Three LPA Projects Honored by Community College Facility Coalition

LPA was recently honored with three Professional Design Awards in the California Community College Facility Coalition (CCFC)’s annual awards ceremony, including a special Jurors Citation Award created specifically to celebrate LPA’s strong commitment to sustainable design and adaptive reuse.

The three projects honored: Santa Barbara City College’s Physical Education Building received an Award of Honor in the Project in Design category; Cypress College’s Veterans Resources Center, Memorial Plaza, and Student Activities Center received an Award of Merit in the Modernization category; and College of the Desert’s renovation of its central campus buildings, including its historic library and learning center, was honored with the special Jurors Citation Award.

The awards mark the 15th year in a row that LPA’s work has been honored by the organization; LPA has earned a total of 30 awards from CCFC since 2004.

“The CCFC awards are always special to us, since they reflect feedback from educators and the community college community,” says LPA’s Director of Higher Education Steve Flanagan. “These awards are a celebration of our clients and our collaborative design process built on the immense talent of our integrated design teams.”

Flanagan kicked off the conference by introducing the keynote speaker that addressed the California economics forecast.

The projects honored reflect the depth and variety of LPA’s work to support the community colleges’ role in expanding their educational and student services goals, as well as their growing role in the communities they serve.

Santa Barbara City College’s PE replacement building emphasizes the holistic concept that movement, physical fitness, and wellness are the key elements of lifelong learning. The new facility emphasizes physical connections, promotes transparency, and creates a contextual response to student life. The building maximizes daylighting opportunities and frame ocean views, presenting a new “front porch” for the campus.

The partnership with Cypress College included a complete reimagining of the campus quad and its various components. Centered around the expansion of the college’s Veterans Resource Center and the adjacent Memorial Plaza, LPA’s integrated team focused on enhancing programs and facilities. This includes a new tribute garden, memorial bridge and plaza that connects the VRC and a renovated Student Activities Center. This multi-part transformation is meant to preserve the campus’s modernist past and looks to the future by enhancing the institution’s vision and service.

In the city of Palm Desert, LPA’s design for College of the Desert’s renovation was strengthening the institution’s mission to “create a model for a sustainable campus.” The project scope re-established the campus core as the center of student activity, focused chiefly on the college’s library, plaza, and its iconic Fountain of Knowledge. Drought-responsive landscaping, biophilic design elements, new building openings providing ample daylight, and glass-protecting louvers were all introduced to create a more sustainable and energy-efficient design response. The library’s interior included significant seismic enhancements, while outside, the plaza’s fountain was expanded as a campus gathering place to energize student life and create an iconic beacon on the campus.