ArtCenter Entertainment Design

January 2016

This project  was initiated to create a home for art center college of design’s growing entertainment design department. The program consisted of a home room, visualization labs,  motion capture studio, direct instruction spaces, offices and storage. The primary challenge was to create a spatial identity for this  contemporary department in the iconic Craig Ellwood building constructed for the school in 1976. The building, considered by some to be Ellwood’s best non-residential work, is a study in Miesian high modernism. While the exterior, the structural system, the underlying order and especially the bridge are extraordinary, some of the building interiors clearly deviated from the driving concepts of flexibility, transparency and openness. Our approach coined ‘even less is more’ was to work to understand and accentuate (through reduction) the ordering system and the building proportions. We worked diligently to exploit latent building qualities through light, transparency, reflectivity and contrast.

client:    ArtCenter College of Design

type:    educational

location:    Pasadena, California

size:    6,070 sq ft

status:    built

team:    darin johnstone, sandra hutchings, rob ettenger, matt liese, jesus guerrero

consultants:    john a. martin and associates, pbs engineers, luminesce design

project manager:    gkk works

general contractor:    halsted construction

photo credit:    joshua white / jwpictures.com

darin johnstone architects

Photo Credit: Joshua White/JWPictures.com