Margaret Burke Lee Center for Science and Health Careers

The 93,000-square-foot Lee Center—the largest construction project since the campus’s inception—represents Oakton College’s emphasis on student achievement and instructor excellence.

From the lobby’s polished concrete floors and reclaimed barn wood accent wall to the building-integrated photovoltaics along the third-floor corridor, the Lee Center brings sustainable advancements and sophisticated lab and simulation environments to the college.

With its cantilevering corridor, cascading staircase, and outdoor plaza, the facility creates a new campus entry. Student study spaces and offices are situated for optimum views of the lake to the west, while corridors and classrooms exhibit the forest to the south.

The three-level center widens as it rises. This tiered strategy reduces the building’s footprint, maintains passages into the campus, and shelters the outdoor plaza. To the south, an outdoor classroom sits between the building and an oak tree grove.