Cuyamaca Communication Arts Building gets award from CCFC.

The Communication Arts Building at Cuyamaca Community College that Tom Christian and I did (Tom was a former Partner at NTD Architects where I also worked for 8 years) was given an Award of Honor by the Community College Facilities Coalition (CCFC) in November 2008.

Tom and I started work on the design of the building in 1999 before the project was shelved due to lack of funding. Once the bonds passed and the project resumed, it took four years to complete. It is one awesome design that I could talk about for hours. Since I won't do that here, I will put a few pictures of the project up and the text of the publication that came out in November 2008. I think this is definitely one of my favorite designs that I have had the privilege to work on. The construction document phase of the job was something else. A thirty foot tall retaining wall that no one will ever see because the buildings are set into the grade. My Structural Engineer Josh wanted to kill me over this project!

NTD Takes the Cake in Community College Design Awards
November, 2008
(Sacramento, California) November 11, 2008 – NTD Architecture, a 275-person award-winning design firm with seven offices across the West, has received two Awards of Honor from the Community College Facilities Coalition (CCFC) for their design of the Communication Arts Building at Cuyamaca College and the Lincoln Joint-Use Public Library at Twelve Bridges Learning Center. The firm was officially handed the award certificates at the 15th Annual CCFC Conference, which took place on November 6 in Sacramento.

“Being given a CCFC award is a monumental achievement for community college designers and community colleges alike,” says Jon Alan Baker, AIA, Partner at NTD Architecture. “Not only does it assure us that we are giving our clients the top rate designs that they expect of us, it also shows that we are giving the students the best type of facility in which to learn.”

The Communication Arts Building earned its award in the Growth category, which encompasses new community college facilities. Completed in the fall of 2007, the 84,000 square foot facility features a 400-seat theater with support spaces, an acoustically optimized music department, a 100-seat digital theater capable of wide screen cinema projection, art labs, and a lobby that serves as the main gallery space for the fine arts program. Optimal use of day lighting reduces the building’s energy footprint.