Construction is of the new 270,000-square-foot, 828-space parking structure and adjacent 5,108-square-foot police substation at San Diego Miramar College is now complete. Architectural firm Harley Ellis Devereaux, served as the architect for the police substation, and International Parking Design provided architectural services on the parking structure component. Among many sustainable features, the substation features a glass curtainwall installed by Centex Glazing of La Mesa, Calif. McCarthy Building Companies Inc. served as the general contractor.

The police substation portion of the project is on track to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, and to become the first higher education institution in San Diego County to achieve such LEED status, according to an announcement. The police substation is one of ten LEED-certified projects built or planned at Miramar College and among 30 across the San Diego Community College District.

The $17.9 million project is part of the District’s $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction program, which is providing for new instructional and career training facilities, major renovations, campus-wide infrastructure projects, and parking and public safety enhancements at City, Mesa and Miramar colleges, plus six Continuing Education campuses.

The four-story, above-grade Miramar College parking structure is constructed with poured-in-place, reinforced concrete and the adjacent single-story police substation will provide a central hub for campus safety and security, wayfinding and parking permitting.

An array of sustainable design features were factored into the building’s LEED Platinum level of sustainable design, including curtainwalls that have horizontal exterior siding on the south, vertical fins on the east, and a large glazed area facing north; operable windows that provide natural ventilation; Solatube skylights that capture natural light and enhance occupants’ work conditions; and terra cotta rain screens that create a vented facade and increase building envelope energy efficiency, among others.

Photos by Stephen Whalen Photography