The Facilities Master Plan for the College of Lake County is the third in the school’s history and reflects the College’s vision to be a leader in providing innovative workforce and education solutions for its communities. The Holabird & Root team collaborated with the College in a process of assessing and aligning its facilities with its Strategic Plan - with respect to their adequacy in and potential for supporting student success and a skilled talent pipeline for every industry sector in Lake County. Underpinning the master planning process (and the simultaneous greater College planning) was a charge to make data-driven decisions. In order to arrive at master plan conclusions born out of facts and real information, Holabird & Root and the College pushed to understand the influences on their needs affecting facility planning in diverse ways:

• Mapping, quantifying, and cross-analyzing in detail the existing space use across the College’s three (3) campuses;

• Pairing up data describing the College’s students, areas of study, and use of space, with data describing characteristics of the greater community; and

• Comparing the three established campuses to one another in quantifiable ways.

As part of this effort, the design team and College arrived at a Phasing + Implementation Plan, along with a Funding Road Map associated with future campus improvements to guide its short and long-term futures.