Design of Jail Wins Award

Marvin J. Malecha, dean of the School of Environmental Design at Cal Poly Pomona, and Patrick Sullivan, chairman of the school’s architecture department, have received certificates of merit from the American Institute of Architects.

The certificates, presented in Washington, were awarded for the design of a new minimum-security jail for San Mateo County. Construction of the 160-bed facility is scheduled to begin later this year and is to be completed in 1987 at a cost of $6.7 million.

The $42,000-a-bed cost compares to the $75,000 a bed normally needed to build maximum security jails. Four- and eight-man rooms are located around a central day room and control station and there is an exercise yard on the roof. Construction is precast concrete panels and dark glass.