ima provided pre-construction and construction implementation services for the 68,000 square foot (6,317 square meter/nine mu), three-story research center for the Department of Earth System Science. The facility will house laboratories, a conference center and office space for faculty and staff, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and visiting scientists. The center will be a leading international center for the study of fundamental environmental processes that affect all life forms such as global warming and ozone depletion. The site planning ties into the existing campus master plan and was designed to delineate a strong quad element along with the other buildings of the School of Physical Sciences. The layout of the facility is planned to promote the interaction of researchers through the creation of meeting space adjacent to a three-story atrium space, as well as a large meeting room. The role of ima was to ensure that the hardscape and landscape components integrated the Croul-Hall complex with the rest of the campus. The center is named in honor of John V. Croul, co-chair of Santa Ana-based Behr Process Corporation.
