flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Loyola Marymount University completes a new home for its acclaimed School of Film and Television

University Buildings

Loyola Marymount University completes a new home for its acclaimed School of Film and Television

In addition to the four-story Fitzpatrick Pavilion, SOM designed the open-air Drollinger Family Stage, the school’s first outdoor performance venue.


By Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor | December 22, 2022
Loyola Marymount University Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion by SOM
The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk

California’s Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has completed two new buildings for arts and media education at its Westchester campus. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television, which is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10 film schools. Also designed by SOM, the open-air Drollinger Family Stage is an outdoor lecture and performance space.

The four-story Fitzpatrick Pavilion features a semi-transparent brise soleil façade that shades outdoor spaces and seating while at the same time revealing the activity inside. The facility includes an 80-seat theater as well as open-air social spaces in the theater’s courtyard and on its rooftop. The Fitzpatrick Pavilion offers students 24-hour access to stop motion, film, and camera-directing studios, in addition to technology-rich post-production and animation labs.

Designed for the LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts, the Drollinger Family Stage is LMU’s first outdoor performance venue. The stage will host live theatrical and dance events, concerts, public lectures, and other engagements. The 1,600-sf stage can be fully enclosed or open on all sides.

Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Drollinger Family Stage designed by SOM  © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk

Previous SOM-designed facilities for LMU include an adaptive reuse project that provided administrative offices for LMU’s marketing, communications and university relations staff, and a new building for the Graduate School of Film and Television. Now underway, the renovation of LMU’s Strub Theatre will turn a traditional theater and dance stage into a flexible black box theater.

On the Building Team:
Architecture, interiors, structure, graphics: SOM

School of Film and Television consultants:
General contractor: WEO
Construction manager: AMA Project Management
Landscape: MIG
Civil engineering: KPFF
MEP: AMA Engineers
Lighting: HLB
Acoustics and audiovisual: Waveguide
Telecom/security: ITSDG

Drollinger Stage consultants:
General contractor: WEO
Civil engineering: KPFF
MEP: AMA Engineers
Lighting: HLB
Acoustics and audiovisual: Waveguide
Telecom a security: ITSDG

The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
The Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion is the new home of the undergraduate School of Film and Television. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Loyola Marymount University's Drollinger Family Stage, designed by SOM. Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk
Photo: © SOM | Dave Burk

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Team Tames Impossible Site

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation's oldest technology university, has long prided itself on its state-of-the-art design and engineering curriculum. Several years ago, to call attention to its equally estimable media and performing arts programs, RPI commissioned British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw to design the Curtis R.

| Aug 11, 2010

Setting the Green Standard For Community Colleges

“Ohlone College Newark Campus Is the Greenest College in the World!” That bold statement was the official tagline of the festivities surrounding the August 2008 grand opening of Ohlone College's LEED Platinum Newark (Calif.) Center for Health Sciences and Technology. The 130,000-sf, $58 million community college facility stacks up against some of the greenest college buildings in th...

| Aug 11, 2010

University of Arizona College of Medicine

The hope was that a complete restoration and modernization would bring life back to three neoclassic beauties that formerly served as Phoenix Union High School—but time had not treated them kindly. Built in 1911, one year before Arizona became the country's 48th state, the historic high school buildings endured nearly a century of wear and tear and suffered major water damage and years of...

| Aug 11, 2010

Cronkite Communication School Speaks to Phoenix Redevelopment

The city of Phoenix has sprawling suburbs, but its outward expansion caused the downtown core to stagnate—a problem not uncommon to other major metropolitan areas. Reviving the city became a hotbed issue for Mayor Phil Gordon, who envisioned a vibrant downtown that offered opportunities for living, working, learning, and playing.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category

Mass Timber

Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021