Harold Goldstein / Roundup
Construction on the Center for the Sciences, the largest building project at Pierce College, is expected to finish by Nov. 15, 2009.
The Center for the Sciences was formed in 2000 by a Pierce facilities master plan that would enhance various educational programs to better serve students.
When Prop. A was passed in 2003, the Center for the Sciences went through a developing process and then construction started Aug. 27, 2007.
Originally expected to finish June 26, 2009, the project was delayed for seven months due to stormy weather conditions and building-design issues.
“There have been several delays,” said Andrew Ramsay, deputy director of Swinerton Management & Consulting and the Center for the Sciences’ project manager. “We’ve had a number of design issues. The primary issue that had to deal with design coordination was not understood until March 2007 when the project was well underway.”
Located at the cross streets of Mason Avenue and Olympic Drive, the Center for the Sciences is measured at 110,000 square feet and costs about $14.25 million.
“(The project) was bid out in a competitive public works bid and we got a competitive low bid,” Ramsay said. “We actually estimated more than that based on 2006-07 prices.”
The Center for the Sciences is a two-story building complex that brings together five different science departments: chemistry, life science, nursing, physics & planetary science and veterinary science.
The center will feature 22 laboratories, seven lecture rooms, a planetarium, an animal teaching hospital, various preparation rooms, and an outdoor center courtyard that makes the complex feel like a medieval kingdom.
Aside from boasting a 4,000-student capacity, the center will also accommodate 34 full-time faculty offices, five department chair offices, 17 adjunct faculty workstations and a dean’s office.
Although it is the largest construction project on campus, the center’s strongest feature is the connection between the departments it will house and the students who want to excel in those departments.
“We brought together a number of different science departments that are interrelated through our students,” said James Rikel, Ph.D., chairman of the life science department. “The departments will be physically connected so I think that will benefit our students a great deal.”
As the center is nearing completion, teachers are excited to be moving into the new complex.
“It’s a once-in-a-career opportunity,” said Isidore Goodman, Ph.D., chairman of the Chemistry department. “It doesn’t happen in everybody’s career that they get to design and then move into a new facility so I’m extremely lucky.”
The Center for the Sciences is expected to be open to the public and ready for the new semester by February 2010.
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Workers from DW Mc Casland Inc. (one of the sub-contractors with Swinerton company- Main Manager in this project) work in the science building site. Pedro Guevara- Project engineer- says almost 60 sub-contractor work in this project. The Pierce College, Woodland Hills, Calif., Wednesday, march 11th. 2009. (Arash Akhtari Rad / Roundup)
