Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Central Oregon Community College

Science Building

  • 12/01/13
Central Oregon Community College

INTERIOR PHOTOS © CHRISTIAN COLUMBRES, EXTERIOR PHOTOS © ALAN BRANDT

Nestled in a hillside campus on the side of Bend’s Awbrey Butte, the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) Science Building provides flexible instructional spaces that support innovative teaching and learning. The 45,000-square-foot flagship facility maximizes opportunities for putting learning on display in both private teaching and public spaces.

The building program features two floors of dedicated instructional labs for biology, chemistry, geology and physics. In addition to general-purpose classrooms, learning resource center, herbarium and faculty offices, a wide variety of informal breakout/student study areas are included throughout the building, designed to encourage collaboration and interaction. An alternating sequence of enclosed conference “boxes” and open study lounges runs along the building’s west face, sharing expansive views of Oregon’s Cascade Range with a large two-story lobby and covered terrace.

The challenge of introducing natural daylight throughout the building’s interior, particularly given the hillside site, became an organizing theme for the building’s volume and articulation. A series of skylights overlook the central lab/stockroom area, bringing daylight into the hallways, lobby and the labs themselves via continuous interior glazing between the lab spaces and adjacent hallways. Second-floor light wells draw daylight further down to the first floor core areas. The large interior lab windows and light wells also provide vertical and horizontal visual connections throughout the building.

The building’s material and color palette draws from its high desert campus context, incorporating the cedar and smooth concrete of neighboring structures while adding oak, fir and board-formed concrete to define significant interior spaces. The building’s lab spaces feature high-impact, bacterial-resistant epoxy walls and seamless, chemical-resistant rubber flooring, and employ vivid color to differentiate each discipline area.

The Science Center was a pilot project for Earth Advantage’s Commercial program for sustainability, earning EA Gold certification. It was designed by Portlandbased Yost Grube Hall (YGH) Architecture (www.ygh.com).

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management December 2013 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Hawaii Elementary School Breaks Ground on New Classroom Building

    Kealakehe Elementary School in Kailua, Hawaii, recently began construction on a new, $16-million classroom building for its campus, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot building will stand two stories and connect the existing upper and lower campuses.

  • UT System Board of Regents Approves $108M Housing Complex

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently announced the approval of a new, $108-million housing complex at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), according to a news release. The facility will stand four stories and have a total of 456 new beds for freshmen students.

  • Texas State University Completes Stadium Renovations

    Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, recently announced that it has completed a series of additions and renovations to its football stadium, according to a news release. Formerly known as the Bobcat Stadium End Zone Complex, the Johnny and Nathali Weisman Football Performance Center is an 85,000-square-foot expansion featuring hospitality spaces, banquet spaces, exterior concourses, and upgrades to the field house.

  • iPark 87

    Building a Future-Focused Career and Technical Education Center

    A district superintendent shares his team's journey to aligning student passions with workforce demands, and why their new CTE center could be a model for districts nationwide.

Digital Edition