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Building Our Campus: |
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Our college has been “under construction” with little or no break for years, and the end is not yet in sight. Currently we have two highly visible construction projects underway, and more are planned.
This installment will focus on the Bhupesh Parikh Health Sciences and Technology Building. This is the large, three-story edifice on the hillside behind the Advanced Technology (AT) building. In case anyone reading this hasn’t already heard, the building has been named after Bhupesh Parikh in recognition of his donation of $1 million to the college. When complete, the building will house the Nursing program on the third floor, facilities and the warehouse on the second floor (yes, I said the second floor), and the Emergency Medical Technician and the Digital Media programs on the first floor. The Nursing program will have state of the art, expanded facilities. This will be a great improvement over their current location in the San Fernando trailer court. They will have two teaching labs with ten patient beds, compared to their current single lab with three beds. Add in the offices, lecture rooms, computer lab, and necessary storage facilities and we will finally have a modern Nursing facility that reflects the quality of the instructional program. One feature of the third floor that everyone can enjoy is the view. The building is the highest point on campus, and the architects took advantage of this. The elevators open into a landing located in the southwest corner of the building, which incorporates a curved, steel and glass wall which offers a panoramic view of the campus, the surrounding hills and the valley beyond. On the day that I had an opportunity to tour the building, the sky was hazy, but even then it was obvious that this would be a popular place to bring people just to take a look around. Another unusual element is the bridge from the back (east) side of the third floor to the fire access road, which wraps around and behind the building. The location of the building, tucked up against the steep hillside, allows “street level” access to every floor of the building, including the basement. This is critical to the design of the second floor, which supports facilities, shipping and receiving, and the warehouse. It seems odd to think that the warehouse and loading dock would be on the second floor of a building, but in this case it will provide the most level approach for trucks delivering materials to the building. Looking north through the still unfinished doorway that will lead to the loading dock, one can see that the elevation of the fire road as it passes by is nearly a perfect match. Another important benefit of the new building will be the availability of dedicated working and storage space for the various maintenance and trade workers who keep the college’s physical systems operating. Currently, the electricians, plumbers, locksmiths, A/C and carpentry workers must keep their tools, parts and supplies on the carts they drive around, or in scavenged space in various electrical and mechanical equipment rooms spread across campus. Each of the trades will now be able to drive their carts directly into their workspace to collect any tools and materials needed for the day’s work. The rooms for the different trades are located adjacent to each other, allowing better coordination on larger projects. The first floor will house the Emergency Medical Technician program, as well as the Digital Media program. The EMT program will occupy one large lecture room with an attached computer lab. Though the EMT program was originally expected to occupy part of the third floor, it was relocated to the first floor when the anticipated Pharmacy Technology program failed to gain necessary approvals. Moving the EMT program downstairs allowed the creation of the second instructional lab, with additional patient beds, for the Nursing program up on the third floor. The Digital Media program will occupy the rest of the first floor. This program will have four instructional computer labs (one more than currently available), an additional open computer lab, and a media lab, as well as offices. These expanded and improved facilities will support more flexible class scheduling to better meet student needs, as well as allowing for future expansion of the program. Virtually the entire first floor has a low-profile raised flooring system, greatly improving the ability to install and maintain the extensive web of computer networking and power distribution cables required to support the computer labs. The building construction is well along, with the concrete and steel structure essentially complete, interior walls going up, wallboard being hung, cables and electrical work being installed, and bustling activity everywhere. The building is scheduled for completion during the spring semester with occupancy planned for fall 2007. The second part of this short series of construction updates will address the parking structure. While parking is not as flashy as a big new instructional building, it will bring relief from one of the most critical and longest-lasting problems the college has faced. I would like to thank Bill Taylor for making his time and knowledge available to me during my research for this article. & |
