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Building Anew

By Dick Anderson

From campus landmarks to classroom spaces, the College has completed a burst of new construction during the pandemic

Amid the quiet of the last 12 months on campus, a number of long-gestating construction projects have come to fruition. And when (we hope) the majority of students return to the Oxy campus this fall, they are in for some changes that will enhance the Occidental experience both intellectually and aesthetically.

In the photo gallery below, Tom Polansky, associate vice president of facilities management, walks us through four recently completed construction and renovation projects—Sycamore Glen, the Anderson Center for Environmental Sciences, the Choi Family Music Production Center, and Gilman Fountain (aka Water Forms II) and its surrounding plaza.

Above image: Detail from a mural inside the Anderson Center for Environmental Sciences by artist Jane Kim. Photo by Marc Campos.

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Winter 2021 Academics Science & Technology Sustainability Academics From the Quad

  • Adjacent to Sycamore Glen, the Anderson Center for Environmental Sciences (housed in the renovated Moore Laboratory of Zoology) encourages interdisciplinary research among faculty and students who are studying Earth’s environment. Newly improved facilities allow researchers to leverage the immense potential of the College's world-class bird and shell collections.

    1/16

  • In rethinking and expanding the Moore Lab building space, the construction team cut out the ceiling, opening up the middle section. A mural created by artist Jane Kim of Ink Dwell Studio depicts aquatic life at the bottom and then birds as you move up the space—effectively telling the story of Oxy's environmental studies program.

    2/16

  • From the second-floor lobby, visitors—including prospective students—can see professors and students collaborating on research inside the brand new Moore Lab space. The world-renowned Robert T. Moore Bird and Mammal Collection houses 65,000 specimens, including the world's largest Mexican bird collection.

    3/16

  • The Fletcher Jones Foundation Genomics Center is a collaborative hub for DNA research at Occidental. Working with the Cosman Shell Collection and Moore Laboratory of Zoology's bird collection, faculty train Oxy students in cutting-edge genomic techniques, equipment, and analysis, preparing them for careers in biotech, government, or academic research.

    4/16

  • Sycamore Glen has long been a popular gathering spot for students, but the area needed some work. While the open space could be used for student barbecues, dances, concerts, and more, the stage was hard to access, the area was poorly lit, and the furnishings gave off the vibe of “a 1970s county park somewhere,” as then-President Jonathan Veitch observed a few years back.

    5/16

  • In working to better organize the space—which has been used as an outdoor classroom for decades—the College partnered with CO Architects to keep the ecosystem intact and reroute a storm drain line that comes down from one of the residence halls. The stage was moved to the front of the space as well and is now fully accessible.

    6/16

  • An elliptical-shaped space follows the form of a Fibonacci curve with a 4-by-3-foot tile mural designed by Linda Lyke, professor of art and art history, in the center where the curve ends.

    7/16

  • A sitting wall covered with Lompoc Stone and topped with a concrete cap can be used for concerts or outdoor classes. An improved lighting system can be dimmed most of the time so it doesn't disrupt the circadian rhythms of birds and insects, according to Polansky.

    8/16

  • With a recording studio, control room and 16-student music computer lab, the Choi Family Music Production Center will serve as the venue for Oxy's music production, film scoring, audio engineering, and songwriting courses. "It was a super smooth project from design through construction," Polansky says.

    9/16

  • Several years ago, a group of Oxy music faculty toured ELBO Studios in Glendale, a music production space built out of a converted industrial warehouse for renowned film composer Teddy Shapiro. Subsequently, the College engaged the Santa Monica-based firm nonzero\architecture to renovate the old Booth Hall music library into a modern music production space.

    10/16

  • The space they were given to work with was partially submerged—that is, below ground level—on almost 2½ sides and "was fairly self-contained," says Peter Grueneisen, owner and principal architect of Santa Monica-based nonzero\architecture. "From a soundproofing standpoint, it was quite ideal." The room's tall ceilings were another plus, he adds. "It is pretty rare to find an existing building that is so well suited for the project."

    11/16

  • Music Production Instructor Jongnic "JB" Bontemps and Associate Professor of Composition Adam Schoenberg were heavily involved in the design of the space, working with the College's Facilities and Information Technology teams to get the technology right. "It doesn't look like a bunch of wires," Polansky says. "It looks like a clean, modern recording studio."

    12/16

  • Over the last 20 years, George Baker's Water Forms II sculpture—commonly known as Gilman Fountain—and surrounding plaza had fallen into disrepair, prompting the College to look into a complete restoration of the sculpture and its surroundings—replacing the basin, or pool "with something that would be more fitting to the space," Polansky says.

    13/16

  • During the renovation process, Gilman Fountain was physically moved to align with the doors to Herrick Chapel. "We moved it to get the orientation more in line with the central axis to the campus," Polansky says. "It just makes a lot more sense now."

    14/16

  • The newly repaired fountain boasts LED lighting "with every color on the spectrum now—not just white pool spotlights," Polansky says. On the mechanical side of things, engineers replaced all the joints between the flipping, turning panels.

    15/16

  • "Whenever we did Alumni Reunion Weekend, we'd have to put in a wood ramp to navigate the grade change—and those things never look or work very well," Polansky says. "We regraded everything so that you can easily access the fountain space regardless of mobility."

    16/16

Photos by Marc Campos.

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