Cuyamaca College Student Services & Administration Building won a Community College Facility Coalition (CCFC) Award of Excellence. The professional design award was presented during the CCFC annual conference in Sacramento, California.

Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego, California, has a beautiful hillside campus with a lush and iconic central campus green space. Making access to services and support as easy as possible for the school’s 8,000 students was a driving concept of the design. Built into the slope of the hillside, the building is accessible from multiple levels. The entire circulation scheme is driven by the desire to create a seamless service experience while maximizing connection with the landscape. Engagement begins at the new arrival plaza, where visitors are greeted by the new welcome center and can access all levels of the building, including the rooftop garden, by dramatically cantilevered walkways and a monument stair hanging over the plaza below. Accessible indoor and outdoor spaces lead from admissions and financial aid on the first level, up through enrolled student support on the second level to the renovated Student Center, and upward with a new ADA path of travel to the top of the renovated central green space. The new building puts students at the center, fosters community, and provides a centralized hub of services at the center of campus.

The CCFC works to provide leadership in legislative advocacy and deliver critical information, education, and training on facilities issues for community college districts and their business partners to enhance student learning.  The annual Professional Design Awards celebrate projects that enhance the community college learning environment. To learn more and to see the full list of winners, visit CCFC’s website.