Photo by Lara Swimmer Centralia College’s $32 million, three-story Science Center is the largest building on campus. It’s expected to earn a LEED gold rating.

The new 70,000-square-foot Science Center at Centralia College houses the nursing department, science laboratories, classrooms, a tiered auditorium and offices. Brick masonry integrates two structural systems.

A special circumstance in the design, requiring the selection of brick masonry, is the elliptical-shaped 100-seat auditorium, which required a standard 2.5-by-8-inch brick to accommodate its shape. Elsewhere, a larger Norman-sized brick was used.

A single-color clay brick with contrasting rough and matte finishes creates the banding effect, a motif previously established to tie campus buildings together.