by Lionakis Associate, Tenley Lubarsky

Last week we attended a momentous event at Mission College. The Golden Hammer Celebration (the opposite of a topping-off ceremony) was held to recognize the demolition of the historic Main Building in the center of the campus.

For a little history, Lionakis began working with Mission College and West Valley-Mission Community College District in 2007 to develop a new Facilities Master Plan for their campus in Santa Clara. At the time, the majority of classes were held in the iconic 1978 Main Building. There have been multiple updates to the FMP over the years, but the “big idea” has remained; replacement of the Main Building with new facilities which create space for the new “heart of the campus” in the form of an expansive, park-like quad.

Over the years, several Lionakis staff have worked on the two buildings which replaced the functions once housed in the main building: the Gillmor Center/Main Building Replacement Phase I (2014), and the Student Engagement Center/Main Building Replacement Phase II (2018). Contextual in design and materiality, these projects were strategically designed to one day face each other across the new Interdisciplinary Plaza.

Our fourth project on this campus, the Business and Technology Building/MT Replacement is currently under plan review by DSA and will begin the transformation of the south quadrant of the campus into the college’s future “STEM Core”.