Parker Technical Education Building
North Idaho College
The Parker Technical Education Building serves a range of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs at North Idaho College (NIC). The building allowed NIC to expand its vocational programs to accommodate growth in the Industrial and Vehicular technical programs and to provide state-of-the-art facilities designed to support teaching and training in these fast-growing trades.
Size: 110,000 sf
Location: Rathdrum, ID
Architect of Record: Architects West
Design Architect: Opsis Architecture
The two-story academic core housing engineering labs, computer design labs and classrooms centers around the Commons—a multi-use space which serves as arrival lobby, student lounge, large-scale meeting area, and a place to display student work. A suspended steel bridge passes through the Commons, giving access to the classrooms on the upper level and reinforcing the industrial focus of the facility with exposed steel connections fabrications that display the type of work students are training for.
The high-tech Machining Lab, which can be viewed from a large display window right from the lobby showcasing the equipment in operation by students as both a recruiting tool and a way for the public to see the programs in action.
