Santa Barbara City College Program Location and Land Use Master Plan

Santa Barbara City College’s senior leadership engaged ABA to develop a Master Plan that established long-term goals and guiding principles associated with facility program locations, land planning, internal and external connections, and circulation within the parameters of the technical requirements of the three-campus sites, the regulatory environment, the college’s sustainability guidelines and budget considerations.

ABA effectively engaged SBCC employees, students, governing bodies, and the community in a transparent and intentional facilitated process. As a result, the proposed solutions also moderated critics and gained advocates for the next steps of the college’s development. During the project, the design team addressed several strategic challenges:

• Educational programs in haphazard locations as a result of the reactive, organic growth of the campus.
• Funding challenges from an under-articulated campus vision and inadequate communication with the community.
• Disparate and disjointed campus facilities that left students and employees without adequate or dependable resources.