Chico State University Natural Sciences Building

May 9, 2024

The award-winning design for Chico State University Natural Sciences Building in Chico, California encourages student engagement through its responsive design and ability to blend access to indoor and outdoor spaces.

Education Facility Design Award
The new Natural Sciences Building and site design represents a focus on the concept of connectivity at various scales, addressing aspects of campus, materiality, curriculum and equitable access. The building’s exterior design bridges the architectural expression of the historic brick campus core and the surrounding contemporary feel of the mid-century structures.
Emily Hagopian
  • At a campus scale, the building’s massing reconnects disjointed areas of the campus, featuring a large breezeway that acts both as a gateway from the west and an opportunity for outdoor learning.
    Emily Hagopian
    At a campus scale, the building’s massing reconnects disjointed areas of the campus, featuring a large breezeway that acts both as a gateway from the west and an opportunity for outdoor learning.
  • The “Science Collaborative” features highly visible and adaptive learning resource spaces for study, tutoring, and impromptu engagement to support intentional learning communities for students and faculty on every floor. The entry hall is filled with ample seating, clear wayfinding and expansive views to landscape that blur the indoor/outdoor experience.
    Emily Hagopian
    The “Science Collaborative” features highly visible and adaptive learning resource spaces for study, tutoring, and impromptu engagement to support intentional learning communities for students and faculty on every floor. The entry hall is filled with ample seating, clear wayfinding and expansive views to landscape that blur the indoor/outdoor experience.
  • The building design thoughtfully responds to its prominent site at the intersection of the two major pedestrian routes across campus. The building’s two wings intersect at an angle, becoming a literal intersection of the campus community.
    Emily Hagopian
    The building design thoughtfully responds to its prominent site at the intersection of the two major pedestrian routes across campus. The building’s two wings intersect at an angle, becoming a literal intersection of the campus community.
  • The design reflects innovations to the natural sciences curriculum, with highly flexible “studio labs” that transition seamlessly from lecture to lab instruction in the same room, which can also flex in size with operable partitions. Laboratory classrooms are highly visible from circulation paths to create an environment that fosters curiosity and exchange of interdisciplinary learning.
    Emily Hagopian
    The design reflects innovations to the natural sciences curriculum, with highly flexible “studio labs” that transition seamlessly from lecture to lab instruction in the same room, which can also flex in size with operable partitions. Laboratory classrooms are highly visible from circulation paths to create an environment that fosters curiosity and exchange of interdisciplinary learning.
  • The new Natural Sciences Building and site design represents a focus on the concept of connectivity at various scales, addressing aspects of campus, materiality, curriculum and equitable access. The building’s exterior design bridges the architectural expression of the historic brick campus core and the surrounding contemporary feel of the mid-century structures.
    Emily Hagopian
    The new Natural Sciences Building and site design represents a focus on the concept of connectivity at various scales, addressing aspects of campus, materiality, curriculum and equitable access. The building’s exterior design bridges the architectural expression of the historic brick campus core and the surrounding contemporary feel of the mid-century structures.
  • At a campus scale, the building’s massing reconnects disjointed areas of the campus, featuring a large breezeway that acts both as a gateway from the west and an opportunity for outdoor learning.
  • The “Science Collaborative” features highly visible and adaptive learning resource spaces for study, tutoring, and impromptu engagement to support intentional learning communities for students and faculty on every floor. The entry hall is filled with ample seating, clear wayfinding and expansive views to landscape that blur the indoor/outdoor experience.
  • The building design thoughtfully responds to its prominent site at the intersection of the two major pedestrian routes across campus. The building’s two wings intersect at an angle, becoming a literal intersection of the campus community.
  • The design reflects innovations to the natural sciences curriculum, with highly flexible “studio labs” that transition seamlessly from lecture to lab instruction in the same room, which can also flex in size with operable partitions. Laboratory classrooms are highly visible from circulation paths to create an environment that fosters curiosity and exchange of interdisciplinary learning.
  • The new Natural Sciences Building and site design represents a focus on the concept of connectivity at various scales, addressing aspects of campus, materiality, curriculum and equitable access. The building’s exterior design bridges the architectural expression of the historic brick campus core and the surrounding contemporary feel of the mid-century structures.

  • Project highlights:Chico State University Natural Sciences Building 

  • Architecture firm:  SmithGroup
  • Owner:  California State University, Chico
  • Location:  Chico, Calif.
  • Category:  General
  • Project site: Previously developed
  • Building program type(s):  Education - college/university (campus-level)

Chico State University is one of California’s dynamic and growing institutions of higher learning, and this new facility houses its natural science programs while also serving as a welcoming hub for the campus community. The building’s two wings, which contain the university’s four core departments, geology and environmental sciences, physics, chemistry, and science education, come together at an angle to represent the literal intersection of the campus community.

Envisioned as a transformative connector for disparate parts of the campus, the building offers a prominent public passageway to the historic campus core. Its design is responsive and respectful of the cultural heritage and values of the Mechoopda Tribe, seamlessly integrating environmental stewardship and teaching opportunities into the architecture and surrounding landscape. An outdoor space called Bahapki Commons honors the Mechoopda village that once stood where the campus sits today. 

“The number of unexpected stakeholders involved in the design development is commendable. An appreciation for all voices is the culture of this project.”
Jury Comment

The LEED Gold-certified project’s design process championed a stakeholder-centered approach centered on a collaborative design-build delivery method that emerged from a trusted partnership between architect, contractor, and university. An inclusive and highly participatory model was implemented from the start, fostering consensus and co-accountability in the design.

The “science collaborative” emerged as a key concept, which in practice means highly visible and adaptive learning resource spaces for study, tutoring, and impromptu engagement to support intentional learning communities for students and faculty on each floor. As community members ascend through the building through an open-circulation stairwell, they encounter a variety of seating areas with marker boards for the cross-pollination of ideas. The building’s entry hall is filled with ample seating and expansive views of the landscape that blur the line between indoor and outdoor spaces. The lobby also includes interpretive displays of tribal artifacts, biographies of the first two Mechoopda graduates, and a list of honorable Indigenous alumni.

The new building’s design reflects innovations within the natural sciences curriculum and includes “studio labs” that can easily transition from lecture to lab instruction. The classrooms are clearly visible from circulation paths to create an environment that fosters curiosity and interdisciplinary learning. The building provides numerous opportunities for gathering, study, and collaboration in ways that address the diverse needs of the student population. From the first day it opened, the building has served a wide range of student groups and clubs with its welcoming, flexible space, which can be hard to find on campus. 

Framework for Design Excellence

Was there a design charrette? Yes 


 

Level of community engagement: 

Inform: Potential stakeholders were informed about the project.

Consult: Stakeholders were provided with opportunities to provide input at pre-designed points in the process.

Involve: Stakeholders were involved throughout most of the process.

Collaborate: A partnership is formed with stakeholders to share in the decision-making process including development of alternatives and identification of the preferred solution.

Empower: Stakeholders were provided with opportunities to make decisions for the project.

Site area that supported vegetation (landscape or green roof) pre-development:  34%

Site area that supports vegetation post-development:  33%

Site area covered by native plants supporting native or migratory species and pollinators:  20%

Strategies used to promote Design for Ecosystems:  Dark skies, Habitat conservation, flora/fauna, Abatement of specific regional environmental concerns

Is potable water used for irrigation? No

Is potable water used for cooling? No

Is grey/blackwater reused on-site?  No

Is rainwater collected on-site?  No

Stormwater managed on-site:  80% 

2030 Commitment baseline EUI:  132 kBtu/sf/yr

Predicted net EUI including on-site renewables:   61 kBtu/sf/yr

Reduction from the benchmark:  54%

Is the project all-electric?  No

Level of air filters installed: MERV 12-14  

Was a “chemicals of concern” list used to inform material selection? Yes

Do greater than 90% of occupied spaces have a direct view to the outdoors? Yes 

Were embodied carbon emissions estimated for this project? No

Estimated service life: 100 years

Floor area, if any, representing adapting existing buildings: 0%

Ability to survive without utility power: Partial back-up power

Risk assessment and resilience services provided: Hazard identification, Climate change risk, Building vulnerability assessment, Hazard mitigation strategies above code

Has a post-occupancy evaluation been conducted? Yes

Building performance transparency steps taken:

Present the design, outcomes, and/or lessons learned to the office.

Present the design, outcomes, and/or lessons learned to the profession. 

Present the design, outcomes, and/or lessons learned to the public.

Project Team and Jury

Year of substantial project completion: 2020

Gross conditioned floor area:  100,000 sq. ft. 

Mechanical: Integral Group (Design);Airco (Selected Engineer of Record) 

Electrical: Integral Group (Design); The Engineering Enterprise (Selected Engineer of Record) 

Plumbing: Integral Group (Design); Airco (Selected Engineer of Record) 

Data: Salter 

Structural: Rutherford & Chekene 

Civil: Sherwood Design Engineers 

Landscape: Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture 

Acoustics: Charles Salter Associates 

Fire: H&S 

Interiors: SmithGroup 

Lighting: Integral Group (Basis of Design and Peer Review); Royal Electric (Selected Contractor) 

General Contractor: DPR 

Rashmi Vasavada, AIA, NOMA, Chair, Hacker Architecture & Interiors, Portland, Ore.

Derrick Adams, AIA, NOMA, The Adams Design Group, LLC, Baltimore

Rachel Harrah, Harrah LLC, Plano, Texas

Irmak Sener, Assoc. AIA, Atelier Ten, Jersey City, N.J.

About the Education Facility Design Award

The Education Facility Design Awards recognize state-of-the-art education environments being developed in today's learning spaces. 

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