A year-and-a-half after commencing work, a Bjarke Ingels-designed expansion to the Claremont McKenna College has topped out.

The Robert Day Sciences Center, now taking shape at the intersection of 9th Street and Claremont Boulevard, will span approximately 135,000 square feet in size and become the new home of the school's Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, which conducts research in gene, brain, and climate knowledge. The center is expected to serve up to 1,400 students, when completed.

View from plazaBIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The design of the Robert Day Sciences Center is described as consisting of stacks of paired blocks, two per floor, with each rotated 45 degrees from the level below. Its interior shows stacked trusses, lined with floor-to-ceiling glass partitions, and lit by a glass atrium above.

The stacked blocks are also used to create eight outdoor terraces on the corner perimeters of the building, while its rooftop will host 9,000 square feet of solar panels - key to the goal of achieving LEED Gold Certification for the project.

Completion is on track to occur in 2025.

Aerialv view of the Robert Day Sciences CenterPooya AleDavood / Claremont McKenna College’s Robert Day Sciences Center

"The topping out of the Claremont McKenna College Robert Day Sciences Center coincides with the opening of our Los Angeles studio as we continue to grow our portfolio of academic and cultural works along the U.S. Pacific Coast," said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels in a news release.

BIG, founded in Copenhagen in 2006, has more recently made its mark in the United States, even opening a Los Angeles-area studio within a Paul R. Williams-designed building at 310 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica. That studio will be used for work on West Coast clients, such a new Las Vegas stadium planned by the erstwhile Oakland Athletics, as well as a high-rise complex next to the Los Angeles River in the Arts District.

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