Student Life

The Fish Interfaith Center and Wallace Chapel is a richly layered building with a unique response to the imagery and spirituality of the program. The concept for the chapel was to develop a composition of space that transports visitors from the material world (campus) into the spiritual realm. The path into this realm incorporates a series of architectural and artistic elements that reinforce this transitional experience. The symbology used in this journey, however, had to comfortably accommodate people of many different beliefs. To achieve this vision, AC Martin collaborated with five prominent artists to create a metaphorically significant experience beyond that which architecture alone could create.

The journey begins outside the chapel with a 60’ light tower that glows at night with lantern-like illumination from backlit marble. This lighted beacon acts as a focal point, drawing the visitor into a pathway that integrates a three-part work of art featuring swirling blue lines in the floor, flowing together forming a musical score.

The main sanctuary is voluminous, bathed in filtered light highlighting the altar. The curved walls of the sanctuary were designed to make the experience of being in this space unlike any other place on campus. Above the altar is a golden-bronze metal sculpture portraying the setting moon and the rising sun. Light entering from the skylight and art glass windows interweaves with interior lighting to play upon the sculpture's metallic surface. The exterior is sheathed in golden collegiate brick providing a contextual relationship to the campus buildings and to the historic setting of Old Towne Orange.

Located at the northeast corner, the solar fountain marks the opening of a tranquil courtyard. The courtyard is divided into two main spaces, one representative of earthly life and the other representing eternity.

Hillside Dining Hall is a 12,600 sf tenant improvement project for an existing dining hall at Cal State University, Long Beach. Work included a complete renovation of the dining interior and kitchen facility as well as a new exterior covered patio and open garden. 

The vision for the Hillside Dining project was to create a social core—a ’home away from home’ for resident students. The challenging part programmatically was that the new venue needed to accommodate more students at peak time than the existing facility. The kitchen had to grow in size while the envelope of the existing building remained the same. 

This approach created ‘neighborhoods’ within the larger dining hall. Each zone has a specific ‘flavor’ in terms of food offerings and material finishes. The variety of seating options allow students to find their favorite space and make it their own, regardless of the size of the group.

The Café at Annenberg is part of the  Annenberg Academic Building on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC). The 895 SF café was envisioned to be more than a food service outlet; it was designed to be a 24/7-student space. Carved out of a corner on the first floor and adjacent to the grand atrium, while clearly a continuation of the interior fabric, this café has its own distinction and has become a campus wide destination. The interior design team played with angles, verticality, and space planning to punctuate the new space.

The dual-function of the café was the primary challenge. In order to maximize the usable space, a compact food-service area was cleverly concealed with an accordion wall that, when closed, becomes an integrated glass writable surface that together with the rearrangible communal table provides students a collaboration center in the heart of the lobby. Features such as these were included in order to invite students to claim the space after hours.

The wood slat design also became a malleable design tool. The vertical slats adhered to the regularity and conformity of the exiting system. Here, they were used throughout the project and then integrated a series of custom infills. Spacing and rhythm varied from tight to loose to conceal otherwise unsightly functions such as a large air intake, electrical room access doors and other base building functions that all happened within this small footprint. 

The café has an exterior wall made of glass allowing for natural light to enter by day and for the space to act as a welcoming beacon by night. The central focal point is a mobile communal table under a row of decorative lighting pendants, both of which are anchored by the vaulted ceiling above. The modern color palette includes polished concrete, vertical white maple slat walls backed with back painted glass, and blue aluminum stools. The solid surface counter top made of cement and coarse glass chips brings a pop of color to the palette.

The new café has become a needed space offering students somewhere to eat, rest, study and collaborate.

University Gateway is a mixed-use student housing project adjacent to the campus of the University of Southern California. This eight-story concrete structure contains a bookstore, restaurants, retail, and student facilities on the ground floor, with housing units above for 1,600 students.

University Gateway is a private mixed-use development located across the street from the University of Southern California (USC), providing a 1,656-bed student housing project. The site was previously used for car dealerships and is now repositioned for student housing in response to a dramatic lack of on-campus housing for USC’s annual enrollment of 40,000 students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional). The ground floor is designed to accommodate commercial uses including restaurants and student services. The eight-level structure is a Type I concrete frame clad with exterior finishes that complement existing buildings on the USC campus.

The project was developed with the sophomore/junior in mind and intended to ease the transition for students to market rate housing as seniors. The primary unit type is a two-bedroom, each with a bath. Two students occupy each bedroom, sharing a common living, dining and kitchen area. Resident advisors and study rooms are provided on each floor. The centrally located 10,000 SF resident amenities space includes a fitness center, a communal kitchen, a concierge, a large study hall and smaller collaboration rooms and ‘the grand living room.’

The design objective was to move past the traditional product offering and to elevate the design to a new level in order to compete with private sector options. Well-appointed units, social spaces, rooftop decks and central courtyards contribute to this student-oriented design.

The design for Chico State's Sutter Hall employs a “village” concept throughout the site. The proposed design engages two legs of the existing Whitney Hall to create a dynamic and diverse experience for students living in both buildings. The new building creates a vibrant courtyard, giving students who live on the site a unique sense of place. The first-floor program – dining and housing support – promotes the use of the courtyard as a spillover space for interior program functions and provide a variety of programmable uses for the courtyard. The site is a popular pedestrian circulation route for students traveling from University Village Housing north of the main campus to the academic core, so the large number of students traveling through the courtyard will charge the space with varying degrees of activity.

The building massing is developed around the concept of a butte. By acting as a “butte” to Whitney Hall, the building gradually steps up in elevation from the southwest to the northeast corner. Varying the massing softens the impact of the building on the adjacent two-story structures, while maximizing the number of beds on the site.
 

The 15,500 SF fast-track remodel of the Parkside dining facility at CSU Long Beach converted a plain cafeteria-style dining hall into a more diverse and eclectic ‘neighborhood-like’ dining experience. The new space aims to “deinstitutionalize” the student dining experience by creating a more comfortable, welcoming and home-like atmosphere. It will provide the students with different food offerings (pizza, healthy/vegan, open grill and comfort food) within the campus setting, allowing students to choose their dining experience (food and mood) much like one would in an urban environment.

AC Martin’s design offers seating areas with different characters and styles—from more communal seating for groups and informal gatherings to individual bar seating for quiet types. We also provide an outdoor shaded dining area/lounge to be open 24 hours. Our design differentiates the dining areas with special characteristics by varying lighting, finishes, colors and ambiance. The idea is to create a “home away from home” for students and provide them with opportunities for gathering, meeting, and collaborating during meal hours and finding a space of their own—a place they feel represents them.

View the article in the Orange County Register