Santa Monica College (SMC) – a two-year community college in Santa Monica, CA – opened in 1929 and has now grown to a thriving campus with 34,000 students and offerings in more than 100 fields of study.

The idea for a new Student Services Building at SMC was conceived in 2009 – and after delays for approvals and redesign, construction commenced in 2016. The new Student Services Building creates a central plaza entry to the SMC Main Campus and consolidates several student services departments into a single building. The 3-story building includes offices, an assembly hall for performances and large meetings, and three levels of underground parking.

Vantage worked with Huitt-Zollars (formerly Morris Architects) to design the technology vision for the building in collaboration with SMC stakeholders.

The assembly hall venue has a large widescreen and includes support for 7.1 surround sound audio and theatrical lighting.  A mobile production connection extends to the outside entrance and will allow SMC to continue its history of bringing in high-level speakers to the campus.  Cameras and room microphones will be able to capture events for live streaming while technical staff can control all audiovisual activities from a rear control room.

Two entry kiosks were designed to provide information about on-campus events as well as interactive wayfinding for the students and guests to easily locate services within the building.

(Project rendering from Huitt-Zollars and photos from Neubauer Electric)