New science labs, a bookstore, cafeteria and hang out area for students, including a game room and a cyber café, are all some of the services that are projected for two buildings that will be constructed in Skyline campus next year.
     The Student Support and Community Services Center-building 6-will be the new gateway to the campus. The new bookstore, cafeteria, student government office and other services will be located there. It will be located directly between buildings 5 and 7.
     “One of the intents of this project by placing the two buildings is to create a new formal entry to the campus on the north side, where we used to have the vehicles drive-in in the middle of the campus,” said Doug Henry, construction manager for Swinerton Management and Consulting. “That will be replaced by a more simplistic drop-off and the intent is to give the central part of the campus back to the pedestrians.”
     According to Henry, there are future improvement plans for the area where the cafeteria is and the old bookstore will be removed.
     “There is no visible use for [the old bookstore building] once the bookstore moves out and it would cost a lot of money to fix it up, so the plan is to tear it down and re-landscape that area,” Henry said. “The third floor of building 2 will then be a third phase of the building modernization.”
     It will be necessary to plan a new drop-off and pick-up area, because the building will eliminate the space currently used for such purposes. There will be a street-like entry on the west side of the building.
     The Science Annex-building 7A-will have new science labs and some offices for both chemistry and biology departments. It is an extension to building 7 and will be located to its north side, which is where the SamTrans bus stop is currently established.
     The Science Annex will be connected to building 7 although the final determination to how to connect them has not yet been reached.
     The total budget for this project is $23.6 million and it is part of a district-wide capital improvement project, primarily founded by $207 million bond measure C, which was approved by San Mateo County voters in 2001. Cañada College and College of San Mateo (CSM) will also get new facilities as part of the project. Their budgets are $22.1 million and $22.6 million respectively.
     Design/build is the construction contracting system that is being used. According to Karen Freeman, assistant program manager for Swinerton Management and Consulting, this is beneficial for the district because with this system, the same construction entity does the building design and the construction itself.
     In traditional methods, the client hires an architect to do the design and then a different company does the construction; the client is then responsible for extra expenses incurred in because of errors in the design.
     Although the district has set the services that will be provided by these new facilities, the construction design has not been decided yet.
     Although a presentation in the Board of Trustees meeting of Sept. 10 included a schedule for construction to start on summer of next year, Freeman said it is more likely to happen during the fall. The buildings are expected to be ready for use on May 2006.
     Some pre-construction work might begin during this semester or the next, which could result in a disruptive environment to students.
     Committees formed by members of the campus community, who are overseeing the planning process, discuss these and other issues. These committees are primarily formed by future members of these facilities and they intend to make sure that the construction plans comply with the campus’ needs. Amory Buish, student activities coordinator said to be content with the role of the committees.
     “It is a very positive thing because we have so many people who will be using the building that are involved in planning it. It gives everybody a chance to express their ideas and thoughts about what the building should look like and how to use the building.”
     According to Buish, once the architects have an initial draft, ASSC and the president’s office will be hosting community forums that students, faculty and staff can attend and participate.
     “Students, faculty and staff who haven’t had the opportunity to sit in the sub-committees can come to these forums to look at the initial design and give the architects and committee members input on whether they think the space is planned effectively or not.”