(SAN MARCOS, Calif.) June 10, 2015 — Palomar College officials, community members gathered at the recent groundbreaking for the new library and learning resource center at the college’s San Marcos campus.
The Library project is centrally located at the main campus interchange between the two major vertical and horizontal pedestrian crossroads, becoming the epicenter of campus activity. Developed in concert with the Palomar College Humanities building, Multi-Disciplinary (MD) building and the Teaching Learning Center—each designed by LPA—the library project is the last component in the transformation of the campus. The library’s design takes its clues from the adjacent buildings and campus master plan while expressing its unique program to creating a special destination on campus.
Ozzie Tapia, AIA / LEED AP BD+C, Project Designer at LPA said, “President Robert Deegan, his executive committee and key staff were active partners in the [design] process, from helping to shape the facility’s program to establishing the goal for the library to be a gateway and true student destination on campus.”
The 85,000-square-foot, four-story building will address the deficiencies and diverse programmatic needs of the existing Library and Learning Resource Center, resulting in an efficient use of the available site on a campus with a growing student population. The building program has three components: library, technologies and tutoring.
Each of the main components of the program occupies a separate floor, with the library functions located on the ground floor, for easy access; and sky level, where elevated views of the valley become a dramatic backdrop to reading areas and community rooms. The library is linked by the Academic Technology Center and Tutoring Center respectively in the middle floors.
The library will include meeting rooms, training rooms, offices, archives and an adaptive technology center. The learning resource center will include a faculty technology center, computer commons, multipurpose lab, group study rooms, proctoring rooms, open lab tutoring area, work rooms and areas for reading and studying.
The library plaza, a critical social component to student life, provides a counterbalance to outdoor gathering spaces established in the MD building.
Additionally, natural ventilation, optimized daylighting and the inclusion of a photovoltaic array system on the roof are some of the many systems designed to follow in the pursuit of a sustainable campus. The building will be tracking LEED Gold certification.
Other sustainable design components include native and water efficient landscaping with reclaimed water irrigation, efficient plumbing fixtures that will reduce water use in the building by more than 35 percent and 80 percent of construction waste to be diverted from landfills.
Slated for completion in July 2017, the new Library and Learning Resource Center at Palomar College will be just in time for fall 2017 semester.
Palomar College
1140 W Mission Rd.
San Marcos, CA 92069
About LPA Inc
Founded in 1965, LPA has more than 250 employees with offices in San Antonio and Irvine, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose, California. The firm provides services in architecture, sustainability, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, engineering and graphics. There is no “Sustainability Director,” at LPA. Instead, nearly 70 percent of the professionals are LEED accredited, including the Human Resources Director, CFO, and several other support staff. With extensive experience in public and private architecture, LPA designs a diversity of facilities that span from K-12 schools, colleges and universities to corporate and civic establishments. More than 600 major design awards attest to LPA’s commitment to design excellence. For more information, visit http://www.lpadesignstudios.com.
