How do you design a teaching facility for a subject that continues to rapidly evolve?
HOK sought to create an educational space as dynamic as the material taught there: an innovative computer science building for the University of Southern California’s University Park Campus near downtown Los Angeles.
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall provides modern computational laboratories, core facilities, offices, meeting rooms and open spaces that promote collaboration. Labs are flexible to accommodate reconfigurations as USC’s needs change over time. A lower-level auditorium hosts events for the engineering school’s student body.
The idea of “putting science on display” is key to the design. HOK’s design for work and social spaces encourages organic encounters between students, researchers, faculty members and visitors, allowing science to spill beyond classrooms and labs into the corridors and throughout the building. The open plan and glass walls maximize transparency and integration among labs, offices and public spaces. Branding and graphics celebrate science and include high-tech displays and large-scale artwork.
The team designed the building as a living lab for sustainability that, as the first LEED-Platinum Certified building on campus, serves as a prototype to inform future campus facilities and support USC’s commitment to the environment, human health and well-being.
Designed to showcase its green technologies, the building will help raise awareness about the importance of sustainability. Taking advantage of California’s Mediterranean climate, the design integrates a passive-first approach towards energy conservation and occupant comfort. The optimized facade meets solar heat gain targets while allowing daylight to permeate deep into the building. Coupled with radiant cooling and heating, the buffer facade creates comfortable environments for collaboration and provides sweeping views.
The all-electric building is designed for net zero emissions, neutralizing its annual consumption footprint through on- and off-site PV arrays.
“This was a vacant space that cried for a new building,” said USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dean Yannic C. Yortsos. “A new computer science building that would complete a majestic trifecta of biomedical science, computational biology, and computer science, with all three buildings contributing to advancing a human-centric mission to improve the human condition.”
