The C/S + JKAE design-build team recently completed a new 66,000 square-foot science building at Butte College in Oroville. This advanced two-story facility now supports multiple academic departments, including Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, Zoology, Botany, Physical Science, and Chemistry. The new building provides the much-needed expansion of the Physical and Life Sciences programs, enabling Butte College to serve more than twice the number of students as they prepare for careers in their chosen scientific fields.

The facility includes lecture classrooms and specialized laboratories for Biology, Anatomy–Physiology, Zoology–Botany, and Physical Science/Physics/Chemistry, along with laboratory preparation areas, storage rooms, chemical storage, science equipment rooms, balance rooms, and stockrooms. It also features an Anatomy–Physiology Cadaver/Preserved Specimen Room and approximately 35 faculty offices.

Additional program spaces include Student Support areas for study, tutoring, exam, and multipurpose use, staff breakrooms, a dean’s office suite with a conference room, administrative and lobby spaces, and the MESA STEM Academic Success Center with interactive study, lounge, and classroom space. The design organizes the building into distinct zones to support the different science programs, with generous circulation areas that allow students to move easily between classrooms, laboratories, and secured support spaces.