The Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) celebrated the grand opening of the new Riverside Conference Center (RCC) in Riverside, California, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the HMC design team, District leaders, RCOE Board members and staff, construction partners, and community members.  

Inspired by the surrounding region and context, the 130,000 SF, four-story RCC is designed to relieve overcrowding at RCOE’s existing facility and provide 200 additional parking spaces for employees and public use. The flexible design considers indoor and outdoor use and features a ground-floor café to service the conference center and outdoor events. Parking levels are sandwiched between the programmed uses, maximizing the allowable building height and taking advantage of the incredible vistas toward the adjacent mountain range. The design approach anchors the building to the corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut Streets, with retail space at the street level. In the future, RCOE plans to close Chestnut Street to vehicular traffic to form a more cohesive campus-like environment to provide more services to the community. The current pandemic has shown how crucial leadership training is in making a difference in the safety of our campuses and students. In response, the center’s main meeting room, with space for 400 occupants, allows RCOE to host regional events and critical training for school district leadership, administrators, and teachers.