New Palm Springs Campus Master Plan

Strategically located adjacent to downtown Palm Springs, the new satellite campus reflects a new model in 21st Century higher education learning environments. The new campus will support the College of the Desert’s vision of communicating knowledge through innovation and creative industry partnerships in sectors such as hospitality and tourism, digital arts, sustainability, and healthcare. While educating and inspiring the workforce of tomorrow, the new College of the Desert satellite campus’ environs will focus on enabling these industry partnerships, a key tenet of its vision.

The master planning strategy shapes buildings, open space, and infrastructure to integrate demonstrable sustainability strategies that are designed to promote collaboration and interaction in service to hands on learning.  Common interests of campus and community are integrated by investing in campus zones and linking them through pedestrian promenades to adjacent neighborhood communities. This approach also creates enhanced visibility for academic and associated infrastructure within the community. Framed views at multiple scales, into the heart of campus and outwards to the San Jacinto Mountains, build upon the unique characteristics of the regional landscape. This approach is a key principle of early Mid-Century Modernism, a driving design aesthetic within the community of Palm Springs.