Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Riverside Community College District (RCCD): RCCD Coil School of the Arts

  • 04/01/18
Riverside Community College District

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LPA INC./COSTEA PHOTOGRAPHY, INC.

The Centennial Plaza in Riverside, CA, designed by LPA, Inc., is a project that serves a dual purpose—to provide space for instruction and to bring the community downtown to enjoy the arts. The centerpiece of the block is the LEED Gold-certified, 36,000-square-foot Coil School of the Arts. The design includes a 450-seat music concert hall, classrooms, practice rooms, a choral room, band room, orchestra room, a piano lab, and a state-of-the-art recording studio.

Designed with acoustics as a priority, the Coil School for the Arts is the home of the renowned Riverside City College Music Department. The concert hall concept design mirrors as a musical instrument, featuring deployable wall panels, mechanized perimeter drapery, and a moveable stage cloud that can be configured to support any music genre.

The architecture expresses the nature of the building, using heavy concrete masonry for its acoustical mass properties as the main building material. On the main façade, a large cantilever provides shaded spaces for outdoor visitors and users. Glass at the lower level creates a connection of the indoor activity of people in the lobby while patterned wood laminate panels resemble the craft of wood-made musical instruments.

The district’s commitment to the arts, culture, and history through the vision of the Centennial Plaza will solidify downtown Riverside’s place as an urban center for activity, creativity, and lifelong learning.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management April 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Girl Sitting at Library Desk, Using Laptop

    How Campus Design Shapes the Finals Week Experience

    Academic performance is not just about preparation. It is closely tied to how students manage stress, maintain their energy, and shift between work and recovery modes. Much of that is influenced, directly or indirectly, by design.

  • St. John Fisher University

    Classroom Revitalization – Basil Hall Room 216

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. St. John Fisher University's Basil Hall Room 216 Classroom Revitalization has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of Spaces.

  • KWK Architects Announces Full Transition to Lawrence Group Branding

    KWK Architects recently announced that it will complete its transition to the Lawrence Group brand effective July 1, according to a news release. The merger marks the end of a three-year strategic integration process that began in March 2023 to unite the firms.

  • Academy of Classical Education Breaks Ground in Louisiana

    Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) recently announced the groundbreaking of a new public charter school in Covington, La., according to a news release. The Academy of Classical Education at Covington will enroll students in grades K–8 and is scheduled for completion in August 2026, just in time for the new school year.