The new Classroom Building, designed by LMN Architects, has broken ground at the University of California Santa Barbara. It will be the first new classroom building on campus since 1967.
The four-story, 90,000-sf facility will increase campus classroom capacity by 35%, providing 2,000 seats across five lecture halls, three active learning flat-floor rooms, and 20 flexible classrooms in the center of the University’s shoreline campus. The building is designed to be a porous structure that opens at every face to welcome the university community and intertwine the life of the building with the surrounding campus and natural environment.
The Classroom Building will comprise two main volumes surrounding a central circulation corridor that runs east-west, linking the extension of Library Mall to Science Walk. An open-air paseo will interconnect the functions of the two buildings’ masses, providing outdoor terraces, stairs, bridges, and collaboration spaces designed to encourage collaboration among students and faculty.
The exterior will include a vertical facade system comprised of high-performance concrete panels and vertical windows that clad the outward-facing elevations. Facing the building’s internal public spaces, the building takes a radically different form by sculpting the shared exterior terraces with a more loose, organic formal language, driven by the efficient planning of the lecture halls within. The resulting formal and material qualities of these spaces take inspiration from the local vernacular architecture and the adjacent seaside cliffs, recalling the sedimentary sandstone in its curvilinear, polished concrete block walls.
In addition to LMN Architects, the build team also includes C.W. Driver as the builder. The project is slated for completion in 2023.
Related Stories
Projects | Apr 1, 2022
University complex encourages exchange between academics and residents
In the small Danish city of Horsens, C.F. Møller Architects has created a university complex that unites higher education with urban life—creating synergies among students, staff, businesses, and residents
Energy-Efficient Design | Mar 25, 2022
University of Pittsburgh Releases ‘Pitt Climate Action Plan’
The University of Pittsburgh has released the Pitt Climate Action Plan, detailing how the University will achieve its goal to go carbon neutral by 2037 through investments in clean energy, transportation, efficiency and other areas.
Higher Education | Mar 24, 2022
Higher education sector sees 19 percent reduction in facilities investments
Colleges and universities face a growing backlog of capital needs and funding shortfalls, according to Gordian’s 2022 State of Facilities in Higher Education report.
Projects | Mar 16, 2022
Tomorrow’s STEM leaders get a state-of-the-art research complex
In February, North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University (NC A&T) opened its new Engineering Research & Innovation Complex (ERIC).
University Buildings | Mar 7, 2022
A new facility can offer thousands of equine therapy sessions a year
At its new Spur campus in Denver, Colorado State University (CSU) will bring its expertise to the public by offering free educational experiences to visitors of all ages. Spur’s three buildings—Hydro, Terra, and Vida—will focus, respectively, on water, earth, and life.
University Buildings | Mar 4, 2022
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee celebrates new chemistry building with groundbreaking
The building will serve as a gateway for all STEM and health science related majors, housing the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Higher Education | Mar 1, 2022
SRG Partnership designs a nautically inspired space for maritime science
A community college in Oregon has begun construction on a new building devoted to maritime science. With it, the school hopes to solidify its position as a major industrial and marine technology center in the Pacific Northwest.
Education Facilities | Feb 24, 2022
New ASU science and tech building features innovative sustainability elements
Arizona State University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7, completed in December 2021, was constructed with numerous innovative sustainability elements.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
On-campus performing arts centers and museums can be talent magnets for universities
Cultural facilities are changing the way prospective students and parents view higher education campuses.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
UPenn converts a library past its prime to a tech-integrated learning and maker
In September 2021, Penn reopened its renovated and expanded library as an open center for cross-disciplinary learning, prototyping, and collaboration. Now called Biotech Commons, the 17,000-sf building supports new modes of research by offering a range of spaces and services that is free to be scheduled by any student or faculty member.
