Academic Learning Center - Bemidji State

The new Academic Learning Center will replace and modernize the former Hagg-Sauer Hall. With a changed orientation and smaller footprint, the new building will help create a better connection between the university and Lake Bemidji. With the removal of Hagg-Sauer, the campus quadrangle will have an unencumbered connection to Lake Bemidji. The project also creates an outdoor learning environment using natural vegetation that will interrupt the stormwaters natural flow, help treat storm runoff and improve the waters quality before it reaches and enters Lake Bemidji. Pedestrian connectivity forms a newly expanded lakeside quad lawn framed by native plantings. The student lounge and outdoor learning spaces will allow students to engage with the outdoors. Native pines were planted to re-establish the once prominent pine forest edge that surrounded the lake.