Marin Community College District celebrated the grand opening of the College of Marin’s new Dr. David Wain Coon Center for Student Success (CSS) in Kentfield, California. HMC Architects joined Architect of Record and Design Architect Group 4 Architecture and construction partners Alten Construction and Gilbane, district representatives, and faculty and staff to mark the construction milestone.

As the unifying heart of campus, the new building fosters connection among students, faculty, staff, and community members and creates a campus hub by integrating a wide range of student services including academic resources, student support services, wellness programs, a café, and spaces for learning and community, into a singular facility. The planning process focused on creating an active central hub for campus life where every student feels welcome. The building anchors the intersection of student life and the adjacent Kentfield community while harmonizing a divergent series of existing buildings along the college’s iconic open space with panoramic views toward Mount Tamalpais, known locally as Mount Tam. Designed to create generous, natural indoor-outdoor connections to the nearby landscape, the center is set into the hillside, which generously slopes around it on its west and north façades. This deep integration of architecture and landscape creates a series of plazas, decks, and terraces that can support individual, group, and campus-wide events.