BIG’s new LA office tops out science center at Claremont McKenna College

2024-05-30T11:45:00-04:00

A topping-out ceremony was held recently for the new BIG-designed 135,000-square-foot Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College in California. The new campus gateway — one of the first projects of BIG's new Los Angeles office — seeks to enhance the college's research aims into neurology, genealogical studies, and climate change in preparation for an institutional turn towards its "next chapter."

Classrooms, lab spaces, and an open, column-free auditorium space are contained in each rotated rectangular block volume, complemented on the outside by rooftop terraces and public plaza areas "The Mall," "Art Square," and "Sciences Garden." BIG expects their design to be completed in 2025. It offers a worthy comparison to their previous Business Innovation Hub design at UMass Amherst and is on track for a LEED Gold certification.

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BIG breaks ground on a transformational new science center at California's Claremont McKenna College

2022-10-05T18:36:00-04:00

A new higher-ed project from BIG has broken ground on the campus of California’s Claremont McKenna College.

The 135,000-square-foot Robert Day Sciences Center provides facilities for a newly-funded program of integrated scientific research into neurology, genealogical studies, and climate change while spearheading a series of improvements aimed at preparing the 76-year-old school for its "next chapter."

Image courtesy BIG

In keeping with this notion, BIG positioned the structure as a gateway to the rest of the campus’ academic buildings. A pair of rectangular block volumes stack on top of one another, outlined along their edges by wood-clad trusses and bookended by a transparent glass curtain facade. Each individual volume is rotated 45 degrees away from the floor below it to enable a sky-lit central glass-covered atrium filled with open spaces that engender collaboration between students and faculty.

Image courtesy BIG

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BIG’s new LA office tops out science center at Claremont McKenna College

BIG breaks ground on a transformational new science center at California's Claremont McKenna College