Gothic-style dance center breaks ground at University of Southern California

Ground was broken on April 23 for the new Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center on the University of Southern California campus. Named for the donor, philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, the Center will be a home for dance education on the West Coast and the Pacific Rim. The endowment will fund the building and establish a bachelor of fine arts program combining dance instruction with business training and a liberal arts education.

Pfeiffer Partners is designing the building for the school, the first new school on the campus in 40 years, beginning with a concept design, a feasibility study and programming. The design team, USC faculty and leadership of the new school are working together to craft a new facility that physically and aesthetically connects to the rest of campus and reflects the University’s master plan goals and aspirations for the new school. The program for the three-story building will include a dance/performance studio, five dance studios, instructional classrooms, performer support spaces, costume storage, and faculty and administrative offices. The project also includes a significant outdoor courtyard in which the campus community can meet, interact and study in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation in teaching and dance.

Prominently located near the Thornton School of Music, on West 34th Street at Watt Way, will function as a key transitional building from the main campus to the future university village being developed across Jefferson Boulevard. The center’s proximity to downtown Los Angeles’ Music Center, where Kaufman has sponsored several dance performances, will strengthen the whole area’s draw as a cultural destination.

One primary goal of the design is to achieve a contemporary building that reflects the University’s historic architectural precedents, rooted in Romanesque traditions and Collegiate Gothic style, with authenticity rather than mimicry of the past. Conceptually, the design presents a dynamic, highly contemporary dance facility clothed in tradition.

“The building derives its strengths from the principles of traditional Gothic architecture, but is also inspired by Venetian Gothic vernacular. The building’s massing is broken into its components: five major dance studios and a dance performance room, which is expressed in the architecture of the fenestration and hierarchy of forms; large Gothic arched openings introduce generous amounts of natural light into the spaces as well as create monumental openings for major and minor entries into the building. The skin of the building will be Roman brick with large expanses articulated with a diaper pattern. The building’s floor-to-ceiling windows and detailed articulation of precast concrete will extend the richness of the campus’ architectural language to the street for the first time along Jefferson Boulevard,” explains Project Director William Murray, AIA, Principal with Pfeiffer Partners.

Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.

Cultural Facilities | Aug 5, 2022

A time and a place: Telling American stories through architecture

As the United States enters the year 2026, it will commence celebrating a cycle of Sestercentennials, or 250th anniversaries, of historic and cultural events across the land.

Museums | Jun 28, 2022

The California Science Center breaks grounds on its Air and Space Center

The California Science Center—a hands-on science center in Los Angeles—recently broke ground on its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

A southwest view of the Whole Health & Fitness Center. Images: Duda|Paine Architects

Headquarters | Jun 21, 2022

Walmart combines fitness and wellness in associates’ center that’s part of its new Home Office plan

Duda | Paine’s design leads visitors on a “journey.”

Cultural Facilities | Jun 15, 2022

Gehry-designed Children’s Institute aims to foster community outreach in L.A.’s Watts neighborhood

The Children’s Institute (CII) in Los Angeles will open a 200,000-sf campus designed by Frank Gehry this summer.

Cultural Facilities | Jun 10, 2022

After 10 Years, Taiwan’s new Taipei Music Center Reaches the Finish Line

RUR Architecture has finished the Taipei Music Center (TMC), turning a 22-acre (9-hectare) site into a new urban arts district.

Projects | Mar 24, 2022

A Hollywood home for creatives

A Hollywood development will serve as a collaborative center for artists, students, and those in the entertainment industry.

The reconstruction of David Geffen Hall allows the audience to be closer to the performers on stage. Image: Diamond Schmitt Architects

Cultural Facilities | Mar 10, 2022

A ‘reimagined’ David Geffen Hall in New York is on track to open this fall

Its half-billion-dollar reconstruction is positioning this performance space as an integral key to luring people to the city again.

Performing Arts Centers | Mar 8, 2022

Cincinnati Ballet’s new center embodies the idea that dance is for everyone

Cincinnati Ballet had become a victim of its own success, according to company president and CEO Scott Altman. “We were bursting at the seams in our old building. We had simply outgrown the facility,” Altman told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Currently Reading

Gothic-style dance center breaks ground at University of Southern California

Tags

Giants 400 | Aug 20, 2022

Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022

Cultural Facilities | Aug 5, 2022

Museums | Jun 28, 2022

Headquarters | Jun 21, 2022

Cultural Facilities | Jun 15, 2022

Cultural Facilities | Jun 10, 2022

Projects | Mar 24, 2022

Cultural Facilities | Mar 10, 2022

Performing Arts Centers | Mar 8, 2022

Most Popular Content

Magazine Subscription

Get our Newsletters

Follow BD+C: