Calif. School Debuts New $66.5M Academic Building

California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), located in Carson, Calif., recently completed construction on its new, $66.5-million Innovation and Instruction Building. The 107,600-square-foot space was designed to support active learning and encourage collaboration among students and faculty, according to a news release. The building stands four stories and features amenities like a 250-seat auditorium, a 120-seat active learning classroom, two case-study rooms with 60 seats each, meeting rooms and computer labs, faculty and administrative office space, and a café.

The university partnered with builder C.W. Driver Companies and architecture firm HGA Architects & Engineers. C.W. Driver completed a Science and Innovation Building for CSUDH in 2019.

California State University Dominguez Hills Innovation Instruction Building
Photo credit: Chase Magdaleno, Drone Works Media

“We have enjoyed our partnership with CSUDH, lending our years of experience constructing projects for California universities to complete another cutting-edge facility designed to support the evolving needs of higher education,” said project executive Tom Jones with C.W. Driver Companies. “With several active learning classrooms and external collaboration areas, interaction and continuous learning are encouraged among students and educators.”

The facility opened for classes in time for the spring 2022 semester. In addition to the services listed above, it also plays home to the College of Business Administration and Public Policy. The building’s second floor includes a simulated trading room featuring lighted ticker tape information.

“The outstanding design and dynamic quality of the Innovation and Instruction Building are ushering in a new era of campus facilities that matches the caliber of the academics taking place,” said Roshni Thomas, director of facilities planning, design and construction at CSUDH. “The C.W. Driver team was an excellent partner in bringing our vision to life, helping us to navigate this challenging period for construction.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • i-PRO, NovoTrax Partner for New School Emergency Response Solution

    i-PRO Americas, Inc., which manufactures edge computing cameras, recently announced a partnership with NovoTrax, provider of end-to-end life safety and mass notification solutions, to address gaps in emergency response workflows at K–12 schools, according to a news release.

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • K–12 Safety Trends Report Reveals Reliance on Training, Technology

    Wearable safety technology provider CENTEGIX recently released its 2025 School Safety Trends Report, according to a news release. The report is based on more than 265,000 incidents during the 2024–25 school year as reported through the CENTEGIX Safety Platform, used by more than 800 school districts across the U.S.

  • Key Considerations for Office-to-Higher-Education Facility Conversions

    Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, office-to-alternative-use conversions have become a recurring subject of urban development discourse. Office utilization rates across major U.S. cities remain below 50%, with vacancy rates exceeding 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York. Higher education facilities present programmatic and spatial use cases that align readily with the typical characteristics of commercial office buildings.

Digital Edition