Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 57

AMERICAN
RIVER COLLEGE
Life Sciences and
Fine Arts Building
Architect: HGA
Project cost: $5 million
Completed: 2010
HGA was tasked with designing an interdisciplinary learning
center to accommodate both the fine arts and life sciences at
American River College’s campus in Sacramento. The site is
on the north side of campus, next to the main parking lot. The
finished product is a 12,000-square-foot modern building that
serves as a campus gateway and promotes cross-disciplinary
interactions and encounters with students.
“We really wanted to enhance the welcoming aspect to the
campus, so the L-shaped building starts to frame that pedestrian
way into the heart of the campus, but also connects across
to the arts complex and the sciences complex,” says HGA
Design Principal Creed Kampa.
Large windows bring in abundant natural light and create
natural display spaces to showcase students’ work. The fashion
window on the building’s corner has rotating displays that
give a peek at the creativity and work that fashion students
produce. To help reduce the heat load on the west-facing end
of the building, the architects used a fritted glass pattern featuring
the ARC oak tree logo. The oak tree was abstracted and
used as a pattern for the glass. The art room windows were
treated in the same way.
Inside the building, the architects widened the main
corridor to create a student hangout space to extend learning
outside the classroom. Modern red bench seating and square
white tables dot the space where students gather. All of the
rooms open up to the space. The project’s seven classrooms
are used for fashion, art and interior design classes, as well as
for nutrition and the sciences, including dry lab space.
PHOTO BY CHAD DAVIES
June 2020 | comstocksmag.com 57