Classroom Buildings

The design of Fertitta Hall reinforces USC's mission of educating, recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest entrepreneurs and business leaders. The focus remained on creating a facility that is intensely collaborative and interactive utilizing the latest technology to support their unique educational pedagogy as well as provide abundant support spaces creating the student-centric environment with social gathering, food services, lounges, and study space.

The building adds 104,000 square feet of building space, meeting all instructional needs for the undergraduate program. This includes 21 classrooms, two of which are active learning, a 150-seat lecture hall, 50 breakout rooms, an improved Experiential Learning Center, and a library/collaboration area. Also included is a café, lounge, offices for the undergraduate program and the admissions office for the Marshall School of Business. The addition of Fertitta Hall resolves the issues of a lack of meeting space and individual and group study space and will allow students to be engaged between classes and after hours. 

Fertitta Hall provides significant outdoor space via an outdoor courtyard, shared with the adjacent Graduate School of Business, as well as gathering spaces outside on Childs Way for the students to meet, interact, and study. The building is certified LEED Gold, reinforcing the social responsibility mission of the school. 

This 17,000 SF classroom building is the final piece in Chapman University’s long-planned completion of the historic core campus. 

Completed in 2013, the hall is designed to reflect its historic counter parts built from 1913 to 1921. The building is designed with collaboration spaces which are meant to be less formal environments where faculty and students can meet.

AC Martin provided a Feasibility Study and design for this 106,500 GSF facility for Social and Behavioral Sciences, which is located on the main planned pedestrian spine. It includes lecture halls, graduate research space, faculty offices, a Dean’s Suite, 10 department suites, support spaces, conference rooms and two centers. Research labs housed in the building include: Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Community Ethnobotany Lab, Communication Lab, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Lab.

The Digital Media Arts Center project was developed for Chapman University’s Film School. The design’s primary purpose: to provide an ‘ideation’ lab or creative collaboration studio for faculty and students to exchange ideas and further their craft. Formerly the California Wire & Cable Company building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources, it now functions with 2D animation classrooms, green screen studios, an art classroom, faculty offices and a small but well-appointed, stepped screening room.

The layout of the program takes full advantage of the restored historic shell, made primarily out of brick, by utilizing the expansive glass and steel frame windows and the unique collection of sculptural light monitors and skylights which bathe the interior space in light. The seemingly irregular plan speaks to this alignment of new program and existing site conditions. The primary social spaces and collaboration lounge are located directly beneath the grand light monitor - wrapped in floor to ceiling tack board, Idea Paint and writable translucent glass walls.

Organized as a interconnected series of collaboration spaces, the design trades hallways and corridors for a more academic approach to circulation providing places for exchange and serendipity. Built in niche benches, an oversized communal table, a natural wood communal table and individual student lockers aim to keep students engaged and in the facility before and after classes. A catering bar just inside the glass entry and a BBQ grill just outside ties together the interior social arena with the sizeable exterior covered patio, allowing students to work and collaborate outdoors. The trellis and canopy are integrated into the existing historic architecture and feature a grid of pendant lights that extend the usefulness of the terrace well into the evening hours.

The  EMILY^™ brand of DSA pre-checked, site-built classrooms has provided a cost-effective classroom replacement solution to the California educational system for the past 18 years. This fall we present EMILY ^™ 2.0 — a complete re-invention of this classic design that is carefully tuned to the concerns of modern education in the California K-12 environment.

EMILY ^™ 2.0  is a fully electrified, Zero-Net Energy, 21^st Century classroom that incorporates lessons learned from COVID-19. The new classroom is equipped with a superior air-filtration system, passive ventilation, and an expansive connection to the outdoor—all responding aggressively to the health concerns that we expect will remain with us into the future. Additionally, as a ZNE design covering most climate zones in California, EMILY ^™ 2.0  helps eliminate energy costs, allowing school districts to allocate their budgets elsewhere.

This site-built classroom design uses the efficiency of standard carpentry and local construction companies. Unlike modular products, construction dollars stay within the community. The structure utilizes Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) technology in order to reduce expensive contractor time-on-site; it will be the first DSA approved project of this type in the state of California. A wide array of exterior sheathing options allows Districts to select materials and an appearance that will complement existing campuses.

Equipped with four teaching walls and two projector mount locations, the configurability of EMILY^™ 2.0 provides the flexibility to support multiple teaching and learning styles, including multiple break-out sessions and small group collaboration. Expansion capability to the outdoors allow for supervised project work outside, active embodied-learning curriculums, and more expansive activities that a traditional 960 sf classroom cannot hold. 

The space is also designed to expand internally with adjunct spaces that offer a 1,350 sf classroom as well as a series of breakout spaces, teacher workrooms, adult and child toilet rooms, and support spaces. Sliding acoustic wall panels provide the option to link up to 5 classrooms to create even more flexible layout opportunities.

The LEED Gold-certified Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences (EIS) Complex is a significant addition to San Diego State's (SDSU) STEM programs. The program includes Engineering teaching labs and flexible research space for a wide range of interdisciplinary science programs including Wireless, Bio-medical/Bio-Engineering, Bio Chemistry and Energy research plus shared core labs for Viromics, Materials Science Imaging, MRI Imaging, and a Clean Lab. The Entrepreneurial Center and Creative Design Garage “Maker Spaces” with their fabrication shops provide spaces for faculty, staff and students to collaborate.

Building in the historic core. The goal of the EIS Complex was to fit into SDSU’s historic core of Mission Style architecture. The challenge was to take a modern lab building with 16 feet floor to floor and put it inside of an architectural shell that would fit in with buildings from the 1920’s. The project is laid out in a courtyard configuration with two separate wings of teaching and research labs (north and south) connected by a wing with shared amenities for the whole complex.  The main entry is an open air covered patio with a café that opens onto the STEM courtyard with meeting rooms, a coffee shop and plenty of outdoor seating to invite people to linger and talk. Ground floor spaces are entered through covered colonnades and the building facades use large windows, balconies, covered patios and open-air terraces to break down the scale of the building and fit within the surrounding historic structures.                                           

Teaching and Research Labs. The EIS building has teaching labs for: Hydraulics, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Thermal and Materials, Soils and Environmental disciplines.  Prior to the EIC Complex opening these teaching labs were taught in a series of existing buildings from the 1960’s. The vision for the new teaching labs is to create spaces that are connected, modern and flexible; that can change over time as teaching pedagogies and technology change. Additionally, the vision for the EIS building is to create flexible modern research space that SDSU can use to attract new interdisciplinary faculty that will enhance SDSU’s research capability. The research anticipated in this facility will focus on energy, wireless technologies and bio-medical engineering and bio-materials as well as focused research in the area of viromics. Flexibility is built into each lab with mobile benches and overhead utility distribution. Faculty offices, post doc and grad student work stations are outside the laboratories with a priority for close proximity and visual connections to the research functions.

Entrepreneurial Center. This center brings together the Zahn Innovation Center (a commercial and social incubator supporting aspiring entrepreneurs as they transform their ideas into companies) and the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center (which serves student and faculty business leaders through its entrepreneurial curriculum and resources) in a design and business Incubator. Together they help faculty and students develop ideas through diverse hands-on learning opportunities enabling participants to translate their knowledge into practice. The center has a Fabrication shop, Design Center, collaboration spaces and meeting rooms.

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.

Gateway Hall provides California State University, Channel Islands with a new “front door” that is a beautiful and welcoming space for both the campus and the surrounding community. The spaces provide innovative environments for learning, interaction, and collaboration. The project consolidates several departments and spaces into a centralized hub - providing a new building and renovated buildings that are intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

The program for the new Gateway Hall provides approximately 80,000 SF of renovated existing facilities and new construction. The project will house campus admission, and a new “one-stop-shop” for student services, including financial aid, registrar, and advising. The new building will also house new general classrooms and departmental labs for math, computer sciences, and mechatronics. Lastly, the extended university will find a new home in renovated facilities; one that provides a new front door to the community. The project pulls together programs and occupants from across the campus into an interdisciplinary and integrated complex, putting the student and public community first.

Designed according to the mission style campus guidelines, the new building blends harmoniously into the contextual campus. Gateway Hall will greet all who arrive at the CSUCI campus with its welcoming façade. As a campus built in the Mission style, buildings were sited to define outdoor space. The new Gateway Hall building is sited to maintain that character. At the termination of University Drive, the visual corridor facing south towards the North Quad is preserved by siting Gateway Hall on the west side, in anticipation of a future theater to be located on the east side, and creating a paseo in between the two buildings. The Paseo serves as the main outdoor circulation through the Gateway site and into the North Quad and the rest of the campus. It is envisioned to have a leisurely quality as one moves through the site with Paseo-facing edges that are porous, providing visibility into interior activities. The Paseo has an entry plaza on its north end, giving a sense of arrival to the campus. The renovation of the historic structures gives new life to the old buildings, adapting the previous mental hospital into a welcoming university environment.

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.