The City College of Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, Calif., will soon start construction on a new three-story classroom building to replace the portable classrooms currently located along the West Campus roundabout. The new building will provide a sense of educational community not currently possible.
While the building appears to adhere to the modern architectural tradition of the West Campus, Thierry H. Cassan, AIA, principal at Santa Barbara-based Kruger Bensen Ziemer Architects Inc., explains the architecture is actually closer to the Mediterranean style for which Santa Barbara is known. Panoramic glass curtainwalls from Arcadia Inc., Vernon, Calif., and Indianapolis-based Citadel Architectural Products Inc.’s Envelope 2000 aluminum cladding are designed to blend in with Mediterranean elements such as porticos, trellises, overhangs, semi-enclosed gathering spaces and native Santa Barbara sandstone.
“By combining these two architectural styles, the building provides a visual bridge between the existing campus architecture and that of the surrounding community,” says Cassan.
Tying the building to its physical surrounds are lightly inclined vertical mullions that tether the articulated glass curtainwalls, echoing the wood pilings that support Santa Barbara’s historic Stearns Wharf, which is visible on the horizon. And, the undulated metal canopy from 3form Inc., Salt Lake City, hovering above the entry boulevard provides a nautical element that evokes the ocean’s waves.
Cassan notes that the classroom building will be the first to face inland and inward, visually acknowledging the East Campus and acting as a link between the two. The entry boulevard will serve as both the main entry and as a visual variation in the new building’s length, while also providing an outdoor activity hub and student gathering space.
The new classroom building will be made up of two separate facilities connected by a footbridge. The east portion will be three stories and will be home to classrooms, offices and areas for students to relax, while the two-story west building will have one classroom, nine faculty offices and an ocean-facing terrace.
The building is designed to provide a mixture of traditional classrooms and experimental studio classrooms to accommodate active, collaborative, small-group learning environments where instructors act as facilitators equipped with a variety of visual displays such as multimedia and smart boards. Additionally, Cassan notes the student study areas will feature flexible interaction spaces and multimedia support, and will be equipped with collaborative study pods to support spontaneous breakout sessions between instructors and students.
The LEED Silver certified building will feature energy and water usages displays, a second-story roof garden planted with native, drought-resistant plants, vegetated swales to promote rainwater infiltration, tubular daylighting system from Velux America Inc., Greenwood, S.C., and naturally ventilated spaces to take advantage of the cool ocean breeze through operable windows and louvers.
Construction on the West Campus Classroom Building is set to begin in September 2014 and be completed by August 2016.
West Campus Classroom Building, City College of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Architect: Kruger Bensen Ziemer Architects Inc., Santa Barbara
Construction management: Lundgren Management, Valencia, Calif.
General contractor: Franck Schipper Construction, Santa Barbara
Curtainwalls: Arcadia Inc., Vernon, Calif.
Metal canopy: 3form Inc., Salt Lake City
Metal wall panels: Citadel Architectural Products Inc., Indianapolis
Tubular daylight system: Velux America Inc., Greenwood, S.C.