Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Colburn School in Los Angeles Breaks Ground on Campus Expansion

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/10/24

The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Calif., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, according to a news release. The Colburn School is a music and dance education and performance institute that offers services to people of all ages, from 7-month-olds to adults. The school’s new building, the Colburn Center, will increase the school’s training and performance facilities and stand adjacent to the existing Grand Avenue campus.

“The Colburn Center will be a game changer, stepping up everything we do for the school’s own community, for our peer organizations that make the LA artistic ecosystem so vibrant, and for the public that we look forward to welcoming,” said Colburn School President and CEO Sel Kardan. “At Colburn, making performances accessible to LA audiences is as much a part of our core mission as making first-rate music and dance education available to everyone. These are the same values we see in the wonderful design by Frank Gehry: artistic excellence at the highest level, combined with a deep love for the dynamism and diversity that animate life in a great city.”

According to the news release, the Colburn Center will stand alongside the Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand complex—also designed by Gehry—to form the largest concentration of the architect’s work in the world.

Principal design features include a 1,000-seat theater performance space, four studios for dance classes and rehearsal, and other teaching and support facilities, according to a project fact sheet, as well as a natural-light-filled entrance and gardens at street and rooftop levels. All performance and rehearsal spaces were designed to accommodate a wide variety of potential configurations and productions.

“This is a long time coming, and I am so grateful for everyone who helped make it possible,” said Gehry. “For me, this building is very special. It adds significant opportunity for growth in music, music education, and collaboration inside of Colburn and with the other arts institutions in LA. I really believe it will unlock untold riches in the cultural community here in LA and I am honored to be a part of it.”

The Colburn School is partnering with McCarthy Building Companies for the project’s construction, the news release reports.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • Rhode Island Boarding School Completes Student Dorm Renovations

    St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I., recently announced the completion of a $26-million renovation project on Arden-Diman-Eccles Dormitory, according to a news release. The school partnered with Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) on the new space, which places a new focus on collaborative community spaces open to both boarding students and day students.

  • nursing students talk while studying in a hallway

    Elsevier Launches VR Simulation Solution for Nursing Students

    Elsevier has introduced Shadow Health Lab with Virtual Reality, a simulation platform that allows nursing students to interact with virtual patients and build clinical judgment skills in a safe, realistic environment.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.