flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Gothic-style dance center breaks ground at University of Southern California

Gothic-style dance center breaks ground at University of Southern California

The Dance Center will be the first new school on the campus in 40 years 


By Pfeiffer Partners Architects  | April 24, 2014
Ground was broken on April 23 for the new Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center on the University of Southern California campus. Named for the donor, philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, the Center will be a home for dance education on the West Coast and the Pacific Rim. The endowment will fund the building and establish a bachelor of fine arts program combining dance instruction with business training and a liberal arts education.
 
Pfeiffer Partners is designing the building for the school, the first new school on the campus in 40 years, beginning with a concept design, a feasibility study and programming. The design team, USC faculty and leadership of the new school are working together to craft a new facility that physically and aesthetically connects to the rest of campus and reflects the University’s master plan goals and aspirations for the new school. The program for the three-story building will include a dance/performance studio, five dance studios, instructional classrooms, performer support spaces, costume storage, and faculty and administrative offices. The project also includes a significant outdoor courtyard in which the campus community can meet, interact and study in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation in teaching and dance. 
 
Prominently located near the Thornton School of Music, on West 34th Street at Watt Way, will function as a key transitional building from the main campus to the future university village being developed across Jefferson Boulevard. The center’s proximity to downtown Los Angeles’ Music Center, where Kaufman has sponsored several dance performances, will strengthen the whole area’s draw as a cultural destination.
 
One primary goal of the design is to achieve a contemporary building that reflects the University’s historic architectural precedents, rooted in Romanesque traditions and Collegiate Gothic style, with authenticity rather than mimicry of the past. Conceptually, the design presents a dynamic, highly contemporary dance facility clothed in tradition. 
 
 
“The building derives its strengths from the principles of traditional Gothic architecture, but is also inspired by Venetian Gothic vernacular. The building’s massing is broken into its components: five major dance studios and a dance performance room, which is expressed in the architecture of the fenestration and hierarchy of forms; large Gothic arched openings introduce generous amounts of natural light into the spaces as well as create monumental openings for major and minor entries into the building. The skin of the building will be Roman brick with large expanses articulated with a diaper pattern. The building’s floor-to-ceiling windows and detailed articulation of precast concrete will extend the richness of the campus’ architectural language to the street for the first time along Jefferson Boulevard,” explains Project Director William Murray, AIA, Principal with Pfeiffer Partners. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Related Stories

| Sep 12, 2011

Living Buildings: Are AEC Firms up to the Challenge?

Modular Architecture > You’ve done a LEED Gold or two, maybe even a LEED Platinum. But are you and your firm ready to take on the Living Building Challenge? Think twice before you say yes.

| May 25, 2011

Olympic site spurs green building movement in UK

London's environmentally friendly 2012 Olympic venues are fuelling a green building movement in Britain.

| May 18, 2011

Improvements add to Detroit convention center’s appeal

Interior and exterior renovations and updates will make the Detroit Cobo Center more appealing to conventioneers. A new 40,000-sf ballroom will take advantage of the center’s riverfront location, with views of the river and downtown.

| May 18, 2011

Carnegie Hall vaults into the 21st century with a $200 million renovation

Historic Carnegie Hall in New York City is in the midst of a major $200 million renovation that will bring the building up to contemporary standards, increase educational and backstage space, and target LEED Silver.

| Apr 13, 2011

Southern Illinois park pavilion earns LEED Platinum

Erin’s Pavilion, a welcome and visitors center at the 80-acre Edwin Watts Southwind Park in Springfield, Ill., earned LEED Platinum. The new 16,000-sf facility, a joint project between local firm Walton and Associates Architects and the sustainability consulting firm Vertegy, based in St. Louis, serves as a community center and special needs education center, and is named for Erin Elzea, who struggled with disabilities during her life.

| Apr 13, 2011

Expanded Museum of the Moving Image provides a treat for the eyes

The expansion and renovation of the Museum of the Moving Image in the Astoria section of Queens, N.Y., involved a complete redesign of its first floor and the construction of a three-story 47,000-sf addition.

| Apr 12, 2011

Long-awaited San Francisco center is music to jazz organization’s ears

After 28 years, SFJAZZ is getting its first permanent home. The San Francisco-based nonprofit, which is dedicated to advancing the art of jazz through concerts and educational programs, contracted local design firm Mark Cavagnero Associates and general contractor Hathaway Dinwiddie to create a modern performance center in the city’s Hayes Valley neighborhood

| Apr 12, 2011

Entrance pavilion adds subtle style to Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

A $13 million gift from the Otis Booth Foundation is funding a new entrance pavilion at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. CO Architects, Los Angeles, is designing the frameless structure with an energy-efficient curtain wall, vertical suspension rods, and horizontal knife plates to make it as transparent as possible.

| Apr 5, 2011

Zaha Hadid’s civic center design divides California city

Architect Zaha Hadid  is in high demand these days, designing projects in Hong Kong, Milan, and Seoul, not to mention the London Aquatics Center, the swimming arena for the 2012 Olympics. But one of the firm’s smaller clients, the city of Elk Grove, Calif., recently conjured far different kinds of aquatic life when members of the City Council and the public chose words like “squid,” “octopus,” and “starfish” to describe the latest renderings for a proposed civic center.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Museums

The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion

In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.


halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021