Interiors

The Charles C. Gates and Franklin Thomas Laboratory on the campus of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California houses the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. The renovation ushers in modernization while honoring the lab’s storied past and the people who helped advance engineering at Caltech. The original structure was completed at the close of World War II, when human spaceflight was still years in the future and the idea of nanotechnology had not even been conceived. The updated Gates-Thomas Laboratory provides new laboratories and light-filled spaces where scholars, faculty and students can collaborate and engage in experimental and computational work undreamed of when the building opened its doors.

The 54,300-SF facility was challenged with substandard infrastructure unable to support the robust research taking place. The closed-in institutional look and feel of the building failed to convey the prestige of the Engineering Department and provided few opportunities for interaction. The building faces Olive Walk, a lovely tree lined park, to the South and a landscaped courtyard to the north. The architect's approach sought to connect the courtyard “garden” to Thomas-Gates Laboratory, to open the building up both physically and symbolically.

The architect’s solution introduces a two-story entry anchored by a glass-enclosed stair connecting the upper floors. The stair is deliberately located at the building’s midpoint to draw inhabitants up and through the building in a visible and dynamic fashion. A wall graphic representing the “Poincare Section of a Duffing Oscillator”, lines the stair. The floor at the lobby features an etching illustrating the year and latitude of major earthquakes from 1949 to 2011. The glass enclosed 88-seat auditorium extends beyond the original footprint. Transparent as possible while maintaining functionality, the space allows the community to observe the important science being discussed and taught. The auditorium is planned to host guest lecturers as well as regularly scheduled classes. A translucent fabric screen with images of the current faculty member’s bookshelves can be drawn to encourage "reluctant" students to the front of the room.

Strategically located at the second floor landing, the lounge is the heart of the department. The gathering space encourages collaboration and conversation beyond the research labs and classrooms. It is open and spacious, with views to both Olive Walk and the garden to the north. The new seminar room, with direct access to the roof terrace, can serve as an extension of the lounge during events. The faculty office "neighborhoods" are connected by a generous corridor with clerestory windows and integrated collaboration tables.

Throughout the project, the architect sought opportunities to expose and retain as much of the existing concrete frame structure as possible. Corridor ceilings are exposed due to constrained floor to floor heights and a desire to reveal the “workings” of the building systems.

Graduate and post-doctoral candidates spaces allow for group study and collaboration as well as quiet research.

The Keck Center for Science and Engineering occupies a significant site on the Chapman campus, located at the north-east corner, adjacent to the Chapman football field (to the west) and Argyros Forum (to the south).  The new building adds 140,000 SF of educational space and two levels of below grade parking. 

The Center presents a permeable, welcoming face to the campus and surrounding community. An entry plaza facing Argyros Forum addresses the anticipated pedestrian traffic flow from campus. One enters from the north into a generously day lit two-story space. A wide corridor is lined with floor to ceiling glass and integrated display cabinets, putting science on display. Throughout the length of the building, “events” are introduced as collaborative spaces, and to allow views out to the east and west. The heart of the building is at the midpoint and consists of a variety of gathering spaces.  A stepped amphitheater allows for casual meeting and working, and also provides vertical connectivity through the building.  A connecting stair rises from the second to third floor, continuing the connectivity to the upper floor. Each floor has a collection of meeting rooms and lounges complete with coffee making facilities and student gathering spaces. 

At the second floor, an outdoor terrace adjacent to the amphitheater allows for the collaborative space to spill outdoors.  The terrace also provides a physical break in the rather long eastern elevation. At the third floor, due to the prescribed setback, there exists an opportunity to have terraces and roof gardens along the Eastern face of the building.  The faculty lounge and seminar room are also adjacent to outdoor terraces. 

An open arcade occupies the first floor eastern face of the building and connects to the existing sidewalk at a number of locations. Outdoor rooms have been integrated in the garden space next to the arcade to encourage student and faculty gatherings.  The entry facing Center Street at the center of the building will provide access to the visitors’ stadium seating through a grand arched opening. Visitors will access the bleachers serving the football field through an arched two-story space.

This 2,500 SF project provides new biology laboratories and faculty and graduate student offices for Assistant Professor Joe Parker, Assistant Professor of Biology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology. The laboratory focuses on the genetic, genomic, and neurobiological basis of symbiotic interactions in animals. Due to the nature of the Professor's work, the laboratory houses such insects as roaches, beetles, termites, and ants.

The Pachter Lab provides new computational/wet laboratories and faculty and student offices for Professor Lior Pachter, Professor of Computational Biology with the Biology and Biological Engineering (BBE) Division at Caltech. Located in the basement and first floor of the Kerckhoff Building, the gross project area includes 4,300 SF of basement lab space, 250 SF of first-floor faculty office space, and 500 SF of construction office/staging area space which was refurbished after construction.

Located on an operating academic health campus, owned and operated by the University of California as part of UC Davis, the North Addition Office Building is located immediately adjacent to the main teaching Hospital tower.

This new 133,000 SF, 6-story facility includes an array of teaching spaces, administrative offices and support programs.  The First Floor Conference Center is used primarily for teaching by outside guest lecturers, as well as internal healthcare and administrative hospital training. Included in the center are three large conference rooms (one with 40-person capacity, and two with 80-person capacity) and are used to support hospital programs, guest lectures, and teaching.

The building also features a 335-seat auditorium, which is technology-enabled with long-distance learning capabilities and includes state-of-the-art AV systems. The auditorium includes full black-out motorized shades, acoustically sensitive glass, and a large pre-function space. Additionally, a flat floor model allows for reconfigurable seating.

Finally, the building includes an 80-seat Medical Staff Collaboration Room used by faculty for group meetings and small lectures, a technology enhanced-outdoor space used to host meetings and small group sessions, and an adjacent cafe with seating for 30 people.

The building is also LEEDv3 Platinum Certified with 83 LEED points, making the North Addition Office Building one of the greenest buildings on the UC Davis Health campus.

The 2,209 SF updated basement level of the Gates-Thomas Laboratory Building houses Professor Aaron Ames’ Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics (AMBER) Lab. This lab is equipped for students to design, build, and test robots and prosthetics with the goal of achieving human-like bipedal robotic walking. The mission of the AMBER lab is to translate these walking capabilities to robotic assistive devices.

This renovation required upgraded mechanical and electrical systems and additional acoustical treatment in the ceilings. The lab includes two long treadmills a 144 SF rotary walking area for bipedal robots, and updated 
design stations.

Reimagining a traditional educational institution, the 42,000 SF renovation of the second floor of McCarthy Hall introduces daylight and a sense of place to the Biology and Geology departments. Spaces include department offices, teaching and research labs, a cadaver lab, and an animal facility. Open, informal learning space throughout the floor provides students with areas to study, meet, and learn. Hallways, niches, and open space reach to the exterior in order to drive natural light as far into the center as possible. Integrated display cabinets and full-height glass walls with views into the classrooms reinforce the goal to put science on display.

The Swenson Family Hall of Engineering, located in the Keck Center for Science and Engineering at Chapman University, is envisioned not only as the campus epicenter for innovative thinking but as an inclusive social hub where cross-pollination of ideas can occur between faculty members and students. At the heart of the School is a Design/Create/Innovate (DCI Lab), a makerspace for experimentation and collaboration space for idea incubation. This main space includes a series of operable partitions and modular design that allow for a flexible and adaptable space supporting collaboration, presentation, and showcase events. Upper floors include faculty office space and instructional teaching labs, including: active learning classrooms; a circuits and structures lab; and  a signals and cyber lab.

The space occupies three consecutive floors:  the first level designed to be a collaborative student space traversed by a gallery or ‘ideation path’ connecting to the existing building; the second floor that includes labs, study alcoves, and research pods; and the third floor dedicated to faculty workspaces and meeting rooms.

The ideation path is a wide hallway that bifurcates the lower level of the Engineering school. This gallery path connects the collaborative student spaces, the dean’s suite, and the fabrication labs through an angular walkway covered in a metal mesh ceiling. The path features views into workspaces and instructional spaces through glass walls and large operable partitions.

This 4,000-SF lobby and Tech Lounge renovation for a private biotech company provided a centrally located technology service center for employees and modernization of an existing lobby space in an executive office building. The project scope included:

- Tech Lounge with tech bar, lounge seating, work table, display case, lockers, storage, and tech vending machine
- Tech work room with back-of-house work stations and storage
- Tech demonstration room for new technology tutorials
- Private meeting room
- Elevator waiting area and cab upgrades, including new finishes and graphics
- Lobby upgrades, including new finishes, seating areas and graphics
- Toilet room upgrades

The Tech Lounge was designed to be a welcoming space by opening it up to the existing two-story lobby space. The white solid-surface entry portal that extends into the lobby contrasts with the surrounding darker wood wall paneling, making it easily identifiable to new employees. The new terrazzo flooring that runs throughout the lobby also extends into the Tech Lounge, creating a stronger connection between the two spaces. As a result, the lobby serves a dual function as both building circulation and Tech Lounge waiting area.

The "K" Residence Hall provides Chapman University with on-campus housing for 400+ students. The new student housing is a key component to an integrated master plan which includes the adaptive reuse of the Villa Park Orchards Packing House built in 1918. The historic Packing House contains an exciting array of student services, academic uses and a museum. A subterranean open central courtyard acts as a circulation hub between the renovated packing house and new residence hall while providing a dynamic outdoor space for students to relax, study and socialize. The new residence hall is differentiated from existing structures on site by its contemporary design and use of exterior brick veneer accents, visually aligning it with other buildings on the Chapman campus. The building has a combination of metal sawtooth and flat roofs, recalling the roof forms of the Packing House.  To compliment the surrounding neighborhood’s agri-industrial context, the exterior walls are clad in metal siding at the upper levels and smooth troweled cement plaster at the lower levels.