client:  art center college of design

type:  educational

location:  pasadena, ca

size:  35,000 sq ft

status:  built

team:  darin johnstone, sandra hutchings, matt liese, daniel romero, kris ibranan, jesus guerrero, kaylee hyun

photo credit:  © Lawrence Anderson Photography, Inc

published:  Pasadena Star News, Dot Magazine Spring 2014 and Fall 2013, Los Angeles Times, A+A, Architect's Newspaper, GOOOOD, HK

darin johnstone architects

ArtCenter

Fine Arts + Illustration

January 2014

The primary challenge posed by the charge to transform the original ‘Post Office’ building into a home for Art Center College of Design’s Fine Art and Illustration departments had to do with the potential relationship between the existing conditions and the program. The program of galleries, classrooms and offices filled the entire existing volume while still requiring an abundance of natural light. The existing building contained five natural light sources: a thirty foot square skylight above a double height atrium space in the center and double height voids in all four corners that we termed ‘light courts’. Formal galleries and circulation (conceived as informal galleries) were used to connect  all of the light courts effectively carving the mass of classrooms and studios with light.

client:  art center college of design

type:  educational

location:  pasadena, ca

size:  35,000 sq ft

status:  built

team:  darin johnstone, sandra hutchings, matt liese, daniel romero, kris ibranan, jesus guerrero, kaylee hyun

photo credit:  © Lawrence Anderson Photography, Inc

published:  Pasadena Star News, Dot Magazine Spring 2014 and Fall 2013, Los Angeles Times, A+A, Architect's Newspaper, GOOOOD, HK

darin johnstone architects

ArtCenter

Fine Arts + Illustration

January 2014

The primary challenge posed by the charge to transform the original ‘Post Office’ building into a home for Art Center College of Design’s Fine Art and Illustration departments had to do with the potential relationship between the existing conditions and the program. The program of galleries, classrooms and offices filled the entire existing volume while still requiring an abundance of natural light. The existing building contained five natural light sources: a thirty foot square skylight above a double height atrium space in the center and double height voids in all four corners that we termed ‘light courts’. Formal galleries and circulation (conceived as informal galleries) were used to connect  all of the light courts effectively carving the mass of classrooms and studios with light.