California State University San Marcos will break ground this summer on a $100 million science and technology building. Rendering Courtesy of CSU San Marcos
SAN MARCOS – California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) is building a $110 million science and engineering building to meet a growing demand for workers from the region’s high-tech companies.
Designed by HGA with C.W. Driver Companies as the general contractor, the 70,000-square-foot building is meant to be a beacon, perched on at what HGA Design Principal Gail Bouvrie said is the apex of the campus.
“This building will really be instrumental in shaping the future of our university and, of course, our regional workplace,” said Jessica Berger, Vice President for University Advancement and director of the CSUSM Foundation.
Berger said that the building will be “literally right, smack in the center” of campus as it steps up a hillside.
With plans to break ground in summer and finish construction in fall 2027, the new building will allow the university to consolidate its science and engineering classes at a single site and allow the university to increase its enrollment in those programs from about 200 to 2,000, Berger said.
“We’re basically spread out among four different buildings to be able to accommodate the labs and classrooms,” Berger said. “We have consistently met or exceeded our enrollment expectations, particularly in our engineering and science programs.”
With the growing enrollment and the hillside site in mind, Bouvrie said that HGA chose ascent as the theme of the new building.
“You actually have to ascend to get to the building,” Bouvrie said. “The idea of the student’s ascent in their personal and academic lives was something that inspired us and started the process. We used that as sort of our North Star in designing the building.”
More than half of CSUSM’s graduates are the first in their family to go to college and more than half are Hispanic, Berger said, adding that one in nine students have a military background.
“We are truly building a diverse workforce,” Berger said. “We purposefully provide affordable access and graduate our students into good-paying jobs.”
Bouvrie said that HGA hoped to reflect that mission in its design.
“For every project, you want to make a difference, but in this case, there’s something really profound about this one because these are students that are typically underserved and up against more roadblocks than, perhaps, others,” Bouvrie said. “To me, that’s worthwhile.”
Floating Glass Box a ‘Prominent Landmark’
The most striking part of the building is a sort of glass box that floats over the entrance, with its bottom floor shading a patio beneath it.
“It gets pretty hot in San Marcos, so having this welcoming area that kind of draws you to the shade was one of the reasons to have this overhang,” Bouvrie said. “It creates this launching pad before you enter the building.”
The glass box portion of the building is also meant to give passersby a glimpse of what’s happening in the classrooms and labs inside.
“It goes back to the idea of having this prominent landmark,” Bouvrie said.
A first-floor café to one side of the covered patio gives students and others a place to gather and grab a quick bite.
Highlighted by the glass box, the front of the building has a color palette of blue, grays and soft white, while one side of the building is partly done in dark chocolate brown “that starts to recall some of the other buildings on campus and is tied to the existing landscape,” Bouvrie said. “There’s a good deal of chaparral around the building that we took inspiration from.”
The building façade is broken up by large windows, “so you can always tell where you are in relation to the site,” Bouvrie said.
The windows also are arranged in a pattern “so they sort of jump up and down” the side of the building rather than being arranged in simple rows.
“It was just a way to add a little more interest,” Bouvrie said.
The north side of the building will open out into a garden filled with native plants, meant to serve as a respite for students.
Engineering Graduates Filling Employer Needs
Berger said that the demand for the skills students learn in the university’s science and technology classes “is huge.”
She said that there are four jobs in software engineering for every graduate and three for every graduate in industrial systems.
“This program will be one of the only programs in industrial systems engineering,” Berger said.
CSUSM’s program was developed based on advice the university received from employers.
“One of the benefits of being a young institution is we have the ability to be nimble and really shape programs around the region’s needs,” Berger said. “I can’t emphasize enough that this really stands out as one of the most significant drivers of our region’s workforce.”
Berger said the university hopes to raise money through private donations to underwrite science and technology programs and buy instruments and equipment for the new classes by offering naming rights to the building and classrooms.
CSU San Marcos
FOUNDED: 1989
HEADQUARTERS: San Marcos
PRESIDENT: Ellen Neufeldt
BUSINESS: higher education
ENROLLMENT: 16,000
WEBSITE: www.csusm.edu
CONTACT: 760-750-4000
NOTABLE: CSUSM opened in August 1990 in rented office space with 448 juniors and seniors, a dozen faculty members and nine majors. In 1991, seven students were awarded the first Bachelor of Arts degrees in campus history.
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