A new much-needed science facility at
The Community College of Allegheny County’s (CCAC)
Allegheny Campus will be larger than previously expected. The building, which had been approved as a three-story $14.5 million project, will instead feature four floors and cost $17.4 million.
The 64,000-square-foot facility, which will be located off of Ridge Ave., will house biology, chemistry, geology, and physics laboratories, as well as classrooms, lecture halls and offices.
Hayes Large Architects is designing the facility. Construction will begin in 2009. On March 6, CCAC’s board of trustees authorized a $22.04 million bond issue for the project.
“Our science labs are thirty-five years old in a building that was once a theological seminary. They’re outmoded and short of the number of stations needed,” says Bob Hamilton, with CCAC. “The sciences are up considerably, and the delivery of teaching has changed. The space will be wired for computers and designed for group instruction.” Preliminary designs call for a LEED-certified, energy-efficient building.
Between 2000 and 2007, health program enrollment at CCAC’s Allegheny Campus increased by 114 percent, and enrollment in the sciences doubled. “We’re a very career-oriented college. We need to prepare students with the latest and greatest technologies,” adds Helen Kaiser, with CCAC, who says the campus' current labs are housed with an 85-year-old building. “Pittsburgh is a hotbed for health care professions so it fits in very well with our mission. The facility will see good full-time use.”
CCAC is currently undertaking a $250,000 institution-wide
master plan led by
Perkins Eastman, and completing a $6 million infrastructure improvement project on all four of its area campuses. The project includes exterior upgrades, ADA compliance and classroom and technology upgrades.
Writer:
Jennifer BaronSource: Bob Hamilton and Helen Kaiser, CCAC
Image courtesy CCAC