| With its undulating roof and curving form, the Student Services Building makes a powerful visual statement, establishes a new landmark on the campus and in the region, and brands itself as the very symbol of the university and its long history in agriculture, science and technology. Striking in design, it marks a place of arrival and orientation for students, staff, alumni and visitors. The design draws its inspiration from the Southern California mountains and foothills that are articulated in the building’s shape and the form of its standing-seam aluminum roof, uniting it with the landscape and demonstrating a commitment to sustainable operations and practices in a dramatic way.
The new building fulfills several broad campus goals: represent the university’s aspirations and mission; provide a welcoming place of arrival and orientation; enhance delivery of services to students, faculty and staff; encourage administrative collaboration; and allow for future flexibility. Two programmatic approaches emerged that strongly supported the university’s goals of increasing student enrollment, improving student retention, and creating lifelong supporters – student-centered delivery and team-based service.
The program provides a series of consolidated service centers for a welcoming, transparent and efficient student service experience, and the design approach splits the program into two distinct wings – east and west – covered by one roof to provide maximum visibility and accessibility to those essential student service functions. The three-story east wing consolidates functions of enrollment, financial aid, cashier, student success and prospective students on the ground level. In support of the service centers, offices for academic, student and administrative affairs are located directly above and feature open layouts, shared conference facilities, kitchens and break rooms to encourage collaboration across departments. Offices for the university president and provost are situated within loft-like space on the third floor. The two-story west wing houses a multi-purpose center with conference and training rooms, a staff- and faculty-focused service center, and human resources on the second level. The wings are bisected by a central breezeway providing shaded exterior space with seating, gathering and breakout areas as an amenity to the campus.
In addition to creating the desired campus landmark, the building’s two-acre curved roof serves as the primary passive energy performance driver for the building. It acts as a shading device with large overhangs to protect the building’s skin The edges of the roof are perforated to filter sunlight and maximize daylight autonomy while minimizing glare aqnd heat gain, resulting in a low energy use. With an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 32, the building has become the first facility on the campus to receive LEED Platinum certification. Commissioned with an overall budget of $60 M established in 2010, the building was completed on budget in 2018 while delivering a highly efficient, accessible and impactful design for this state-funded institution.
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