Mitchell Hall is part of the original master plan for the Cadet Area of the Air Force Academy, and is located off the main open space of this area, the Terazzo, along with other significant cadet buildings such as dormitories and academic buildingsother relations: The U.S. Air Force Academy is located along the Rampart Range of Colorado, a scenic natural area made up of forested hills and valleys along the base of the Rocky Mountains. The Cadet Area occupies the highest ridge of the USAFA campus, and has a soaring view toward the open plains to the east of Rampart Range.SOM was commissioned to build a dining hall that could seat all of the cadets (3,000 at that time) at once, where staff would be able to “serve two eggs sunny side up at the same temperature to all cadets.”design brief: The SOM design team wanted to make the dining hall’s interior column-free, and developed an advanced roof of steel trusses supported by sixteen perimeter columns to make this possible. SOM had initially wanted to have glass curtain walls on all four sides of the building to allow for maximum views of the surrounding site, and to have the food-preparation area on the floor below the dining area with small elevators to bring food up, but this would not allow the food to be served fast enough and so they ended up designing the building so the main kitchen area was on the same floor as the dining area, and the north facade of the building was faced with concrete panels and aluminum to hide the kitchen.

date: 1966circumstances/ reasons for change: The number of Cadets attending the Academy increased from around 3,000 maximum when it opened to around 4,000 by the late 1960seffects of changes: Mitchell Hall was expanded on its east and west sides, partially blocking the openness of the space and views to the mountains when support columns were added.persons/organisations involved: architects Leo A. Daly and Henningson, Durham, and Richardson

The USAFA Cadet Area is still used for its original purpose, as an undergraduate university dedicated to training and educating future Air Force officers.of principal components: Mitchell Hall is currently still used for its original purpose, as a dining hall for USAFA Cadets. The Cadet Area’s appearance and function have changed very little since the Academy first opened in 1958, which is a testament to the foresight of SOM’s design team when they were planning the campus and the consistency of the USAFA’s mission. Although the number of cadets attending the Academy has grown since it first opened, Mitchell Hall is still able to serve all of them at once during mealtimes, which was the main requirement for the building when it was designed.

While the Cadet Area and Mitchell Hall have been well preserved on the whole, additions were made to the campus in the late 1960s and early 1980s that SOM felt didn’t fit with their overall design for the USAFA. As a result, in 1985, SOM developed a master plan for future development of the Cadet Area to prepare for further expansions or alterations. This plan was updated by the USAFA Design Standards, developed by SOM in 2001, which are continually updated by the firm. Also, although the USAFA site is around 17,500 acres, it is now surrounded on all sides by increasing development of Colorado Springs, which has doubled in size since the Academy was first built. The Academy’s planners were prescient in requesting such a large site for the Academy, but the federal government could choose to sell off part of the Academy’s land in the future, which would greatly affect the character of the USAFA.

The Cadet Area is sited on the Rampart Range—hilly, forested land along the base of the Rocky Mountains that was undeveloped before the USAFA was built.