Golden West College Language Arts Complex (LAC)

Features & Highlights

Strong collaboration between Sundt, the design team, the college and CCCD minimized change orders and maintained campus operations
To align with the District’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Sundt prepared bid packages that provided opportunities for residents and historically underutilized businesses within the District’s service area
Durable materials such as porcelain tile, insulated metal panels, and terra cotta rainscreen provided added value
Applied sustainable strategies to minimize the building’s carbon footprint and provide healthy spaces for students to study, learn and advance

Project Overview

The Language Arts Complex (LAC) marks Sundt’s third project on the Golden West College campus, and the fourth project for the Coast Community College District.

The construction scope includes demolition of two existing concrete buildings, which originally housed health sciences and humanities. The aim of the high-level design of the LAC is “connection,” with diverse spaces that allow thoughtful collaboration among students. Built in the early 60s, Golden West’s campus is going through a regeneration phase; the two buildings Sundt demolished were the second and third buildings to be built on campus. Sundt is part of the history of this regeneration phase with the new LAC.

In total, the three-story building will be approximately 72,000 square feet. The project will feature modern LED fixtures, natural daylighting, native landscaping, and cutting-edge HVAC design components that will reduce energy consumption on campus. These sustainable strategies minimize the building’s carbon footprint, provide healthy spaces for students and move the campus toward Net Zero Energy (NZE).

The building will utilize a natural ventilation system, that will be integrated into the building’s BMS infrastructure. This will reduce HVAC costs by utilizing natural air flow throughout the building. Sundt will facilitate the installation of exterior and interior transom windows that will be activated using set points within the building and the air flow exhausted through solar chimneys at two locations through the roof. Together, this will create a natural air current by utilizing the proximity to the ocean and this natural ventilation system. To encourage diverse connection, the building will include classrooms, a language laboratory, offices, indoor and outdoor gathering, and support spaces customized to the growing needs of the school’s language arts programs.

The LAC’s location in the middle of campus brought a set of challenges to construction. The campus’ utilities infrastructure runs right through the middle of the building site. To resolve this issue, the project was designed as two separate buildings, with an internal bridge joining two separate wings on the second and third floors. The walkway underneath the bridge will be left open to encourage the flow of foot traffic on campus. In addition, hauling materials in and out of the center of campus was a challenge; Sundt utilized an existing pedestrian walkway between two existing buildings to create an access drive lane to mitigate this challenge, which will be refurbished when construction is complete. The project is funded by a combination of Measure M bond funds and matching state funds.