BIG completes "first built project in Los Angeles" at Claremont McKenna College

BIG Robert Day Sciences Center in Los Angeles

Architecture studio BIG has completed a building at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles made of "a series of parallel building volumes side by side" that surrounds a central atrium.

Commissioned in 2020, the Robert Day Sciences Center is located on the eastern side of the Claremont McKenna College Roberts campus and contains spaces, labs and classrooms dedicated to science education.

Project on college campus — BIG has completed its first built project in Los Angeles at Claremont McKenna College

Although it is located just outside of the city of Los Angeles in Claremont, it is within Los Angeles County. The studio has dubbed it "BIG's first built project in Los Angeles" and is the first building completed as part of an overall BIG-designed master plan for the campus.

The five-storey building is made up of three pairs of stacked rectangular volumes wrapped in steel trusses and a reinforced concrete exterior cladding.

Each pair of volumes is rotated 45 degrees from the level below, while the interstitial space between them creates a multi-storey, glass-enclosed atrium at the centre, which serves as a social space according to BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.

Building made of two volumes by BIG — The building is made of six stacked rectangular volumes

"We imagined the Sciences Center as a series of parallel building volumes side by side – with a public space in between – that are rotated in all the same directions as the [campus] mall," said Ingels.

"Even though each of the individual building volumes are rational, flexible, and capable of being computer labs or wet labs, the open atrium in between becomes a Piranesian social space where you can see fellow students, faculty, colleagues, and professors from every level."

Visitors can enter the building underneath the volumes' significant overhangs at three main points – in a subterranean, southwest corner, which leads to the building's ground level, or two opposing entrances on level one.

A grand "social" staircase sits on the ground floor and leads up through the center of the building. Educational spaces, such as seminar rooms, classrooms, offices and labs line each rectangular volume.

Additional staircases and elevators are located on either end of the volumes and in wedge-shaped terraces that stretch between them, which overlook the atrium.

On the interior, the building is clad in Douglas fir panels and a red and gold palette – the school colours – was integrated into flooring, upholstery and furniture.

The building also contains eight outdoor terraces planted with native spaces that are intended to be additional social spaces or "outdoor classrooms".

Claremont McKenna College president Hiram E Chodosh said the building was designed to encourage work and socialising across disciplines.

BIG building on Claremont McKenna college — The school colours of red and gold were used as interior highlights

"Bjarke's rotating stacks create opportunities to learn at the intersections," said Chodosh. "The wood fuels our social warmth. The glass cuts through the barriers. This is a carved jewel for Claremont McKenna College. A gem for the ages."

BIG also recently opened an office in a renovated 1920s building in Los Angeles in 2024. The city also recently approved a multi-tower development by the studio in the Arts District.

The photography is by Laurian Ghinitolu

Project credits:

Design architect and Architect of record: BIG
Collaborators: Saiful Bouquet, Acco Engineered Systems, Atlas Civil Design, MRY, Rosendin Electric, WSP USA, Jacobs, ARUP, KGM Architectural Lighting, Heintges, KOA, EWCG, KPRS, Herrick, Hortus Environmental Design, IDS Real Estate Group, Kleinfelder, Salamander, Code Consultants Inc
Creative director: Bjarke Ingels
Partner-in-Charge: Leon Rost
Project manager: Aran Coakley
Technical lead: Amir Mikhaeil
Project leader: Lorenz Krisai
Team: Abigail Meyer, Ahmad Tabbakh, Alan Maedo, Ana Luisa Pedreira, Beat Schenk, Bernardo Schuhmacher, Bianca Blanari, Casey Tucker, David Holbrook, David Iseri, Dylan Hames, Gus Steyer, Hector Romero, Jan Leenknegt, Janie Louise Green, Joe Veliz, Kam Chi Cheng, Minjung Ku, Neha Sadruddin, Pooya AleDavood, RichardCagasca, Ryan Duval, Seung Ho Shin, Sue Biolsi, Terrence Chew, Thomas Guerra, Thomas McMurtrie, Tracy Sodder, Vi Madrazo, Won Ryu, Yanan Ding, Yasamin Mayyas, Yen-Jung Alex Wu, Yiling Emily Chen