Project Data:

Completion Date:     5/1/2023

Square Footage:      73300

Building Use:           Classroom and laboratory spaces for the language art program.

Project Description:

Human beings have a fundamental need to connect with others. It is through our use of language that we distinguish ourselves and our world and fulfill our basic need to connect. Thus, the de¬sign explores the concept of "making connections" by linking pathways with campus open space, creating spaces for socialization and informal study, and prioritizing visual access to the outdoor environment.

As the home for the humanities program, the Language Arts Complex at Golden West College is a single three-story building totaling 73,300 SF (gross) located near the center of campus, immediately west of the main campus quad, and east of the existing Learning Resource Center. The new building will provide a much-needed expansion of classroom, laboratory, office, and support spaces customized to the needs of the language arts programs of the college.

The microclimate of the 103,509 SF/ 2.38 acres site presents a typical Southern California coastal environment. Prevailing breezes from the west are standard across the site and help to provide relief from warm temperatures during the summer months. The sun angles that impact the site are typical for the Southern California coastal region. Existing adjacent structures will not significantly impact the sun's exposure to the new building or its outdoor spaces. The site will include a mixture of paved and landscaped areas utilizing concrete paving, landscape seating, native planting beds, and outdoor areas for gathering, socializing, and other academic activities.

The architectural context of Golden West College is mixed. It exhibits the principles and simple geometric forms of modern brutalist architecture of the mid 1960's at the campus core. The campus then trends toward a more contemporary aesthetic at the edges. The new building’s aesthetic uses a mixture of visually heavy materials, such as poured-in-place concrete and concrete masonry units, and visually light materials, such as wood siding and various metal claddings to create a new architectural identity for the college. Designing within this context required an acknowledgment that both approaches are relevant. The resulting architectural character is informed by the campus's architectural context in mass and scale while creating compositions reflective of poetry's patterns, rhythms, and cadence as expressed in the building's window and cladding patterns.

Two challenges the team faced from the beginning were the state funding requirements set ten years prior and campus constraints that were not present at initial conception. The design responds to the programs' evolved needs while configuring to avoid site constraints such as existing underground utilities and new facilities with a focus on organizational flexibility and spatial efficiency.

Overall, this project explores the concept of "making connections" by creating spaces for socialization and informal study and focusing on visual access to the outdoor environment. The conceptual relationship between art and language inspired the interior settings and branded environ¬ments.

Firm Name:              HMC Architects

Completion Date:     5/1/2023

Square Footage:      73300

Building Use:           Classroom and laboratory spaces for the language art program.

Location:                 Huntington Beach, CA

Project Description:
- Integration
There are six skills in the language arts that work together to achieve effective communication; reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visual representation. In combination, these skills are powerful communication techniques. And there are three methods of communication that are represented spatially within the new language arts building. These are written communication, verbal (or auditory) communication, and visual communication.
Written communication is represented in the design using signs, symbols, and intuitive wayfinding devices in the architecture that identify specific activities or signify means of circulating throughout the facility.
Verbal and auditory communication is represented through the spatial layering of the building, creating zones of public, semi-public, and private spaces. Highly public spaces, like the three-story student commons, are intended to be active and acoustically live whereas faculty offices are intended to be quiet, contemplative spaces for preparation or respite.
Visual communication is represented using window walls to create visual connections between spaces and/or the exterior natural environment. Environmental branding elements within the interior, such as accent colors, art pieces, and graphic design elements, are used to create an inspiring spatial experience for the building users.

- Equitable Communities
The design embodies the college’s mission to “provide an intellectually and culturally stimulating learning environment for its diverse student population” by:
• Leveraging transparency to create views into learning environments to generate interest and put “learning on display.”
• Allowing circulation flow patterns to migrate through, under, and around the building hub to influence the student population and create exposure to the language arts.
• Providing attractive interior and exterior spaces for the campus community to connect socially, excel academically, and grow intellectually. For example, the design is a network of spaces for learning, studying, tutoring, and working. These spaces are bound together through “sticky spaces”, informal social spaces found in pockets at the building extremities or along the corridors that connect the major program elements, that provide opportunities for social engagement, informal study, and mentorship.

- Energy
A variety of high-performance and sustainable strategies were incorporated within the design, including:
• The building accommodates a natural ventilation system using the stack-effect at central light wells, taking advantage of the coastal climate and significantly reducing the energy demands of the mechanical system.
• Extensive daylighting along the building perimeter and at centrally located light wells allow for daytime classes to be conducted without the need for artificial lighting, ensuring low operating costs throughout the building’s life cycle.
• LED lighting systems throughout reduce electrical demand during evening classes and activities.
• These strategies, along with a high-performing building envelope, result in an energy-efficient and low-maintenance facility that ensures low operating costs that allows the college to benefit from the Savings by Design program.

- Well-being
The design focuses on:
• Social gathering spaces of varying scales located within circulation zones provide informal locations to meet and study, highlighted by an exterior deck located at the second floor which overlooks the campus quad.
• Gathering areas within landscaped spaces equipped with seating options, power supplies, and an elevated platform encourage social interaction and accommodate outdoor activities such as poetry readings.
• Students enjoy views to lush landscape zones from within, reconnecting them to the natural environment.

- Resources
Resiliency and relevance influenced the use of durable, high-performing building materials such as porcelain tile, insulated metal panels, and a terra cotta rain-screen system that visually connect to adjacent campus buildings.

Design Architect:
Nicholas Casolari

Associate Architect or Firm:

Landscape Architect:
EPT Design / Landscape Architect
Stephen Carroll, Principal
brett.leavitt@hmcarchitects.com

Owner / Developer:
Coast Community College District

Engineer:
Saiful Bouquet Structural Engineers / Structural Engineer of Record
Mehran Pourzanjani, Principal
mehran@saifulbouquet.com

General Contractor:
Sundt Construction

Consultant:

Photographer:
Francisco Penaloza