Swinerton Breaks Ground on Irvine Valley College Design-Build Classroom Building

IRVINE, Calif. — On Aug. 12, Swinerton Builders broke ground on South Orange County Community College District's first design-build project. The $9.1-million, two-story A400 building is located at Irvine Valley College. Swinerton's design-build team, which includes design architect DLR Group, expects construction to complete in 12 months, with occupancy by the college planned for fall semester 2015.

The two-story design creates a compact footprint, which will have the new 27,000-square-foot building fit within the same footprint as the previous one-story A400 building (demolished on June 23), which was just over 14,000 square feet. The design of the classroom spaces will help the college best utilize state-allotted square footage, with the incorporation of the smaller classrooms to support a host of classes with enrollment caps, such as those in IVC’s writing program.

This preserves the campus open space design, while providing much-needed space to the classroom, lab and office inventory. The completed building will include seven 30-seat classrooms, three 40-seat classrooms, two 45-seat classrooms, an Anthropology/Geography Lab, a Writing Center, an Honors Program area and offices. Although not to be formally certified as a LEED building, the design meets the LEED Gold standard using daylight harvesting, improved lighting, recycled materials, native plants and a host of other sustainable building practices.

Upon completion, the building will serve as a hub for faculty and students engaged in a wide range of courses in the humanities.