Every week, approximately 120 construction workers come to Cal Poly to continue building the new six-story Center for Science and Mathematics. The $132 million project was funded by state education construction bonds which were approved by voters, plus $20 million from private donations.
Construction broke ground on Oct. 10, 2010, when the north side of the old Science building, which was approximately 40,000 square feet and built in the ‘50s, was demolished to make room for the new one. The new building located in the center of campus is 197,000 square feet, close to five times the size of what was demolished.
During the excavation period of the project, there were some heavy rains which caused some challenges; however, completion of the project is still scheduled for May 2013.
“I think the building is going to be fabulous,” Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said. “It’ll be a centerpiece for us. There’s a lot of open space, there’s places where students can congregate; in addition to, of course, classrooms and places for learning.”
College of Science and Mathematics Dean Philip Bailey expanded on what Armstrong said about the Center for Science and Mathematics being Cal Poly’s centerpiece. He said having the building in the center of campus is a symbolic thing.
“The symbolism is powerful because science and mathematics are central to the polytechnic curriculum, and the Center for Science and Mathematics is at the geographic center of campus,” Bailey said.
Bailey currently teaches organic chemistry in a portion of the old Science building (building 52) that remains. The conditions there are worse than those in the building that was demolished, Bailey said.
The university is still looking into what the old building will be used for in the future, though, and there’s talk about it being used for student projects, he said.
“It isn’t that building 52 is a bad thing, it’s just not a good place for science,” Bailey said. “We’ve called it the ‘Big Squeeze.’”
He said the college is currently taking all the classes that were offered in the old building and squeezing them into other places for the time being.
“Current students are getting a good education, it’s just not as good as what we’ll have,” Bailey said. “I can imagine people would say this isn’t a good situation, but it’s just what you got to do to rebuild.”
Bailey also said he is looking forward to the changes to come with the new building. Currently, both organic chemistry labs have 16 students and there are two exhaust hoods per lab room. The organic chemistry labs in the new building will have nine fume exhaust hoods each, he said.
Each one of the old fume exhaust hoods uses $3,000 to $5,000 worth of electricity a year: One hood takes the same amount of electricity as three to four houses do in a year. Bailey said he doesn’t know how much energy the new ones will use, but they’re computer operated and the energy used will be just a fraction of what the old ones use.
The project manager for the construction of the Center for Mathematics and Science, Barbara Queen, discussed additional features of the new Center for Science and Mathematics. Types of rooms in the building will include offices, integrated lab and lecture rooms, club rooms, utility closets, restrooms, storage rooms and conference rooms, Queen said, and there will be men’s and women’s restrooms on every floor approximately five fixtures each.
With the new integrated studios that allow for class and lab activities to happen in the same room, there’s greater flexibility in adding more classes, Queen said. There are approximately 100 labs, more than 70 offices and about 6,000 square feet of student interaction space, Queen wrote in an email.
There are also different roofs at different levels of the building. On the west side of the third floor there will be a green roof, which will be sedum, a plant that‘s very low maintenance. Students, faculty and staff will have viewing access to the roof. Queen said maybe in time, biological sciences students and faculty might even want to use the green roof for research.
Another portion of the building will be the atrium, which contains the offices and interactive space. The atrium will be open floor-to-floor.
On the fourth through sixth floors, there will be natural ventilation with automated windows. The point of using this type of ventilation is to make people feel like they’re outside rather than inside, Queen said.
The building also has passive heating and cooling-type chill beams. It will feature radiation panels that heat or cool the air at ceiling level, and the air distributes down at a low velocity.
Another unique thing the building has is a commuter shower room. It’s a single-occupant-style room with a shower and bathroom for faculty who commute more than 10 miles to campus.
“We’re trying to encourage people to be more energy efficient,” Queen said. “You really need to qualify to use the room. It’s not just a one-size-fits-all type of thing.”
This is one of the first commuter-style services available in a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building used for academic purposes at Cal Poly, she said. According to the U.S. Green Building Council website, LEED certification “provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.”
LEED has four levels of certification that run on a point system based on the amount of “green” building criteria that a construction project meets. The certification levels include certified, silver, gold and platinum — the highest level of certification. The current goal is for the Center for Science and Mathematics to receive gold certification.
The old building had accessibility issues, Queen said, which led to a lower efficiency rating. There are also hallways that don’t meet current standards, which is a liability for the campus, Queen said.
According to Queen, approximately 50 percent of the lab service facilities don’t operate properly. Current teaching methodologies require computers in every room, unlike in the ‘50s when the old building was built, she said. Another problem with the old building is the presence of empty rooms with windows open while the heater is running. With the ventilation system in the new building, this won’t be a problem, Queen said.
In addition to designing the building to meet current standards and implementing unique features, providing more community space for the campus is also a main part of the project plan.
One major part of the community space will be Centennial Park, an area that will feature green space, walkways and a plaza. The funding for the Center for Science and Mathematics project will pay for half of the park, Queen said. There will also be a new path to connect Via Carta to the Center for Science and Mathematics.
In order to enforce all the expected changes, Queen coordinates and runs ideas through Johan Uyttewaal, the associate director of Facilities, Planning and Capital Projects. His is one of the final signatures needed for changes to the project.
“My role with the new Center for (the) Science and Mathematics building project is supervising all the project managers and focusing on things like financing and negotiation,” Uyttewaal said.
The new science and mathematics building had been an idea for at least 10 years before the project broke ground, he said.
“I think we’ve accomplished the vision that was made for the building,” he said. “The new building will be state of the art and more energy efficient than the old building.”
Uyttewaal also said the construction plan aimed to conserve a portion of the existing vegetation.
“We protected some of the trees on the north side of the building and built around them,” Uyttewaal said, “and there’s a tree that’s pretty close to the building in the back on the south side.”
Another project that was paid for through the Center for Science and Mathematics funding is the Central Plant Project. Though money for the project came from the same funding, it has a different project management.
The purpose of the Central Plant Project is to have more chilled water, which is used for cooling buildings and equipment on campus. Features of the project include a large thermal energy storage tank that is covered with tan insulation (it was red until last quarter) between the Engineering South and Graphic Arts buildings, an additional large chiller and the completion of the campus chilled water loop.
As far as the actual construction and safety goes, Uyttewaal said the contractor of the project is on top of security and safety, and the project has been injury-free so far. The contractor owns the contract site, for Cal Poly’s security.
The biggest challenge has been delivery of materials and circulation around the building, Uyttewaal said. The University Police Department has helped with traffic during deliveries, but it hasn’t been needed for anything else related to the project yet, he said.
Another aspect of the project that was planned for was providing parking for the 120 construction workers that work on the project each day.
They have a parking zone, which is reserved at the big parking lot on Grand Avenue, he said.
In addition to the contracted construction workers, some construction management students, led by professors, have put on hard hats and protective gear to visit the site as a Learn By Doing opportunity. Uyttewaal said this is giving some benefits to the campus courses during construction.
Students are also utilizing the construction site as an opportunity for the projects in their academic program. A couple of the students are looking at the rigidity of the building as it goes up, Uyttewaal said.
“We’re very proud of this project,” Uyttewaal said. “It’s a great project for the campus and for the students. I think they’re going to be pretty happy with their building … that’s really the most important thing.”