Evergreen Valley College Student Services Complex

San Jose, CA

Described by faculty as “the architectural gem of campus”, this two-story complex serves as the college’s new gateway, inspiring all who step foot on campus with its open breezeway, oculus skylight, and curving facade. The building consolidates previously dispersed services under one roof to better serve students’ administrative needs, including admissions, financial aid, testing, counseling, and health services. Although it visually reads as a single building, the complex is actually two structures — a 48,000 SF student services facility and a 23,000 SF academic administration building — separated by a seismic joint. Each structure has its own distinct lateral system, with buckling-restrained braced frames for the larger facility and moment frames for the smaller administration building. The administration building also incorporates a 25-ft cantilever that houses offices for campus leadership above it, including the Office of the President.

Bringing the architect’s vision for a near-seamless all-glass curtain wall to fruition was particularly challenging. To eliminate visible mullions, the project team chose to use a front-loaded window system with structural sealant glazing instead of traditional aluminum framing, providing the seamless appearance. However, because the allowable movement tolerances for the structural sealant are so small, the curtain wall is independently supported from the building floors with discrete slip joints concealed from view. The challenge of designing the large canopy that is curved in plan but needs to look like a straight line in elevation required the beams be custom cambered to different lengths to mitigate deflection. Aligning the window system fins and framing with the structural posts — which are not aligned in neat orientations due to the radial geometry — required the development of details that accommodated a range of conditions and provided adjustability for field erection.