Construction work will commence this week on a new building for the United States Air Force Academy. The Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD) has been designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and will sit in the Air Force Academy’s campus which was master-planned by SOM in 1954.

Once completed, the building will include a flexible gathering space, various breakout areas, seminar rooms, offices, a library, and the Honor Board Room, collectively amassing 46,000 sq ft. Targeting LEED Silver Certification, the building is due for completion in summer 2014.

During the design process, architects at SOM worked in partnership with Dr. Devin Della-Rose to ensure that the North Star (the symbol of the US Air Force Academy’s core values) was always due north of the building at 39° latitude.

Roger Duffy, FAIA, Design Partner at SOM explains: “The CCLD asserts itself as a 21st-century campus icon, while also deferring to the discipline and rigour of the Academy’s original plan. We’re excited to be revisiting our work on this significant 20th-century landmark and contributing to its enduring position in the canon of American architecture.”