After 85 years, Jacob’s Pillow, home to the country’s longest-running summer dance festival, is taking major steps to become a year-round dance center, providing off-season residencies for 10-15 choreographers per year.

The residency program is one of several initiatives the Pillow plans to launch as part of “Vision ’22,’’ a five-year plan that includes a new summer program for emerging choreographers, year-round conferences and workshops, and enhanced engagement with communities in its home base in Becket and nearby Pittsfield.

The off-season plans hinge on a new climate-controlled studio — the Perles Family Studio — which will serve as the home for the School at Jacob’s Pillow. The $5.5 million structure, set to open in August, will provide a 3,500-square-foot dance floor, nearly double the size of the largest rehearsal space now used by the school.

“It’s a really exciting evolution for Jacob’s Pillow,’’ said director Pamela Tatge. “It takes advantage of the resources the Pillow has and extends it to the field in terms of what we can do for choreographers, researchers, and students.’’

The off-season residency program, dubbed the Pillow Lab, will provide choreographers with time to develop their work at the 220-acre Berkshires campus. In 2016-17, the Pillow offered 10 trial residencies to choreographers such as Ronald K. Brown, John Heginbotham, and New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns.

“We’re doing this with a deep focus on the fact that artists need concentrated periods of time that we can’t give them in the summer,’’ said Tatge, who added that many artists struggle to find studio time in their own cities. “They might be able to get four hours of studio time. That’s not what they need to go deep. That’s what we hope will happen in the Pillow Lab.’’

In 2018, Jacob’s Pillow will also begin holding conferences, workshops, and other events in the off-season, including a program for local dance faculty and students, giving them access to the Pillow Lab and archives, and a retreat for area choreographers.

The off-season residencies and events will revolve around the new studio, one of several capital improvements at the 36-building campus. Jacob’s Pillow also plans to renovate the Ted Shawn Theatre, updating its ventilation system and making other structural improvements. Additional building projects include a new kitchen for the Pillow’s restaurant and new housing for staff and residency artists.

“The studio is the largest capital project we’ve had since the creation of Blake’s Barn for the archives,’’ said Tatge, describing the renovated 18th-century building that Jacob’s Pillow relocated from Stockbridge in 1992. Tatge said they are still finalizing a total budget for all of the planned capital improvements. “This is major work, but in the grand scheme of things it’s affecting four of our 36 buildings.’’

Jacob’s Pillow also plans a series of community outreach initiatives, including pop-up performances in Pittsfield and a free Saturday shuttle service from the city. Other initiatives include expanded residencies for artists working in the community, a program geared toward local veterans, discounted tickets to local dance students, and plans to expand its work in area schools through its Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion program.

The center also plans to collaborate with a variety of area cultural institutions, including the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and the Tanglewood Music Center, among others.

Tatge said Jacob’s Pillow’s increased focus on community engagement comes at a time “when communities are in need of the community-building powers of dance.’’

“The international brand of Jacob’s Pillow can help make this a place where people want to come to live and educate their children,’’ said Tatge. “We need to do this because it’s our future. We want to attract top-notch staff who want to move here and raise their families.’’

Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @malcolmgay