Sonoma County Junior College District to Overhaul Campus Facilities

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The Santa Rosa-based Sonoma County Junior College District (SCJCD) will soon undergo sweeping facilities upgrades. The 100-year-old district is partnering with the joint-venture team of international architecture, planning, design and consulting firm Gensler and Santa Rosa-based education industry master planning, design and construction administration firm Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (Gensler+QKA) to complete a new master plan.

Gensler+QKA will develop a district-wide facilities master plan for SCJCD to be implemented on all five campuses in Sonoma County, which includes the Santa Rosa Junior College Campus and Southwest Center in Santa Rosa, Petaluma Campus in Petaluma, Shone Farm in Forestville and the Public Safety Training Center in Windsor. The project will be funded as part of the $410 million Measure H bond passed by voters in 2014.

“We are excited to kick off our 2030 Plan for Measure H, which includes a major overhaul of campus facilities in order to support our future students’ learning needs as well as the future employee needs of Sonoma County,” said Dr. Frank Chong, Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) superintendent and president, in a statement. “Gensler+QKA is a remarkable combination of a locally immersed, education-focused firm and a multi-industry firm that pulls from its worldwide experience. They are working closely with architect and planning professional Leigh Sata, our director of capital projects, who has an extensive background working on California college bond projects.”

Approximately 50 percent of Sonoma County high school graduates rely on SRJC for local affordable higher education, according to the SCJCD. With Measure H funding, the district will seek to improve students’ educational experiences and alleviate overcrowding through a variety of facilities renovations and seismic retrofitting. This will specifically include modernizing classrooms, laboratories and other teaching spaces dedicated to fast-growing job sectors such as math and science. The future campuses and classrooms will undergo significant technology upgrades as well, and will soon house expanded and new career technical education programs. Funding will also support updating teaching equipment and tools as well as seismic retrofitting.

“We look forward to working with a talented and experienced team of professionals from Gensler and QKA,” Sata said in a statement. “Using the district’s strategic and educational plans to guide our facilities planning efforts, it’s going to be a true team effort.”

“We are steadfast in leading SCJCD’s 2030 Plan into a customized transformative experience and modern upgrades for each campus,” said Karen Kuklin, the project’s lead director and a San Francisco studio director at Gensler, in a statement.

Gensler+QKA currently is conducting a full condition and needs assessment of buildings and building systems, with a particular focus on energy efficiency, health and comfort, water and wastewater systems and management, and site and habitat needs. The project’s second phase will include an analysis of demographic and education trends within the county with future needs for academic programs informing the facilities master plan. The eventual master plan will include architectural and landscape blueprints, technology systems design and the creation of a building program for each campus.

“Having worked with Santa Rosa Junior College before, and considering our immersion in shaping Sonoma County’s high-profile educational landscape, we feel a close connection to this important and renowned institution,” said Steve Kwok, a principal at QKA and the project’s lead architect, in a statement. “We have a clear vision for how the master plan and campus design process should unfold.”