press release

VMDO Architects to design brand new student center for Young Harris College

VMDO Architects of Charlottesville, Virginia was recently selected for the commission to design a new Campus Center at Young Harris College, a private college located in the remarkable mountain setting of north Georgia.

Founded by a circuit-riding Methodist minister in 1886, Young Harris College was recently awarded four-year status as part of an ambitious plan to expand its academic offerings, more than double its student body and emerge as a leading, regional liberal arts college. This coming fall marks the school’s transition to move beyond current two-year associate’s degree programs. “We are pleased to offer our students the opportunity to stay at Young Harris and earn their bachelor’s degree,” said Young Harris President Cathy Cox. “And this is only the beginning.” President Cox, a former Georgia Secretary of State, has been instrumental in setting the new course for the college.

Young Harris is at the beginning of an unprecedented building program to support the anticipated growth of the college. New construction includes a 200-bed residence hall and an improved recreation center.

The new campus center program will include a student commons, dining hall, and library. The combination of these program elements into one seamless whole promises a dynamic and vibrant center for campus life. An innovative approach to the design will likely include a forward-looking library concept---one that will serve as a new model for small-group, experiential, problem-based learning. Additional buildings will follow in the next decade as part of a comprehensive master plan for the campus.

The commission marks the seventh campus center design challenge for VMDO in the past ten years. The firm has specialized over that time period in the design of student centers and college unions for small institutions, particularly those looking to recast the identity of a college in transition. Such work includes the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Averett University and Washington & Lee University. VMDO’s other recent student life projects range from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to South Carolina’s Clemson University.

VMDO is dedicated to helping colleges like Young Harris serve the mission and core values embodied by the leadership of President Cox and expressed in the tradition of education that promotes a “trained mind and a warm heart.” This project marks a bold and hopeful moment for the college.

“A magnetic new Campus Center can be a powerful symbol---and a tangible mark of progress---in defining YHC’s commitment to students and to expanding and enriching their collegiate experience.”

"For college administrators and campus leaders, it is both an exhilarating and daunting time. As top-tier schools resist growth to retain their prestige, many applicants are looking to emerging institutions with fresh eyes, focused interest, and remarkably high expectations. A new Campus Center is a great way to attract these students and signal a readiness to match their aspirations and begin building the best kind of academic community.”

VMDO Architects was founded in 1976 and is the youngest firm to receive the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects.

For further information, interview, and photography opportunities in reference to this project and VMDO Architects, please contact William Bishop at 434.296.5684, email at bishop@vmdo.com.