Read the original article on The Architect's Newspaper here 2017 Best of Design Awards for Building of the Year – West - Archpaper.com 2017 Best of Design Awards for Building of the Year – West
2017 Best of Design Awards for Building of the Year – West: Point Loma Nazarene University Science Complex
Architect: Carrier Johnson + CULTURE Location: San Diego, California
This 3,500-student university in California—a coastal campus with 1800s landmarks in the theosophist vernacular—is known for rigorous science programs and successful medical school placements. Recently, this evangelical Christian institution dedicated a large science and academic center almost twenty years in the making. The work makes the school’s vibrant dialogue between scientific progress and biblical teachings physical. The 13 new labs and classrooms are wrapped in insulating glass and smooth concrete, equipped inside for biology and chemistry classes. A feathered curve of perforated-metal panels extends on its south exposure, embracing a grassy slope where students gather. Conceived for shade, the environmental-screen is laser-cut with Greek letters, alpha and omega, symbols with religious and scientific allusion, while filtered light streams through to suggest a cathedral wall.
“The campus building embraces the slope while maintaining a sense of levity. The perforated aluminum louvers play with light and juxtapose the floating geometric roof slab. It is interesting how the walls weave around the roof column.” —Emily Bauer, landscape architect, Bjarke Ingels Group (juror)
General Contractor: Rudolph and Sletten
Landscape Architect: Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects
Structural Engineer: Hope Amundson
Mechanical Plumbing Engineer: MA Engineers
Electrical Engineer: Michael Wall Engineering
