For the last 10 years, Douglas College has served tens of thousands of students from all over the Lower Mainland, operating annually at maximum capacity. The new Coquitlam Campus will provide much needed additional post-secondary facilities to address the ever growing demand from both high school graduates and adult learners. The Pinetree Way Campus will also include a new 1200-student secondary school and a major new Community Centre with recreation facilities intended to serve the general public as well as the student population. The facilities will be constructed on a 22 acre site in the "town centre" of Coquitlam, where they will join new civic, commercial, and residential facilities to establish the core of this rapidly growing and maturing city. This is one of the most significant education projects currently underway in British Columbia. The site of the new campus represents the first challenge for the designers. With some 45,000 m2 of floor space to be included in the college and high school facilities alone, the 22 acres available is not generous. The preliminary design calls for a linear, linked arrangement of the college, fieldhouse, and school, with both the college and the secondary school being multi-storey, compact structures. A pedestrian spine runs from one end of the campus to the other, linking all the components and continuing on to connect the facility with the Town Centre development to the south.

Preliminary design of the college component of the Pinetree Way Campus was completed in April 1994. The college facilities will be built in two phases, each containing about 17,000 m2 of floor space, with the college ultimately serving up to 5000 FTE students.

Each of the phases consists of two wings arranged at right angles. Phase II will be linked to Phase I by a bridge, and the completed structure will surround an open quadrangle, onto which each wing will face.

The Phase I facilities have been designed to serve a population of about 2000 FTE students. Each wing is a three-storey structure, and they are linked by a four-storey atrium that forms the main entry to the college.

The first two floors of each wing contain classrooms and associated spaces, while the top floor is occupied by faculty (and other) offices. The Library, a vital part of any educational facility, will occupy a prominent place along the walkway leading to the main entry, its curved facade greeting students and visitors approaching from Coquitlam Centre to the south of the campus. The library will be expanded to double its initial size during Phase II, eventually providing 4000 m2 of useable area.