AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
The Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)-designed Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is now open. This 135,000-square-foot structure, featuring rotated volumes that create a central atrium with views into classrooms, establishes a new campus gateway and facilitates interdisciplinary connections. The building houses classrooms, research spaces, labs, and a maker’s space, organized to maximize views and separation from social areas. Interiors feature warm wood, concrete, and the school’s colors, with reconfigurable classrooms. Eight rooftop terraces offer 360-degree views and serve as multifunctional outdoor spaces. The Center targets LEED Gold certification with 11,000 square feet of solar panels on its roof.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
The Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)-designed Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is officially open, bringing multidisciplinary studies into a distinct structure of rotated volumes.
For the Sciences Center, BIG was joined by Saiful Bouquet as Structural Engineer, KPRS Construction as General Contractor, and IDS Real Estate Group as Construction Manager.
The 135,000-square-foot building is located on the eastern edge of the campus, with views of Mount Baldy. It establishes a new gateway to the school and strategically facilitates strong connections to other academic departments. In addition, the Center aims to enhance the college’s research aims in neurology, genealogical studies, and climate change.
The Center’s structure is designed as a stack of two volumes, with each pair rotated 45 degrees from the floor below. The voids of the rotated blocks create the building’s central, full-height atrium, which offers direct views into classrooms and research spaces from all levels.
The ground floor includes the McElwee Forum, a large seminar space, and imaging suites. Classrooms, research spaces, dry and wet labs, the Quantum Library, and a maker’s space are located on the upper levels.
The classrooms are organized around the perimeter of the building, giving them access to picturesque views, while keeping them separate from the atrium and social spaces below.
Throughout the structure, warm wood cladding and concrete floors are accented with the school’s signature red and gold colors. The BIG-designed interiors incorporate elements, such as reconfigurable classrooms and modular seating, in order to accommodate future scientific innovation.
Eight outdoor rooftop terraces located on the corner perimeters of the volumes offer 360-degree views of the natural surroundings, while serving as multifunctional spaces. They are landscaped with native flora and designed to be used as outdoor classrooms, study areas, and meeting places.
Targeting LEED Gold certification, the building’s roof hosts 11,000 square feet of solar panels, providing about 342 megawatt hours of energy production per year.
