Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects were commissioned by Harrisburg Area Community College to design a Mechatronics Laboratory space for their Gettysburg campus. Gettysburg and Adams County has a growing need for workers with mechatronics experience, and HACC will soon help meet this need with the new facility.
HACC has spent the last 13 years incrementally converting a former shopping center along Old Harrisburg Road to accommodate student needs in the Gettysburg area. The school has added the Mechatronics program, a multidisciplinary field of engineering comprised of a combination of systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering, and computer engineering. The program’s new laboratory will provide classroom space for students to operate equipment. The laboratory has retractable overhead electrical outlets and pneumatic lines, to accommodate curriculum flexibility along with changes to the space layout for future needs.
The project scope also included renovations related to new lighting, heating, cooling, restrooms, accessibility provisions, incterior finishes, and code-related modifications to the existing space. Construction for this 3,000-square foot project began in June 2015, and was completed in September 2015, for a total cost of $259,000. The new Mechatronics Laboratory was dedicated on October 29, 2015.
Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects has other projects currently under construction at the HACC York campus, including the Cytec Building Writing Center renovations and new Student Commons within the Governor George Leader Building.