OCC Center Work Starts Aug. 17

Construction on a $15-million arts center at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa is scheduled to begin Aug. 17.

The three-story structure will house art programs including painting, drawing, ceramics, two-and three-dimensional design, and commercial art, and will be fully wired for state-of-the-art photography labs, a computer music studio, digital media, and film and video production.

Silvia Impert, dean of the Fine Arts Division at Orange Coast College, will oversee the new facility.

The expansion comes at a time when college enrollment is booming, with a demand for high-tech and traditional art classes. Each semester more than 7,000 students enroll in the college’s 300 art courses. Many of the classes have been scattered around campus; the new building will centralize the classes and replace four arts structures that have been razed.

The 70,000-square-foot center is designed by Steven Ehrlich Architects, a Los Angeles firm. The facility will be on the southern boundary of the campus, adjacent to the Fine Arts Building.

Construction is expected to take two years to complete; the facility will open in the fall of 2002.

The new arts center will not house the campus gallery, which will be part of a second phase--a $2-million arts pavilion to be built during the 2002-03 school year.

It will include a campus gallery twice the size of the current space and a cafe.