FPBA and C.W. Driver joined forces to design and construct the School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University. Through the design-build process, the team assisted the university in meeting its LEED goals by identifying components of the existing building able to be reused during the renovation. Existing classrooms and lab spaces were renovated for use by undergraduate, masters and doctoral level students in speech-language pathology, communicative sciences, audiology and American Sign Language/deaf studies. Fast-tracked for completion in six months, FPBA and C.W. Driver successfully completed the 28,000-square-foot, two-story renovation, creating the perfect home for teachers, students and others to instruct, research, learn and improve their way of life.
In this project completed for the University of California, Irvine, FPBA sought to evoke the facility’s mission of providing a better quality life to people. Common areas and amenities provide balance to the important, focused research work in the laboratories areas. Working with the existing constraints of the low-clearance basement proved to be the biggest challenge, as the space receives almost no natural light. To counteract this, uplifting colors are applied throughout the space, and the general ambience is greatly enhanced with the high ceilings and direct/indirect lighting that bounces off ceilings. The resulting facility maximizes research space, including bench, shelving and equipment. BIM enabled FPBA to realistically model the space and utility coordination before the first construction activity occurred, saving the entire team time, money and rework. Should future changes need to be made, they will be designed with the benefit of an accurate 3D model of all existing conditions.
This project is a combination of three separate projects linked together as a phased relocation of four different departments within the College of Science at San Diego State University. FPBA created a new building design that met the needs of a modern university and integrated the building into a historic college campus. The first element of the project involved renovating the interior and exterior of the 1960, 132,000-square-foot chemistry/geology building to a state-of-the-art building with soft science classrooms, computer laboratories and offices. An essential part of the process included the decontamination of chemical, asbestos and lead paint hazards. The second element involved restructuring and modernizing 26,000 square feet of interior space within the business administration and math building, originally built in 1964. The third element involved replacing the substandard education building and constructing a 62,000-square-foot landscaped plaza connecting the major campus circulation paths.
