Spoke Core Building

The Facilities Master Plan for Northern Lakes College was developed to deal with the unique issues of a small college having 23 locations across more than 160,000 square kilometers in northwestern Alberta. The approach recommended in the plan was a “Hub and Spoke” approach. The plan shows four Hub locations each supporting several “Spokes”.

The “Hub” locations are well established conventional post-secondary buildings. The “Spoke” locations however, are in a number of “as found” buildings ranging from portions of unused community centres to abandoned elementary school buildings and do not fit the requirements of their users.

The proposed solution is the development of a Spoke Core Building that – although largely permanent – would allow for relocation if needed. The Core building proposed is a simple layout of approximately 300 SM that allows up to 4 modular classroom units supplied by Alberta Infrastructure to be connected to it. The Core supplies its own heating, AC, and power, as well as connections for sewer and water service and provides power and gas to the modules. It can also be disassembled with 2 removable modules – the washroom module and the administrative office.

Three Spoke Core units will be deployed initially, with the remainder of the 23 outlying “Spokes” done as funding allows.