Watertown, SD (2025)
LATC is a textbook case of what happens when a group of people commit to a plan and work together to execute it. Over the last 20 or so years, they’ve transformed their campus by systematically checking off building projects identified across three master plans. We’re responsible for the last two updates, completed in 2016 and 2025.
This story actually begins in 2007, when a member of our team (then employed by a different firm) helped LATC (then LATI, or Lake Area Technical Institute) with a master plan. You can see how campus looked back then by scrolling to the second image below. The big idea of this plan was to improve and define the front door to campus by expanding the standalone Student Services Center and tying it in to the surrounding academic buildings. Other needs included more program space, particularly for the Automotive Technology and Construction Technology programs, the Diesel Technology program, and the Ag program.
New and improved Student Services Center: check. More space for Auto/Construction/Diesel/Ag: check. Such was the state of campus when CO-OP entered the story circa 2016. We recognized that great progress had been made and that LATC was experiencing impressive growth because of their investments in their infrastructure. So, we pushed them to keep going.
We listened to their needs and visions for the future and, in response, proposed a few major moves back in 2016: A new lab for Robotics, more space for the still-growing Diesel Technology program, a renovation of and addition to the existing 100 Building, and, most notably, a bridge over Arrow Avenue to connect the north and south ends of campus. You can see how the latter two ideas came to life here and here.
We were back on campus in late 2024-25, dreaming up another 10-ish years of improvements to LATC’s campus. We can’t let too much toothpaste out of the tube at this point, but you can form your own conclusions about where we’re headed in the fifth image below. More to come.
