The California College of Arts (CCA) selected Chicago–based Studio Gang to design a centralized art and design college campus in San Francisco. Michael Maltzan Architects, based in Los Angeles, and Allied Works Architecture, based in New York City and Portland, Ore., were also shortlisted for the project.
The firm, led by founding principal Jeanne Gang, FAIA, will work with the institution over the next five years in the hopes of creating a contemporary campus to mirror the characteristic of the city and unite the students and faculty. According to a press release, “The site has enormous potential to build an expanded, increasingly connected campus for CCA in a newly thriving design district,” Studio Gang says. Centered on a 2.4-acre lot near that campus, the expansion project will enable the college to harbor art, crafts, design, architecture, and writing programs at one site instead of spread across both San Francisco and Oakland campuses.
The closure of CCA’s Oakland Campus upon the expansion completion will mark the metamorphosis of the new and enhanced campus without losing any functions, including housing for half of the college’s students. One of the priorities of the expansion project is to provide 1,000 beds for affordable student housing by 2025, to help students with the high cost of living in the Bay Area. Currently, CCA can only accommodate 500 students in their housing facilities.
Studio Gang will also focus on sustainability in the new buildings. These strategies include environmentally friendly water usage and conservation strategies, healthy air quality, and plans for sustainable ways of creating art. “We are thrilled with the prospect of working with Studio Gang and have high hopes that our new campus will help redefine 21st-century arts education,” said board chair C. Diane Christensen in a press release.