckians.

ON-SITE TRAINING CENTER

Elizabethtown CTC - Glendale, Kentucky

Classrooms/Academic Space

Circulation

Offices

Labs

Building Support Space

AREA A ECTC Workforce Development Functions

AREA B

BlueOval SK High-Security Section

ON-SITE TRAINING CENTER

Since opening in 1975, Omni Architects has consistently elevated the practice of architecture in Kentucky. Omni has worked with hundreds of clients, using an interactive and collaborative process to design workforce training, higher education, civic, and workplace facilities. Our reputation for distinctive designs, technical proficiency, and remarkable client service is well known throughout the Commonwealth and our practice has continued to thrive by cultivating repeat clients who know they can trust Omni to perform well consistently.

Omni’s designs reflect the depth of understanding we achieve through our rigorous programming process, which gets to core issues quickly by asking many critical questions: What is your mission? How do you prefer to work? What is your internal culture? What practices or processes are specific to your project? The answers to these questions and many others influence the design of the physical structure and are key to our clients’ long-term satisfaction.

Our ability to deliver excellence in design, technical execution, and outstanding client service are the primary reasons Omni Architects is regarded as a design leader in Kentucky.

212 N. Upper Street | Lexington, Kentucky 40507 | 859.252.6664 | www.omniarchitects.com