OCC’s 1950s-Era Language Arts Building Gets More Than a Facelift

A $61.5 million language arts and social science building was recently completed at Orange Coast College (OCC). The three-story 107,760-square-foot facility houses classrooms, office spaces, conferences rooms and support spaces including a computer lab for English as a second language, facilities for speech, debate and theater, department labs, and a journalism newsroom for the college’s student-run newspaper, Coast Report.

Part of a larger initiative to modernize the campus and accommodate growth in the past decade, the building replaces the 60-year-old social sciences classrooms along with the 50-year-old literature and languages building, which were inefficient and largely in disrepair.

The second floor comprises classrooms and connects to the existing adjacent mathematics business and computer center building through a new skyway bridge. The third floor is home to additional classrooms, faculty offices and administrative offices. Additional features include two elevators, a lactation room and gender-neutral restrooms on every floor.

C.W. Driver Companies was the general contractor on the project.  

“With many of its original buildings dating back to the 1950s, Orange Coast College sought ground-up construction of a modern tech-enabled facility that would bring faculty and students together from similar departments under one roof,” said Dave Amundson, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies. “The language arts and social science building will serve nearly 25 percent of the campus enrollment, fostering a centralized community of learning while being adaptable to education needs for many years to come.”

Funding was provided 50/50 by California State Proposition 51 and by Measure M, a $698 million general obligation bond provided and supported by the local community to modernize education facilities for all universities within the Coast Community College District.