Higher Education

Nestled in Southern California, the City of Garden Grove embodies the synergy between urban development and its agrarian heritage. Once flowing with orange groves and strawberry fields, it has evolved into a thriving urban hub, while safeguarding open spaces. AC Martin was selected to design their new Civic Center developed via a P3 Public-Private Partnership with Edgemoor and Clark Construction, inclusive of a 104,000 SF police station, 4-level parking structure, and a 2.7-acre park.

The design is composed of a unitized curtainwall “glass box” that sits atop a solid base of precision block with a “ribbon” that hugs the building massing meandering from the exterior façade to the interior lobby and reaches a crescendo at the stair tower which serves as an illuminated beacon to the City. The “ribbon” represents the fabric of the community – a high-functioning city whose citizens support the local government, choose to fund the police, and participate in mass for City-sponsored community events. The development of the new police station and new park will reinvigorate the city center to create a welcoming, people-centric super block that can support 24/7 community activities including daily exercise routines, tai-chi classes, outdoor movies and concerts, night markets, food trucks, and more.

The double-height public lobby includes robust cast-in-place concrete columns symbolizing the strength of the process. Transparent glass promotes trust and accessibility between the police, government, and the community. Adjacent to the public lobby is a Community Room that is available for public and police events, providing space for meetings, training courses, and banquet functions. The interior spaces are designed to be durable, serviceable, and functional, allowing for future flexibility and growth.

The police station, an essential services building, can also be transformed into an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) providing a central command location for Garden Grove and its surrounding communities during a natural disaster or heightened event.

Located in the City of Lancaster, California, Imagine Village II provides 80 units of affordable housing to meet the special needs for youth and young families at risk. The project has a focus specifically for transition aged/ homeless youth. This new 3-story development is located within the urban core of the City with access to public transportation and is within walking distance to social services and business in the area. Constructed in a U-shape around a centralized courtyard with access to the site via a gated driveway leading to a centralized parking lot. 

As part of the design, there are several support services such as management offices for staff, a community room with TV lounge, dining area and kitchen, a computer lab/ work area, on-site laundry facilities, bicycle parking, community garden and dog run.

The new Engineering and Technology building for the College of Natural Resources and Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt will feature teaching and research labs, faculty offices, and student support spaces designed to foster collaboration. The goal is to create an environment where students, faculty, and staff can thrive at their highest potential, promoting opportunities for interaction, collaboration, and spontaneous encounters, all while reinforcing Cal Poly Humboldt’s mantra of “Learning by Doing.”

The architectural design incorporates passive strategies that respond to the natural forces of the site, taking a balanced approach that honors regional heritage and reflects Cal Poly Humboldt’s unique identity. The primary structural and aesthetic components include Exposed Mass Timber and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), which offer a warm and welcoming atmosphere for the new Engineering and Technology building. The design features curtain wall glazing paired with a rain screen or concrete envelope system, intentionally exposing the wood material to the rest of the campus and creating an inviting character.

Building upon the vision and success of the first phase of student housing on the CSU Northridge campus, the second phase of the housing program has been completed by the AC Martin and CW Driver design-build team. The new complex consists of 100,000 GSF of space featuring 396 beds, spacious recreation and lounge areas, a coffee house—named the ‘Freudian Sip’—as well as study areas and laundry facilities. 

Cultivating a campus lifestyle appropriate for freshman students, the new housing project focuses on community elements within the complex such as a common kitchen, classroom and learning center, recreation lounge and multipurpose room, as well as outdoor courtyards with fire pits, barbecues, seating and activity spaces, and extended patio space. The new building design provides a variety of open spaces to encourage socialization and living clusters sized and configured to allow students to become part of a ‘family’ where they feel connected and supported.

With this project, the university has completed construction of approximately 800-bed spaces, which is roughly 1/3 of the masterplan goal of 2,500 beds total. 

See Phase I Student Housing at CSU Northridge

See Phase III Student Housing at CSU Northridge

The five-story affordable senior housing project reflects a contemporary approach rooted in local character. Inspired by surrounding Craftsman and Prairie-style homes, the design emphasizes horizontality to reduce vertical scale while introducing modern detailing. Soft wood tones and clean lines harmonize with the mountain backdrop. A key feature is the perforated metal panel, inspired by mid-century modernism, adding privacy and visual interest to the parking garage on Figueroa Drive.

Located on a half-acre corner lot at Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa Drive, the building offers views of the city to the south and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. Though the January 2025 wildfire devastated the Altadena neighborhood, the non-combustible exterior helped save the building—making it a symbol of hope and resilience. The project includes 72 studio and one-bedroom units, a two-bedroom manager’s unit, and a landscaped courtyard. Residents enjoy over 2,000 SF of amenity spaces, a welcoming lobby, bike storage, laundry room, and 35 parking spaces. The design promotes wellness, connection, and long-term stability.

Gateway Hall provides California State University, Channel Islands with a new “front door” that is a beautiful and welcoming space for both the campus and the surrounding community. The spaces provide innovative environments for learning, interaction, and collaboration. The project consolidates several departments and spaces into a centralized hub - providing a new building and renovated buildings that are intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

The program for the new Gateway Hall provides approximately 80,000 SF of renovated existing facilities and new construction. The project will house campus admission, and a new “one-stop-shop” for student services, including financial aid, registrar, and advising. The new building will also house new general classrooms and departmental labs for math, computer sciences, and mechatronics. Lastly, the extended university will find a new home in renovated facilities; one that provides a new front door to the community. The project pulls together programs and occupants from across the campus into an interdisciplinary and integrated complex, putting the student and public community first.

Designed according to the mission style campus guidelines, the new building blends harmoniously into the contextual campus. Gateway Hall will greet all who arrive at the CSUCI campus with its welcoming façade. As a campus built in the Mission style, buildings were sited to define outdoor space. The new Gateway Hall building is sited to maintain that character. At the termination of University Drive, the visual corridor facing south towards the North Quad is preserved by siting Gateway Hall on the west side, in anticipation of a future theater to be located on the east side, and creating a paseo in between the two buildings. The Paseo serves as the main outdoor circulation through the Gateway site and into the North Quad and the rest of the campus. It is envisioned to have a leisurely quality as one moves through the site with Paseo-facing edges that are porous, providing visibility into interior activities. The Paseo has an entry plaza on its north end, giving a sense of arrival to the campus. The renovation of the historic structures gives new life to the old buildings, adapting the previous mental hospital into a welcoming university environment. The buildings were completed in August 2025.

Amanda Villas is an affordable senior housing development, currently under construction, in Cudahy, CA. The 140-unit project will provide low-income seniors earning 50% below the area median income with high-quality affordable housing. The project includes a 21,000 square foot state-of-the-art health center that will deliver medical, dental, and behavioral health services to residents of the development as well as neighbors in the community.

According to LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn “the proposed development is designed to be an impactful mixed-use development that provides a one stop housing and wellness solution for low income and homeless seniors, including an array of on-site health services and economic development opportunities accessible to the surrounding community, such as job creation, and education and training programs”.

The five-story building exterior was designed with Irvin Gil’s influences, considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture and commonly found in southern California. The exterior design features white stucco walls contrasted by a brick cladded base and colorful tile insets. The building massing is softened with deep roof overhangs and gracefully articulated arched openings at the ground level. Rounding the street-facing building elevation is a focal entry courtyard and a landscaped rooftop terrace on the fifth level overlooking the existing streetscape.

The project is funded by a combination of LA County Development Authority (LACDA) funds and State of California Tax Credits.

The new Behavioral and Social Sciences building, which replaced Butte Hall on the Chico State University campus, creates a bookend for the campus’ east-west connection. The building massing is informed by the scale of the existing buildings, the programmatic elements, access to daylight, and accommodation of solar panels. This 94,000 gross square foot, design-build project with Turner Construction Company is a net zero energy building that co-locates several college resources to a common location and provides much needed study areas. The new building maximizes space usage, provides active learning environments, creates holistic work environments for faculty and staff, improves outdoor environments, and supports the health and wellness of all building occupants.⁠
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The building includes 22 general university classrooms, 1 large learning hall, various study and lounge spaces, 5 departmental instructional labs, and office spaces for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. The Behavioral and Social Sciences departments include Anthropology, Economics, Geography and Planning, Multi-Cultural and Gender Studies, Political Science and Criminal Justice, Public Health and Health Services Administration, Social Science, Social Work, and Sociology.⁠

The 44,450 SF Energy Innovation Building will be the central hub of research, experimentation, and collaboration on the future of energy in the San Joaquin Valley. The project will include research and teaching laboratories, a Capstone Design Laboratory, private/open offices, a flex-design event space, the Extended Education Global Outreach center, and an outdoor interactive space. The Energy Innovation Building will be tightly connected to its context, meeting the needs and desires of the talented and ambitious student body. Architecturally, it will seamlessly integrate with the existing campus, respecting its setting while representing a new era of energy and innovation at CSU Bakersfield. Environmentally, it will harmonize with the outdoors and the natural landscape, embodying sustainability design principles that align with the commitment to a greener, more resilient future. Communally, the design will be characterized by a welcoming spirit, creating a space where learning is not just a hidden pursuit but a visible and shared endeavor. In every aspect, this project will harness the potential of collaborative and inclusive design in order to move the region, and nation, forward with renewable energy research. With the Energy Innovation Building, CSU Bakersfield will be able to increase and promote robust industry partnerships, attract funding, facilitate faculty and student research, and engage the community. The Energy Innovation Building will solidify CSUB’s pivotal role in the future of energy solutions in the Valley and beyond.

Learn more on the CSU Bakersfield website.

The Autodesk Technology Engagement Center, which includes the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub, focuses on closing equity gaps in STEM degree pathways and inspiring historically underrepresented minorities in STEM to pursue high-demand careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

This 34,000 GSF project is powered by cutting-edge technology to advance collaboration and interdisciplinary design and research, including labs for engineering, prototype creation, pre-manufacture, and iterative design. Flexible space for interdisciplinary teams to collaborate, innovate, and incubate is included. The project also includes a campus and community maker-space as well as student showcase space to inspire student curiosity and creativity.

To propel student success, the Equity Innovation Hub includes a next generation student success center, student study and collaboration space, and a P-14 outreach discovery lab.  CSUN will use these spaces to  engage middle, high school, and community college students as well as families, to include a whole family outreach approach.

The project is uniquely designed with equity as a core design principle. AC Martin led a series of design workshops, meeting with university leadership, an interdisciplinary faculty and staff collaborative group, and a student focus group, to ensure the project design would achieve its goals to:

• Be welcoming and approachable to students and the community.
• Highlight & inspire interest in STEM professions, education, real-world applications & technology.
• Ensure diverse representation of historically underrepresented minorities.
• Create flexible spaces & adaptable design.

The Autodesk Technology Engagement Center provides a new, modern, state-of-the-art facility, creating a new identity for the College and University at a prominent campus location. Additional site improvements include outdoor gathering space, seating areas, and hands-on STEM activity areas.