Numerous sustainable design features support the project goal of a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The building maximizes the use of recycled material or rapidly renewable sources such as caramelized bamboo, which was used for all wood surfaces.

All classrooms, teaching laboratories, and the majority of the staff offices optimize the use of natural daylight in order to reduce energy demands from artificial light, decrease eyestrain and increase productivity. The windows utilize high-performance, low "E" glazing that allows natural daylight to enter the building, while rejecting unwanted ultraviolet and infrared light waves.

All walls and roof areas are highly insulated to help conserve energy while maintaining a healthy, uniform temperature. The roofing construction consists of a cool-roof material, which will reflect unwanted energy and reduce the amount of energy consumed. Construction waste was recycled.

Exterior landscaping features drought-tolerant, globally themed gardens, including an Australian Garden and a South African Garden. The interior courtyard features two, six-foot-tall stone wall segments depicting the earth's layers.

The Math+Science Complex occupies a 200,000-square-foot site immediately east of the existing Learning Resource Center near the center of the campus. McCarthy's construction crews disassembled three older buildings on the site before breaking ground for the new facility in August of 2011. Construction required careful monitoring and managing to minimize disruption to regular campus activities. Advanced technology played a key role in accomplishing construction within the specified timeframe.

“We not only utilized Building Information Modeling for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems throughout the building, we also used BIM clash detection on the exterior building enclosure with the structural frame of the building,” said McCarthy Project Manager Gil Camarena.

Project consultants for the new San Diego Mesa College Math+Science Complex included Hope Engineering for structural engineering, RBF Consulting for civil engineering, and exp (I always struggle with how they want this depicted because it always looks like a typo) for mechanical and electrical engineering. Wimmer Yamada and Caughey was the landscape architect. Gafcon is the program manager for the Propositions S and N construction program on behalf of the San Diego Community College District.

The new instructional building was funded by the $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction bond program, as GlobeSt.com previously reported, which is providing for new teaching and learning facilities, major renovations and campus infrastructure projects at Mesa, City and Miramar colleges, and six continuing education campuses.

This is the third major project McCarthy has worked on at San Diego Mesa College on behalf of the San Diego Community College District. The company also built the new three-story, 50,000-square-foot Allied Health Building, which was completed in August of 2009 and awarded a LEED Gold Certification by the USGBC. Additionally McCarthy built the new the Miramar College parking structure and police substation, which was completed in August of 2011 and received LEED Platinum Certification.