The new Laney College art building was recognized in November for design excellence at the annual meeting of the California Community College Facility Coalition.

The state-wide coalition of community college districts, facility planners, architects and consultants supports and advocates for development at community colleges state-wide. The Laney College Art Center won an “Award of Excellence” for the “Specialized Facility.”

The new art building, built on the site of four former tennis courts near the bend in the Lake Merritt Channel, consolidates the facilities of various Laney art departments. It has studios for painting, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics--as well as regular classrooms. After breaking ground in April of 2005, the building was open and ready for students at the start of the 2006-2007 school year.

Because CalTrans purchased the site of the old art annex for an 880-widening project, design and construction of the new facility took place on an expedited schedule. The architects worked with pre-fabricated walls and ceiling pieces in order to design a building that could be constructed on a tight time-line.

“Originally, we thought we’d have 13 months before the new building needed to be occupiable.” said Steve Parker, of the San Francisco-based Beverly Prior Architects, who designed the Laney College Art Center. After several false starts work with companies that build pre-fabricated modular classrooms, the architects began working with Meehleis Modular Builders, Inc., a company which builds wall and ceiling pieces.

“Their wall sections are ten feet wide so as long as we built with ten foot wide section of walls, and we built the roof in sections that did not exceed certain spans, we were able to use their materials,” said Parker, who said the challenge of building with their existing components was a unique and enjoyable challenge for their firm. “It was a customized solution using pre-fabricated components.”

The building features skylights allowing for diffused light in the studios and the main corridor has walls of translucent fiber glass to allow for even more natural light. The major studios look out on the Lake Merritt Channel, and the student pavillion is on the water-side of the building. “The idea is that it’s a kind of an advertisement to the rest of the campus for what goes on in the building,” said Parker.

Susan Millhouse
BEVERLY PRIOR ARCHITECTS
222 Sutter Street 9th Floor
San Francisco CA 94108
415.777.9422
bparch.com

Meehleis Modular Buildings, Inc.
meehleis.com/

California Community College Facility Coalition
caccfc.org