Claremont McKenna College Opens Robert Day Sciences Center

Claremont McKenna College opened the Robert Day Sciences Center in September of 2025 in Claremont, Calif. As the home for the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, the 135,000-sf facility enables a transformative pedagogy organized around three overlapping foci: health, brain, and planet. The three-story structure supports a research-centered, solutions-driven curriculum, creating experiential learning opportunities for students and emphasizing the applications of artificial intelligence to real-world challenges. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the open, light-filled building houses classrooms, laboratories, and office venues. A microscopy suite and electroencephalogram suite are accompanied by a nuclear magnetic resonance lab and a high-performance computing cluster for work in neuroscience, genomics, and computational biology and chemistry.

Incorporating extensive interior and exterior glazing, the center comprises two parallel wings framed by wooden trusses. Each level is rotated 45 degrees from the floor below, forming a soaring atrium that enhances connection and visibility between the flexible stacked volumes of spaces. Featuring a series of indoor terraces that overlook a central social staircase, the interdisciplinary nexus stimulates collaboration and knowledge exchange across traditional silos to elevate the pursuit of scientific discovery. 

Aspiring to LEED Gold certification, the sustainable facility offers a café and eight green roof terraces that provide a variety of outdoor settings. Photovoltaic panels spanning 11,000 sf will generate approximately 342 megawatt hours of energy per year. KPRS Construction Services broke ground on the project in October of 2022. Other firms lending their expertise included Saiful Bouquet Structural Engineers, ACCO Engineered Systems, Atlas Civil Design, Rosendin, WSP, Jacobs, and Arup.