Campus construction and architecture
Caltech is small but prizes excellence and ambition, and that emphasis applies to architecture on the 124-acre campus as much as research and education. Here, you can find information about current construction and renovation projects, design honors, small business support, and the plans governing Caltech construction, with links to learn more.
Current projects
Caltech works to minimize any interference to traffic, parking, or quality of life caused by campus construction projects. However, we know disruptions are inevitable, and we appreciate your patience. Crews are required to follow city construction guidelines and safety protocols.
Resnick Sustainability Center
The Resnick Sustainability Center, a future hub for energy and sustainability research, is being built just north of San Pasqual Street on the east side of Wilson Avenue. Traffic on Wilson Avenue may be slowed and controlled occasionally as trucks deliver timber. Trucks use City-advised routes on Wilson Avenue, Del Mar Boulevard, and Hill Avenue. Workers are installing the building's distinctive mass timber framing now and will soon build the undulating glass curtain wall.
Moore Walk
This spring, work to make Moore Walk continuous across campus will affect campus parking lots between Beckman Auditorium and Del Mar Boulevard. Lot 11 is closed. It is adjacent to Beckman Auditorium and the Moore Laboratory. We anticipate changes in access routes to nearby buildings including Beckman Auditorium, noisy sawing of concrete, limited demolition, and grading.
The plan that governs Caltech construction
This plan, approved by the City of Pasadena, sets forth rules and guidelines for development on campus:
Recent design recognition
AILA honors the future Resnick Sustainability Center
The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles recently recognized the design for the future Resnick Sustainability Center with a 2021 NEXTLA Honor Award. The design is also featured in Dezeen, a prominent architecture and design magazine.
Pasadena Beautiful recognizes two recent Caltech projects
Pasadena Beautiful's 2021 Commercial Design Awards honored Caltech's garden-wrapped Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Research Building and a complex of 1920s bungalows that Caltech moved from the neuroscience building site to San Pasqual Street and carefully restored and landscaped. The awards, conferred every five years, recognize efforts to create exceptional landscapes that benefit the environment, the community, and people who work and live nearby.
Caltech supports local businesses
More than 70 small businesses earned a total of $36 million in 16 recent construction and renovation projects on Caltech's campus (as of 2021).