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colburn school breaks ground on frank gehry-designed campus expansion in LA
CategoriesArchitecture

frank gehry designs new center for young artists at LA’s colburn school

By Zarkon Group,
colburn school breaks ground on frank gehry-designed campus expansion in LA

frank gehry-designed school: breaking ground ceremony

 

The Colburn School in Los Angeles, one of the world’s leading schools for music and dance, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by Frank Gehry. The new Colburn Center will dramatically increase the school’s elite training and performance facilities and provide much-needed performance space, including a 1,000-seat, state-of-the-art concert hall, for young artists across LA. The groundbreaking ceremony took place adjacent to the construction site at 130 Olive Street, located within Downtown Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill area diagonally across the street from Colburn’s existing campus on Grand Avenue. The expansion will stand as an important addition to the cultural corridor which includes Gehry Partners’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed broad. Anticipated completion is expected for the first quarter of 2027.

colburn school breaks ground on frank gehry-designed campus expansion in LA
left to right: Sel Kardan, Carol Colburn Grigor, Andrew Millstein, Jerry Kohl, Terri Kohl, Maeesha Merchant, Toby Mayman, Merle Mullin, and Terry Greene at Colburn Center groundbreaking ceremony, April 5, 2024 | image © Loreen Sarkis

 

 

a hall for all

 

Designed by Frank Gehry (see more), the Colburn Center at the Colburn School (see more) will be a ‘hall for all,’ giving artists and students a place to shine. the center will stand at the crossroads of culture, education, and landmark architecture — marking frank gehry’s third project within three blocks to become the world’s greatest concentration of his architecture. The colburn school welcomes over 2,000 students from across los angeles and around the world, with ages ranging from seven months to adult. the new center will make the colburn campus an even livelier hub of artistic activity and enable the school to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public, which include performance and educational collaborations with acclaimed local and touring artists and ensembles. it will also provide much needed performance space in a mid-sized hall for the region’s established and emerging performing arts organizations.

frank gehry colburn school
view from hill street west towards dance school entrance | image © Gehry Partners

 

 

the 1,000 seat theater, ‘terri and jerry kohl hall’

 

Frank Gehry’s Colburn Center will welcome students and audiences alike, with a dynamic composition of transparent and opaque interlocking blocks that step down into the natural contour of the site. A 1,000-seat concert hall uses an in-the-round design to create intimacy between the performers and the audience and removes the stage lip, putting front-row seats at eye-level with the performers. Orchestra, opera, dance, and musical theater will all be at home in the hall, which is equipped with an orchestra pit and a stage large enough to accommodate the grandest works and the largest orchestrations.

colburn school breaks ground on frank gehry-designed campus expansion in LA
branded shovels used for groundbreaking ceremony | image © Loreen Sarkis

 

 

the theater and dance studios

 

Four professional-sized dance studios and a 100-seat flexible studio theater are enveloped in glass and provide a literal window into the beauty and rigor of dance training and performance. Qith a separate entrance and distinct architectural character, the light-filled dance facilities will have their own identity while harmonizing with the larger project. The Colburn Center will be equipped to take a modern approach to multi-media technology and production. The facilities include commercial-quality recording and streaming capabilities, and performance spaces will be outfitted with state-of-the-art lighting. Public spaces include an outdoor plaza, giving visitors a front-row seat to the performing arts, and gardens which provide much-needed green space and pedestrian access to nearby public transit hubs.

frank gehry colburn school
view from Hill Street and 2nd Street intersection

 

 

colburn president sel kardan comments: ‘With great joy and excitement, we share the design of Frank Gehry’s multi-dimensional project, which will welcome our students, performing artists, and audiences from across los angeles.The Colburn Center is a physical manifestation of the school’s founding principle of ‘access to excellence,’ allowing Colburn to continue and expand our educational and performance activities in a design which breaks down barriers between audience and performer and reveals the educational process. We look forward to collaborating with our artistic partners in Terri and Jerry Kohl hall, which complements the other stellar performance spaces in Downtown Los Angeles.’

colburn school breaks ground on frank gehry-designed campus expansion in LA
performance by the Colburn Conservatory’s Pep Band | image © Loreen Sarkis

frank gehry colburn schoolinside the 1,000-seat Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall | image © Gehry Partners

 

Reference

Fireplace at the centre of a dining table
CategoriesInterior Design

Frank Architecture puts Japanese spin on cabincore at Hello Sunshine bar

By Zarkon Group,
Fireplace at the centre of a dining table

A “psychedelic inverted cabin” provided Canadian studio Frank Architecture with the design narrative for this Japanese casual bar and restaurant in Banff, Alberta.

Located in the mountains of Alberta, Hello Sunshine offers barbecue, sushi and karaoke in a retro-influenced space by Frank Architecture.

Fireplace at the centre of a dining table
Fireplaces sit at the centre of special tables at Hello Sunshine

The team imagined an alternate reality, in which Japanese graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo ventured into the mountains and holed up in a cabin for years, and based the interiors on what the result might have been.

“Taking cues from the unlikely juxtaposition of Japanese psychedelia meets spaghetti western meets mountain cabin, Hello Sunshine is bold, playful, and distinct,” said Frank Architecture, which has an office in Banff.

Fire pit foregrounds a rounded bar behind
The wood-panelled restaurant features a rounded bar at the back

The eatery is located in the middle of the town, which is a popular destination for tourists and winter sports enthusiasts and is laid out to offer a sense of discovery.

“The spatial planning is intended to feel organic and meandering,” the team said. “Upon entry, the restaurant isn’t immediately visible but is slowly revealed as one moves through space.”

Paper lantern above bench seating
Japanese elements like paper lanterns and textile artworks and paired with plaid curtains and plenty of wood

The restaurant occupies a tall open space lined almost entirely in wood, with the rounded bar located at the back and a variety of table seating options scattered around.

Diners can choose between communal benches, four-tops, booths, bar stools, or sit at one of two special tables.

Booths beside angled shingle-covered walls
Booth seating is lined up against angled, shingle-covered walls

This pair of large circular counters both feature a raised fire pit at their centre, below fluid-shaped flues clad in glossy, glazed ceramic tiles.

Japanese design staples like paper lanterns and ceiling-hung textile artworks are combined with mountain tropes such as plaid curtains, exposed stone and plenty of wood.

Blue corduroy fabric is used to cover banquettes, while the booth seating is tucked into a niche formed by angled walls covered with timber shingles.

In the karaoke rooms tucked away at the back, patterned carpet, lava lamps and disco balls add colour and sparkle to the wood-panelled spaces.

Karaoke room with disco ball and lava lamps
Karaoke rooms are enlivened by disco balls and lava lamps

There’s also a concealed tiny bar based on those crammed into the alleyways of Golden Gai in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

“The result is a bold and encapsulating space that surprises and delights guests with unexpected moments and distinctive style,” said the team.

Tiny concealed bar
A tiny concealed bar is based on those found in Golden Gai, Shinjuku

This isn’t Frank Architecture’s only Japanese restaurant – the studio also created an intimate setting for the Lonely Mouth noodle bar in its other home city of Calgary.

For another spot in the Western Canada metropolis, the team drew inspiration from author Truman Capote to set a 1960s vibe at Major Tom on the 40th floor of a downtown skyscraper.

The photography is by Chris Amat.

Reference