Newest SMC Arts Wing Wins Design Award

Deemed high quality and bound to be full of natural light, the future eastern wing of the peforming arts campus was honored for its design by the Southern California Development Forum.

Representatives from local architecture firm DLR Group WWCOT and Santa Monica College accepted an award of excellence in the “Un-built Concepts” for the Performing Arts Campus East Wing facility, the college announced in a press release. 

The East Wing of the college's Performing Arts Campus, at 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, is a $12.5 million project that is scheduled to begin construction in November 2012 and be completed in December 2013. The project is funded by Measure AA, a bond that was passed by Santa Monica and Malibu voters in 2008.

The Performing Arts Campus East Wing facility will provide Santa Monica College with new performance and rehearsal studios. The 12,000-square-foot facility will contain a multi-purpose room, offices, and music classrooms. The project is part of Santa Monica College’s recent round of performing arts improvements, which has included and .

“This addition is a high quality building with great interior space which utilizes natural light in public spaces to help connect it to the adjacent plaza,” the jury noted, according to the press release. “Its use of high quality materials and planar surface detailing connects it nicely to the existing main theater.”

Each year, the Southern California Development Forum sponsors an awards program to recognize local charities, and to honor the contributions and creative work of architects, engineers, and contractors.  Among the jury members for the design awards this year was Jeffrey Averill, AIA, Campus Architect at UCLA; Gregory B. Ames of Trammell Crow Company; and William Robertson of Cushman & Wakefield.