Maple Hall, the first new building to be constructed on the CSUN campus in 14 years, is finally set to open on March 25, when classes start again after spring break.
The project experienced some construction delays that pushed back the original opening date of fall 2023. The project is now going through its final stages, preparing the building to be open for operations.
Maple Hall (formerly known as the Sierra Annex) is located on the southern end of campus on Etiwanda Avenue. Noah Rubin, the campus architect and director of design and construction at CSUN, explained that the primary purpose of the building is to move the classes from the older Sierra Hall building into the new, upgraded building.
Sierra Hall opened in 1963 and is one of the largest and oldest buildings on campus. It primarily holds classes from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Humanities. About 557 classes will be moved from this building to the new 38 classrooms of the Maple Hall building.
According to Rubin, there are eventual plans to renovate the Sierra Hall building, though no classes will be held there once renovated, as it will mainly hold offices and labs.
Rubin explained that the project’s delays were mainly due to global supply chain issues because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it difficult to obtain some essential electrical components of the building, and the high levels of rain experienced in 2023.
With the historic levels of rain that have already fallen in Southern California this year as well, and more projected to fall, Rubin said that they took advantage of the pushed-back construction to take care of a few leaks that they noticed in the building, preparing the building to withstand future rainfall.
One of the last steps left for the contractor is to go through a “punch list” of things, which includes fixing minor deficiencies in the building (like a faucet that is not working correctly) before classes commence.
Rubin said that students can look forward to some of the features in the new building, like spacious classrooms, a lounge, and collaboration areas that students can take advantage of between classes.
“There will be quite a lot of space for students to sit between classes,” Rubin said.
The faculty will go through training to use some of the new technological features, Rubin explained, and the classrooms are also designed so that faculty can make decisions about how the classes are arranged and optimize the spaces to their teaching methods.
The gates surrounding the building were taken down before the building is fully opened for operations, and students are now able to use the seating area outside of the building.
