Richard Colburn, namesake of the Colburn School, facilitated the relocation of the School’s music and dance facilities from warehouse-like facilities on the USC campus to downtown Los Angeles, and in so doing, created a vibrant, new, community-based School for the Performing Arts. At the time, downtown’s Grand Avenue was only just emerging as a cultural destination, with the Colburn School soon becoming one of its major anchors. The building’s design, therefore, had to both address the contextual conditions of the day yet anticipate a burgeoning future. After several years of operations, the School returned to us to design facilities that would allow it to expand to become a College Conservatory, providing student housing, a new 250-seat recital hall, music library, educational spaces and a variety of practice and rehearsal rooms. The two buildings are linked by an active courtyard and dining commons, creating a campus-like environment for both students and audience members.

Project Data

Complete
100,000 sf

Program Highlights

420-seat concert hall
200-seat performance lab
2 recital halls
Housing for 140 students
Rehearsal halls and dance studios
Practice rooms and teaching studios
Media technology studios
Music library
Café

Collaborators

Structural Engineer: A. Martin & Associates, Inc.
MEP: Syska & Hennessy
Civil Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Theater: Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Acoustics:
Phase 1: McKay Conant Hoover, Inc.
Phase 2: Charles M. Salter Associates Inc
Lighting: Horton Lees Brogden Design
AV: Sound Image
Landscape:Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Photographers: Foaad Farah, Tim Griffith, Eric Staudenmaier