The state-of-the-art facility’s design establishes a sense of place, strategically situated at a primary point of arrival to the campus.
Acclaimed interdisciplinary design firm HGA announced the completion of the new Natural Sciences Building on the campus of Sacramento City College (SCC), a state-of-the-art, flexible and student-centric facility that adds nearly 10,000 square feet of learning and collaboration space to the former site of an existing educational hall. The resulting 54,574-square-foot Natural Sciences Building—located at 3835 Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento, California—provides science laboratories and related support spaces, general education classrooms, office space and connected outdoor environments for the SCC community while achieving the net-zero energy goal set by the college.
The distinctive placement of the new $34.6 million facility serves as a gateway to the SCC campus complete with an inviting outdoor plaza and seating options that encourage students to continue the learning experience when they are outside of the building. In addition to activating its prominent corner of the campus, the exterior of the Natural Sciences Building was designed with careful consideration to its broader context by integrating the brick into the architectural form that is consistent across this 97-year old campus within the Los Rios Community College District.
“The Natural Sciences Building is a great example of best practices in evidence-based design filtered through a truly contextual lens in order to thoroughly address all of SCC’s goals for the project,” said Courtney McLeod Golden, practice group leader and principal-in-charge of the project at HGA. “With this new building, HGA is proud to be a design partner with the District, providing students across greater Sacramento with an elevated learning experience through highly functional, top-of-the-line educational spaces that integrated areas for studying and respite throughout the building.”
Evidence-Based Design
The HGA design team engaged early and often with professors, SCC campus leadership and Los Rios Community College District leadership to establish a contemporary space program for the new building. As a one-for-one replacement of an existing educational building built in the 1960s, HGA led engagement workshops that were focused on how the new building could amplify the use of the pre-set capacity and load ratio with students’ needs as the driving force for all changes to the building. As a community college without an on-campus housing culture, a key priority of these sessions and focus groups was determining the best way to expand social learning for students beyond the classroom.
As a result, the first floor includes general education classrooms and instructor’s offices, open for all students to study, meet and engage with faculty. The entry floor also includes two tiered classrooms for large format sessions, a tutoring room adjacent to faculty offices as well a number of activated spaces and alcoves with comfortable furniture for studying, socializing or resting between classes—referred to as ”sticky spaces.” Outside of the first floor, the newly formed plaza area can also function as an outdoor classroom to put science on display with a garden of planters that will be used as a teaching tool.
Floors two and three are dedicated to the natural sciences with functional natural science labs large enough to accommodate both teaching and experimentation, complete with new storage spaces that were not a part of the former building. The design of these floors prioritizes high ceilings for an open, sophisticated environment with ample natural light and windows that take advantage of views towards nearby William Land Park. These floors also integrate a number of student-centric areas including social spaces for cohort work and quiet spaces for individual study. Classrooms and other educational spaces throughout the building are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to support hybrid teaching and learning in a post-COVID-19 world.
“HGA has designed several other buildings on our campus, and we are always impressed by their creativity and sensitivity to our unique needs,” said Pablo Manzo, Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management for SCC. “We look forward to providing current and future students with a fresh and functional space to further their education.”
Designing for the Future
As the oldest of several colleges within the two-year, public Los Rios Community College District, one of the top project goals for Sac City College leadership was ensuring the Natural Sciences Building replacement was designed within its context while not appearing dated. Architectural consistency was achieved by maintaining the classic brick walls and clay tile mansard roofs that have long unified the SCC campus. HGA sought to merge these traditional elements of the building with technologically advanced design features as a nod to the cutting-edge technical components of the educational spaces within the facility. As a result, a metal panel was used to contrast the brick with a more contemporary style and, on the plaza side, glass with a pattern in between panes adds a modern flare.
The Natural Sciences Building achieved LEED Gold certification. Design of the building paid particular attention to the building’s orientation for maximum daylighting and native gardens throughout the outdoor greenspaces surrounding the building. Furthermore, the proposed energy model for the Natural Sciences Building is anticipated to exceed Title 24 standards by 28% through several energy savings features including chilled water and heating hot water pumping systems with variable speed drives; manifolded laboratory fume hoods and general exhaust system with variable speed fan drives; an exhaust air heat recovery system; an aircuity control system utilized for sensing laboratory air quality and reducing lab air change rates during non-occupied periods, dependent upon actual lab air quality; efficient interior and exterior lighting systems; and optimized control sequences including static pressure reset, load-based discharge air temperature reset and economizer control.
The design also supports SCC’s equity goals by improving its ADA features for a building now open to the broader campus community and fully accessible to all. Wayfinding throughout was also a priority for the now taller Natural Sciences Building, and circulation centers around an elevator in the middle of the building. With a commuting student population, the design of the new building helps to create a comfortable home base that welcomes and engages students outside of class time. This supportive space in lieu of on-campus housing is another way that SCC promotes equitable higher education options for the greater Sacramento area.
Building Program Statistics
Floor One
- 5 general education classrooms, including two tiered classrooms
- 18 faculty offices
- A tutoring room
- 3 sticky spaces including alcoves, lobby areas and more
Floor Two
- 6 functional labs
- 6 storage/prep spaces
- 5 sticky spaces accommodating both groups and individuals
Floor Three
- 6 functional labs
- 5 storage/prep spaces
- 6 sticky spaces accommodating both groups and individuals
Exterior Spaces
- 13,400 square-foot plaza
- 3 outdoor seating options
- 1,000 square-foot garden area for outdoor learning
- 1,500 SF gazebo connects the campus to the new Natural Sciences Plaza
In addition to McLeod Golden, the HGA project team included Tiffany Coyne, senior project manager, and Ida Brown, project architect. The project was completed under a traditional design-bid-build delivery method, with an emphasis on document quality control and value engineering built into each phase. Broward Builders, Inc. served as the general contractor. The project team also included experts in lab design, envelope, sustainability and cost estimation, including The Engineering Enterprise, Quadriga Landscape Architecture and Planning Inc., Wood Rogers Inc., Research Facilities Design, and RDH Building Science Inc.
About HGA
HGA is an acclaimed interdisciplinary design firm committed to making a positive, lasting impact for our clients and communities through research-based, holistic solutions. We believe that great design requires a sense of curiosity—forming deep insight into our clients, their contexts, and the human condition. We are a collective of over 1,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, planners, researchers, and strategists, with 13 offices. Our national practice spans multiple markets, including corporate, cultural, education, local and federal government, healthcare, and science and technology. Visit HGA.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.