A New Resource

Redwood City's Canada College Awaits Completion of New Library

By Robert Carlsen

Cañada College in Redwood City will soon welcome a completely revitalized campus entrance with the completion in March of the new Library and Student Resource Center.

S.J. Amoroso Construction topped out the three-story building in early April and will be placing the decks and getting the walls up by the end of summer, according to project superintendent Dan Sims.

Sims said the original completion date was in December, but the weather, combined with some unexpected underground conditions, prompted a change.


The project is the largest construction project on the campus since its opening in 1968. The library and SRC broke ground last August.
The Cañada College Library and Student Resource Center will encompass 71,000 sq. ft and will house a state-of-the-art library that will be open to the public, a student learning center, admissions and records, financial aid, and counseling center. The cost of construction is approximately $30 million. The new building is primarily funded from state capital outlay dollars in addition to $6.4 million in general obligation bonds approved by San Mateo County voters.

The LRC includes tutorial, writing and computer centers, computer, and offices for instructors and faculty.

The new building is located between the Academic & Technical Building (Building 13) and the upper parking area. It will create a new campus entrance that will link other buildings and provide access between the upper parking area and the campus quad, three stories below.

The current, out-dated library is located on the outer edge of campus. Because of its location, it is difficult to access, and invisible to the campus community. There are a number of accessibility issues on the exterior of the library as well as in the interior.

Swinerton is the construction/project manager on the project and Berkeley's Noll & Tam is the architect, with Christopher Noll serving as principal in charge and Merideth Marschak as project manager.

Cañada College's Redwood City campus is part of the San Mateo County Community College District, which also includes Skyline College and College of San Mateo.

Anne Daley, Swinerton's construction manager, said the finished product will be "the" place to be on the campus. The new building, she said, will also be surrounded by new hardscape and landscape.

The first level of the building will consolidate student services to improve access to admissions and records, counseling services, financial aid, placement testing, and programs for students with disabilities. Direct access from the quad will help provide an integrated approach to the delivery of student services, said the college.

Cañada College serves approximately 14,000 students a year. It is a federally-designated Hispanic Serving Institution with Hispanics making up approximately 42 percent of the student body. The college is recognized for its University Center that offers bachelor's degrees in nursing, business administration, and child and adolescent development. Cañada offers college-level courses in several area high schools and has one of the highest transfer rates of any California community college to UC and CSU schools.


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