Pankow delivered Academic Complex 1 (Phase 1) at Los Angeles Valley College through a Design-Build approach that emphasized early collaboration, design-to-budget discipline, and virtual coordination. The new three-story, 84,000 SF academic building consolidates classrooms, labs, lecture spaces, and faculty offices while anchoring more than 200,000 SF of site improvements, including a redesigned historic quad, new campus drop-off, underground stormwater retention, and extensive landscape and hardscape enhancements.

The project leveraged VDC and BIM to coordinate complex systems, support prefabrication of the ConXtech structural frame, and maintain alignment during a fully remote design and approval process necessitated by COVID-19. Despite supply-chain volatility and evolving design input, the team maintained schedule momentum and delivered a facility that exceeds Valley College’s expectations for performance, durability, and student experience.

Academic Complex 1 now stands as a defining campus landmark—one that reflects Valley College’s heritage while providing modern, flexible spaces that support academic, cultural, and community life.

Integrated Design, Inspired Solutions

Academic Complex 1 is the result of a deeply collaborative Design-Build process that balances design ambition with fiscal responsibility, proving that memorable architecture can be delivered without compromising budget or schedule. Pankow worked closely with QDG Architects and LACCD to create a facility that feels open, inclusive, and distinctly rooted in Valley College’s identity.

Design excellence begins at the historic quad, where new gathering spaces, artistic elements, and landscaped paths acknowledge the region’s earliest storytellers, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, while creating vibrant places for today’s students to connect. The building’s form, materials, and color palette integrate seamlessly with the existing campus, reinforcing continuity while clearly signaling a new chapter of growth.

Inside, learning environments are shaped by daylight, acoustics, and flexibility. Smart classrooms, collaborative faculty offices, and adaptable interiors support evolving teaching methods and future program needs. Health and safety are embedded into the design, with intuitive circulation, accessible pathways, and one of LACCD’s first locally or remotely activated lockdown systems.

Sustainability and life-cycle performance were central to every design decision. The all-electric building operates independently of the campus central plant, features a high-performance envelope and demand-response systems, and is designed to accommodate future photovoltaic and battery storage integration.

Academic Complex 1 demonstrates how design excellence, cultural respect, and technical innovation can come together to create a campus environment that is welcoming, resilient, and ready for generations of learners.