Location: Kalamazoo, MI

Project Area: 76,000 SF

Year Completed: 2016

2016 AIA Southwest Michigan Merit Award

With its focus on a healthier tomorrow, the Culinary and Allied Health Building anchors Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s new Bronson Healthy Living Campus near downtown Kalamazoo and serves as a catalyst for urban revitalization, community health, and workforce development.

The 3-story building is home to KVCC’s culinary and allied health programs and features a culinary theater, community education kitchen, a restaurant and café, a sustainable brewing lab, and culinary and nursing skills labs and classrooms. The building overlooks a water feature that was created as part of the campus sustainable management plan and includes a vegetated green wall. Sustainable strategies continue on the interior through the careful selection of highly durable and reclaimed materials.

Community partners directly served through Community Culinary and Nutrition programs include: Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Bronson Healthcare, Family Health Center, Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine Alliance, Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation, Kalamazoo Valley Community College Medical Assisting Technologies, Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative, Southwestern Michigan District Dietetic Association, West Michigan Cancer Center, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Western Michigan University Seita Scholars, and YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo.