ONONDAGA — Onondaga Community College (OCC) on Saturday, Oct. 5 welcomed the public to see the school’s newest building, Academic II.
The school formally opened Academic II, which spans a 60-foot high gorge, at a ceremony three days earlier.
The structure’s “suspended in air” design is intended to minimize site-development costs and utilize previously unusable property, the school said on its website when it broke ground for the structure.
Academic II connects Ferrante Hall and the Gordon Student Center, the school said.
The building houses OCC’s music department and its façade is designed to resemble frets on a guitar, the school said in a news release.
It contains a 150-seat recital hall, soundproof-practice rooms, eight smart classrooms that any campus student can use, and faculty offices.
A smart classroom is one that’s equipped with computers and audiovisual equipment for instruction.
OCC added the building to help accommodate its growing student enrollment. The school pegged that growth at 65 percent over the last decade when it first announced plans for the building in May 2011.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com