LOS ANGELES-Construction is underway on a new 103,500-square-foot Life Sciences building at Loyola Marymount University.

The $110 million (total project cost), three-story building will serve as a teaching, research and laboratory facility for the Seaver College of Science and Engineering's biology, chemistry and natural science departments. In addition to research and teaching laboratories, the new building will also include faculty offices, classrooms, shared public spaces, a 292-seat auditorium and a 372-vehicle underground parking structure.

Designed to LEED Silver specifications by CO Architects of Los Angeles, construction is anticipated to take two years to complete. The building concept is to “put science on display,” according to the college. As such, classrooms and laboratories will have glass walls in the hallways, allowing observers to look at activities in the rooms. Additionally, an open design and research/teaching labs configured for maximum exposure will allegedly foster collaboration and physical/visual connectivity.

The building will have a green roof planted with drought-tolerant vegetation that will be used by biology students; storm water retention planters that natural science students will monitor for pollutants; a photovoltaic array to capture solar energy; and water recycling measures. It's estimated that 30% of the building's energy will come from renewable resources.

Builder C.W. Driver will be controlling the building construction. Mike Byrne, the C.W. Driver VP of operations in Los Angeles, says there are challenges to building such a massive project on the campus, most notably its narrow roads and the fact that construction will take place while classes are in session.

“We're in the heart of the campus, and you have to drive up this meandering, narrow one-lane road to get to the job site,” Byrne tells GlobeSt.com. “Within 50 feet of our construction zone is their existing science building, which will be fully functional. They are in an ocean environment without air conditioning, so they will leave their windows open. It's a significant challenge to control noise and dust.” Sound walls and electric cranes will be employed to mitigate some of the issues, Byrne says.

C.W. Driver has done a great deal of college campus construction, including at Grossmont College in El Cajon and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. But the plans for LEED construction elements incorporated on the LMU building will be one of the largest tasks the firm has undertaken to achieve the sustainable construction certification.

“The owner and stakeholders were very committed to sustainability,” says Byrne, noting that ambitious green plans are often scaled back when budgets become reality, but were instead pushed forward by LMU. “They want to send the right message to science students that 'This is very important to us.' ”

The LMU students won't be mere observers of the construction, Byrne says. There is a program in place with the engineering department to bring up to 24 interns on board during the next two years to work in various aspects of the construction project.

“Maybe field engineer, could be project engineer,” says Byrne. “We collaborated with the major trade partners to participate in our program. We've done that with other campuses, but this has been the most collaboration with a campus and they're very excited about that.”