Dedication of new IVC Life Science Building
Local and college officials were present for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Life Sciences Building celebrating the opening of the new Life Sciences Building on Wednesday afternoon, March 26. Guests were treated to a reception and tour of the new building.
Among the speakers at the event were IVC President Glenn Roquemore, South Orange Country Community College District Board President T.J. Prendergast, SOCCCD Chancellor Gary Poertner and Irvine City Mayor Dr. Steven Choi.
Roquemore was grateful to all the parties involved in the creation of the new Science facility and gave credit to each one in his speech from the facilities crew at IVC to the construction company saying that because of them there is a “great deal of quality in the finished work.”
The new Life Sciences Building earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification with its use of, “daylight harvesting and natural ventilation suitable for the mild, coastal climate” and its use of sustainable and recycled materials in the facility, a press release said.
The certificate is “a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices” according to the U.S. Green Building Council website.
“We support education any way we can [in Irvine],” Choi, one of the final speakers at the dedication, said. “We embrace the educational opportunities provided to our citizens.”
Staff working in the new building are grateful for the new facilities.
“It is a big improvement, almost double the lab and prep space as our last building,” Lewis Akers, a lab technician at IVC, said. “For the most part the building is outstanding, only little things here and there.”
While the speakers at the event supported the creation of the new facility some students at IVC were not in complete support.
“The building is nice, I just feel IVC could be spending its money and resources better,” Elvira Peinado, 43-year-old business major, said. “Parking for one.” She also said that she toured the building but while near the glass walls it created a greenhouse effect inside that became rather hot and unenjoyable to her.
The building is a two-story educational space with two classrooms, seven science labs, one computer lab, a meeting room and an office space for faculty. The labs have been specialized for the scientific disciplines practiced in the facility. There is also a one-fourth acre greenhouse next to the facility that is growing local flora and maintained by the IVC Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Sciences department.