San Jose, CA

The off-campus International and Extended Studies Building for San Jose State University is a newer addition located in the heart of downtown San Jose. It was designed and built as a re-use project utilizing the shell of the original warehouse that stood there previously. The old warehouse was destroyed in a fire in 1996 leaving it in shambles. Weston Miles Architects stripped and gutted the building of all destroyed material and reused whatever was still structurally sound for the remodel. Among the new items in the building were brick interiors, walls, windows, lighting, mechanical units, and plumbing fixtures to transform the warehouse into an educational space and update it to the current mechanical technologies.

Currently, the building holds ten classrooms, a computer lab, and a back patio for 250 students that occupy the space. The front facade and back patio showcase the beautiful brick textures comprised of the original historical as well as new brick which was sandblasted to match the old. Maintaining the beautiful features of the old building while giving the interior an update makes this a seamless addition to historical downtown San Jose.

The University staff gave the project the praise of "working perfectly for re-use."