pomona millikan building: math, physics & astronomy

POMONA COLLEGEMillikan Laboratory & Andrew Science Hall

2 ehdd. POMONA COLLEGE MILLIKAN LABORATORY & ANDREW SCIENCE HALL

EHDD’S design of the new Millikan Laboratory at Pomona College in Claremont, California was deeply informed by a collaborative design process that encouraged the input of many of the building’s stakeholders including faculty, students and staff across its three departments; math, physics and astronomy. This inclusive process allowed the vision and aspirations of the departments to be realized collectively and independently, and has resulted in a rich weave of spaces to support student learning.

Central to this effort was an assessment and quantification of new teaching methods and programs. Together we looked at what was and wasn’t working in the old building and investigated cultural aspects of department life that wanted to be retained. We toured peer institutions together to help us think outside the box and to distinguish what was uniquely Pomona. Fueled by these observations and criteria, the design evolved through multiple iterations over many months.

The outcome of this process is a new building that while meeting ambitious sustainability and user comfort goals, also: Accommodates the school’s 21st century

teaching aspirations with active learning and collaborative classrooms,

Creates central community hubs and breakout spaces,

Reinforces the accessibility of faculty to students with the location and layout of offices,

Provides infrastructure required of physics labs, shops, and an immersive planetarium and innovative physics courtyard.

Location Claremont, CA

Completion Date June 2015

Size 75,000 sq. ft.

Construction Cost $38 million

Sustainability LEED Platinum Certified

Awards Sustainable Innovation Award from USGBC-LA

Departments Maths, Physics and Astronomy

ehdd. 3 POMONA COLLEGE MILLIKAN LABORATORY & ANDREW SCIENCE HALL

Campus Planning PrinciplesScience District Context

The Millikan building is situated in the center of the Science District in an area that departed from the elegant site planning principles for which the Pomona campus is known. The science buildings were built close to the street edges, leaving the interior of the blocks undeveloped with great potential for pathways and courtyards. However, the pedestrian walkways were interrupted by parking lots, building entries were misaligned from circulation patterns, the outdoor space was dominated by the roar of an adjacent cooling tower and connective pathways between buildings were blocked by an accretion of building additions. This project sought to amend these deficiencies and bring the science district on par with the elegance of the surrounding campus.

This Science District has a consistent character of red-tiled gable roofs and cementious walls with punched openings that set the basic palette for the project. The Planetarium Dome was located on the corner of College Way to announce the function of the building.


New pedestrian spine connecting the Science District

Courtyard

Millikan Courtyard—Before

Millikan Courtyard—After


South Facade with deep overhangs and window shades prevent overheating.


Pomona College is located inland southern California with mild winters and hot summers in the triple digits. It is subject to poor air quality due to its valley location east of Los Angeles. A key strategy was to manage solar gain to minimize cooling while optimizing daylight. The thin east-west building massing allowed for effective shading on the south using the roof overhang and external sunshades. The west façade minimizes glazing and shades it with exterior horizontal shades.

In the large colloquium lecture hall, an often windowless space type, north facing windows provide views up his-toric College Avenue. And west facing clerestories reflect daylight off a sloped soffit onto the teaching wall.

For the frequent evening events, the transparency of the colloquium lobby provides a welcoming glow for arriving visitors and opens seemlessly to the couryard.


Physics interactive elements are woven into the landscape and are designed to be sculptures when not in use.


CourtyardA key design goal was to create a social heart and active pedestrian connection between the eight buildings in the Science District. A new courtyard replaced the existing parking lot and mechanical yard with landscaping, an outdoor classroom, physics interactives, and social spaces spilling out from the Colloquium and collaborative spaces.

Outdoor classrooom

The comfort of shade is a welcome relief in the Pomona’s hot climate


ColloquiumOne of the central challenges to the design was the replacement of the existing Colloquium, an important campus-wide space that was rarely used due to its windowless, inhospitable design and insurmountable ADA limitations. In contrast to its origins, the new Colloquium is a gracious, daylit space with an adjacent reception and courtyard that support special events. Designed to create a sense of intimacy, the room’s proportions allow close proximity between instructor and student and supports interaction and collaboration with flexible furniture and good sightlines.


Colloquium Design Features

Campus-wide space for lecture + collaboration Adjacent reception and courtyard support special events Shallow room depth and tiered seating ensures close

proximity and eye contact between instructor and students Curved rows allow students to see one another across the

room to aid in discussion Shallow steps between tiers allow for collaboration

from one row to next Widely spaced aisles and rows allow faculty

to circulate amongst students Careful selection of moveable chairs allow for ease

of access behind them—no arms or wide bases Daylight and views to the north provides a visual release

from the classroom aiding in alertness and focus of students Overhead rigging to support physics demonstrations

(students as pendulum, etc) Tall windows and a skylight at the rear of the room provide

views and ambient daylight to offset the need for electric lights.

Acoustic and AV Features

Fixed continuous desks with power and data Ceiling mounted cameras to film a lecture or

demonstration Two large screens for projection Vertical-sliding white boards—three boards high

and three boards wide

Seating Capacity

85-100 seats


Collaborative SpacesAn Active Hub and Student Collaborative spaces create a portal at the access to the department, that reinforces the Math Department’s culture and identity. It was important to augment a critical cultural aspect into the project, as the existing math lab was identified as the best student lounge on the campus, and was available to students 24/7.

Math had an extremely close knit department and took great pride in their constant availability of their offices and collaboriative lounges, offering help to students whether it be with departmental logistics, or emotional support. These important spaces had been embedded somewhat anonymously in the original building and are now prominently.

Active Hub adjacent to student lounge and department office

Math Student Lounge


ClassroomsClassrooms are designed to support the unique pedagogy of teaching and learning for the physics and math departments.Physics preferred tables of three students—the optimal size for group work. Math encourages in-class student participation

and group problem solving with easily moved and reconfigurable furniture and access to blackboards located on three sides of every classroom.

Blackboards are preferred by math while Physics prefers whiteboards.

All classrooms are designed to maximize daylight and views so most classrooms are on north side with high window heads and views to the adjacent courtyard.

Screens are located so that boards and projection can be used simultaneously.


ResearchFaculty research includes nanotechnology and lithography, scanning probe microscopy, experimental condensed matter physics, materials science and optics. Nine faculty research labs were designed with a consistent research support infrastructure and a double lab-bay width for future flexibility. This consistent footprint was tested to ensure it would accommodate a wide range of possible future layouts. These labs were then fit out to the specific research needs of the current faculty. The research labs were located in the basement due to their strict vibration requirements and to provide a stable, tight temperature range environment.

In addition, there is a dedicated sophomore lab, a student projects lab, and supporting full machine shop, metal shop, electronics shop, and wood shop. The Astronomy faculty have a Remote Observing Room for convenient access to the Pomona College Table Mountain Observatory and are working with undergraduate students in an intensive effort to develop and deploy a low-cost, remote-access, natural guide-star adaptive optics system for that observatory.


LandscapeThe landscape design transforms the original courtyard that was formerly covered by an asphalt parking lot and reflects the “College in a Garden” planning ideals that were established by Myron Hunt and Ralph Cornell in the 1930s, and reintroduces a native plant palette that is contextual to the surroundings and is drought resistant.

Stormwater is distributed throughout the site and provides irrigation for the associated courtyard gardens.

The design provides flexibility for a variety of uses, including programmed events, academic study and daily lounging for students and faculty. observatory.


“…the beautiful and functional outdoor interactive sculpture elements make our courtyard a place to experience physics. The project distinguishes our department and our college as a home for innovative science education.”—Dr. David Tanenbaum Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy Pomona College

Physics InteractivesThe outdoor interactive sculpture garden was a long awaited vision of the Physics faculty at Pomona College.

The courtyard houses a series of Physics Interactives that are used to let students tangibly experience physics principals. So instead of just reading or hearing about things, they demonstrate them. These interactives include a Linear Accelerator for experiencing a constant rate of acceleration, a Turntable for experiencing centripetal force and a spinning frame of reference, a Lever Arm, and Parabolic Acoustic Mirrors to experiment with sound focusing. The courtyard and interactives are open to the public, as is the planetarium which regularly hosts school groups to introduce them to astronomy.


A steel frame supports three swings with different lengths of rope; the short one swings fast and the long one slow.

The Linear Accelerator is designed to let students feel what a constant rate of acceleration feels like.

The Carousel is used to demonstrate centripetal force.

The Lever Arm is a bench that can be converted into a lever (like a see-saw) to explain the concept of leverage. The fulcrum point can be shifted to various points. Note how one skinny man out-leverages two heavy construction workers.


Pomona College Millikan Laboratory & Andrew Science Hall

Owner Pomona College

Architect EHDD

Contractor Matt Construction

Consultants

Structural Engineer Rutherford & Chekene

Landscape EPT Design

Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Engineer Integral Group

Lighting Consultant JS Nolan + Associates

Daylighting Consultant Integrated Design Lab

Telecom, Audio Visual & Security Consultant TEECOM Design Group

Acoustical Consultant Charles M. Salter Associates

Theater Consultant The Shalleck Collaborative

Vibration Consultant Colin Gordon & Associates

Civil Engineer Stantec

Cost Estimator Oppenheim Lewis, Inc.

Wayfinding & Environmental Graphics GNU Group

Laboratory Consultant HKS / Earl Walls Associates

Photographer Jim Simmons Photography


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pomona millikan building: math, physics & astronomy

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