![](https://goldengatexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SB_4-300x200.jpg)
After almost a decade of reconstruction and halted plans, San Francisco State University welcomed a renovated Science Building and the Science and Engineering Innovation Center — the most recent additions to the department since the 1950s.
“This was a $150 million dollar project,” said Dr. Carmen Domingo, the dean of the College of Science and Engineering. “Once we were able to acquire those funds, we had to demolish two-thirds of the Science Building, and then we kept the portion that has the large lecture halls.”
With five floors spacious and naturally lit, with student and faculty collaboration spaces, to dedicated labs and study rooms, the modern SEC facility is a modernized innovation that welcomed STEM majors and faculty in the Fall 2024 semester.
Dr. Domingo said the design wasn’t complete without input from students early on into the construction.
“We wanted to make sure that we heard from the students,” Dr. Domingo said. “They wanted the [SEC] building to be welcoming and be a place where they could meet with their friends, hang out, study and find the faculty. They helped us choose the color palette that we see on each of the floors.”
![](https://goldengatexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SB_2-300x189.jpg)
While reflecting on the SEC building, Dr. Kwok Siong Teh, a professor and director of the School of Engineering, remembered the old Science Building and hoped for advanced hands-on learning experiences through new equipment, faculty and student engagement and a renewed building quality that didn’t include leaky ceilings and buckets to catch water droplets on rainy days.
Dr. Teh said he was satisfied with the outcomes as there are no buckets, and added that the infrastructure of classrooms can change to cater to a range of studies offered on campus and support future generations of engineers and scholars contributing toward a “cross-pollination of ideas.”
“They are reconfigurable,” Dr. Teh said about the rooms. “If a certain area does not attract more funding or they are lower in line with modern needs, we can quickly pivot and change up the lab space to cater to different fields.”
Another new feature of the building is its energy sourcing. Rather than being run off of natural gas electricity like other campus structures, Dr. Teh noted that the entire building is electrically powered and “environmentally conscious.”
“There’s no natural gas,” Dr. Teh said. “The idea is that we are looking at energy sustainability, which is also a very big part of the vision for the School of Engineering. The curriculum also should reflect that. We want to inculcate that in our students going forward.”
The two-part rebuilding concluded with the renovated Science Building.
In 2014, the school was notified about numerous health and safety concerns that some outdated parts of the building posed — asbestos, non-paint related lead and mercury vapors among other causes of concern that originated from stored artifacts.
![](https://goldengatexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SB_3-300x200.jpg)
Prior coverage by Golden Gate Xpress reports that California gave SFSU nine citations and a $4,765 fine, in addition to one other citation from the Division of Occupational Health and Safety for “a lack of maintenance on hazards within the Science Building and for a shortage of safety trainings and warning signs for employees who worked near asbestos.” As a result, the president at the time considered demolishing the building and building something new.
Dr. Domingo said that out of the most recent building renovations to the Science Building, “about 75% are unrelated to the small-scale renovations in 2014,” which included “fixing spaces” for appropriate learning.
“The building was not behind schedule,” Dr. Domingo said. “Only the oldest parts of the building were renovated because some parts were deemed OK for use.”
The Science Building, which opened on the first day of the Spring 2025 semester, now includes new furniture, student club spaces, and large lecture halls to fit up to 200 students. The building is also earthquake-resistant, according to Dr. Domingo.
However, students still think the building feels empty as the freshly painted halls lead to labs and classrooms stacked with stools and shelves without equipment. Domingo said the current quietness is due to most classes not expected to move in until later into the semester.
Fourth-year cellular biology student Mark Calderon is used to having his classes in other buildings around campus. After walking into the refreshed Science Building for the first time, he said it was nice but lacked completion.
“It felt unfinished,” Calderon said. “I hope that future students can get hands-on lab experiences that aren’t outdated.”
![](https://goldengatexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SB_1-300x200.jpg)
As the SEC is already complete and the Science Building grows in the number of classes held there, Dr. Domingo said she envisions a place for educational thriving.
“It’s my hope that the students will really flourish with all the new resources,” Dr. Domingo said. “I think that’s the idea that now we hope that all of the investment in time and energy of constructing a new building will then play out in the advancement of our students.”