When entering the Pacific Heights building a student’ eyes and nose are assaulted by a bevy of strange smells, in addition to a 300 percent greater concentration of mold than exists in the outside air.This was the topic of a project made by Skyline students Benjamin Borgo and Mina Mostfavi, introduced at the Kansas City SACNAS, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans.”This study indicates employees and students may be at significant risk for symptoms related to sick building syndrome.”According to the study of Borgo and Mostfavi the reason that air quality in Pacific Heights has about 280% more mold spores than in the newer buildings is mainly due to the more than 50 years old building being made out of brick.As such in the building special conditions are created, the building is regularly cold according to students like Maureen Wheelehan, this causes several of the offices in the building to use a heater in the corner.Warm air rises, and the humid water it carries goes up to the ceilings, collects into areas where mold can be concentrated, according to an Enviromental Protection Agency report on Indoor Air Polution.However, the building is not like the rest of the campus.The former middle school building is not structurally in the best shape, and “was constructed in the 1950s before seismic building codes were adopted,” according to Inokuchi.On the ceiling, roof tiles are streaked with mold. Some of them have been taken out, to accompany the bare natural gas lines on the ceiling.Plywood “windows” have been placed in several areas in Pacific Heights which keep the building warmer than if nothing was there, but do not prevent as much seepage as glass windows. This leads to some of the windows warping inward. “We get headaches…” Cosmetology Aide Theresa Uchytil says while clutching a Kleenex. “Our noses run, and that does not happen at home” Strange smells seem to pervade the building, some of them may come from the perms being done by the Cosmetology students, but the odd smells get stronger the farther one gets from the Cosmetology classrooms, despite the new paint. The building will be demolished some time in the next five years.”Knowing this the SMCCD has elected not to sink a lot of money into major renovation and remodel,” Inokuchi says. “It is what it is, not pretty but functional as swing space for other classes.”A report about the condition of the Health and Safety Committee about the condition of the Pacific Heights building in October, and the committee recommended improvements to the Pacific Heights buildings according to Committee chair person Sherri Hancock.During the Winter break improvements will be made to the building by the Facilities, Planning, and Operations Department. According to Patty Della Bona the north-south hallway will be painted, and some of the plywood windows will be replaced.”[Insulation is] not part of this project” according to Della Bona.Borgo and Mostfavi say that the building’s mold problems can be eliminated relatively easily by replacing the plywood “windows”, pressure washing the building, and replacing the mold infested ceiling tiles.Even under these conditions, students still use the Pacific Heights building to hang back and relax in the cold, whether it’s through blowing their noses, eating in a small room set aside for Cosmetology students, or tickling each other in the halls.