project budget:   
$5,000,000

project schedule:   
6 months from design to completion!

existing building conditions:
The original building - revealed after removing layers of drop ceilings, walls and column enclosures - is a light frame, steel structure bound by concrete block masonry walls. Almost a perfect square, the plan’s primary structure is based on the classic principles of a nine-square grid. Open courtyards form the four corners, providing light and views from all coordinates – north, east, south, west. A two-story volume, with a north facing skylight above, establishes the center and fills the depth of the interior with natural light.

renovation program / scope: 
The program consisting of Fine Art and Illustration departments for a prominent Arts College includes galleries, classrooms, labs, studios, offices and support spaces. The specific program and the 35-year-old building required a complete building renovation, including seismic upgrades, new egress stairs, new MEP systems all implemented to LEED silver status.

design intent:
After the incredibly tight schedule and budget the most obvious challenge posed by the charge to transform the original ‘Post Office’ building into a home for a prominent school’s Art and Illustration departments had to do with negotiations between the existing conditions and the program. The given program of galleries, classrooms, studios and offices filled the entire existing volume while still requiring an abundance of natural light. The existing building contained only five natural light sources: a thirty-foot square skylight above a double height 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 the ‘light courts’ effectively carving the mass of classrooms and studios with circulation and light. The result is a gallery setting that serves as a canvas for the school’s aspiring visual artists. The central sky lit space was transformed into atrium galleries that are open to the public and featuring outside exhibits to be curated by the college. The Architect was invited to do the first ever outside exhibit / installation in the atrium galleries which is also shown in the submission.