Life science building moves towards goal
By Shantell WhiteheadReporter, The Voice
Construction started in late August 2007 and has kept pace since then.
What has three stories, a full-functioning greenhouse and a café?
Give up? It's the new, still-developing Life Sciences building. While construction on this "steel superstructure" began in August 2007, many new (and even some returning) students are in the dark about this impressive project.
The over 68,000 square-foot facility will be Glendale Community College's (GCC) first three-story structure.
According to the Master Planning Updates on GCC's website, gccaz.edu, the floors will contain the Nursing, Psychology, and Biology departments along with six general purpose classrooms, 72 offices, a lab prep area, nine biology labs, an animal resource lab, four nursing observation pods, and another large room separated into three sections.
Once finally complete, the structure will resemble this artistic rendering.
The first floor will house the café, greenhouse, nursing pods, large classroom, and 4 general-use classrooms. There will be conference rooms and offices on the second floor and lab rooms, 2 classrooms, and a mechanical plant on the third floor.
With the preparation and finalization of the building projected to wrap up at the beginning of spring semester 2009, the progress is staggering.
The steel structure is in place, all three floors are poured, and construction on the roof and framing of second-floor offices is well in progress.
Many of you have probably noticed the construction barriers around the current nursing and technology buildings. That project is constructing chilled water lines that are used in A/C.
Many of you may also be wondering what will become of these buildings once the new Life Sciences building is completed. These buildings will most likely be used as extra classrooms and labs for rudimentary science classes.
While construction is still heavily underway, students interested in the new developments are welcome to take a tour of the structure. Long pants and sleeves and closed-toed shoes are required for the tour. Contact Charles Jeffery of Administrative Services and Planning to schedule a visit of this awesome new structure.
With so much work and effort being put into this building, students are not going to be disappointed. Jeffery says, "It's going to be beautiful."
