Awards: Merit Award|Year: 2024|Entry Categories: Architecture - Built
West Valley College Visual Arts Building
The new Visual Arts Building at West Valley College is the first phase of a visionary master plan that will transform this isolated corner of the campus into a vibrant and contemporary Visual and Performing Arts Center. The project features five large, light filled art studios organized around a generous courtyard and a grand, heritage oak tree. The studios offer specialized instruction in painting, digital media, sculpture and ceramics. The studios are supported by a robust metal and woodworking machine shop, welding facilities and a large, outdoor work yard with bronze casting capability. Each space in the building is bathed in natural light and has a strong indoor/outdoor connection – fostering greater connection to the beautiful, wooded surroundings and allowing for art and artists to spill out from the studios into the shared courtyard space. Several of the studios feature large, sliding curtain walls that allow an entire wall to be opened up to the outdoors.
The building also includes a stunning, double-height gallery space – intended to showcase traditional 2D and 3D artwork as well as new media installation and performance art – and a flexible studio that can double as a public meeting room, expanded gallery or collaborative project space. These spaces front upon the College’s North Walk – a main circulation spine through campus. As part of the master plan this zone will be transformed into a “galleria” that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration and engagement from the diverse mix of artists, designers, musicians and actors studying and teaching at West Valley College.
Design Challenge
West Valley College has distinguished themselves among California Community Colleges for their extraordinary arts education programs, and the new Visual Arts Building elevates the presence of the arts across campus. The building features a stunning, double-height gallery space – intended to showcase traditional 2D and 3D artwork as well as new media installation and performance art – and a flexible studio that can double as a public meeting room, expanded gallery or collaborative project space. These spaces front upon the College’s North Walk – a main circulation spine through campus. As part of the master plan this zone will be transformed into a “galleria” that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration and engagement from the diverse mix of artists, designers, musicians and actors studying and teaching at West Valley College.
The studios offer specialized instruction in painting, digital media, sculpture and ceramics and are supported by a robust metal and woodworking machine shop, welding facilities and a large, outdoor work yard with bronze casting capability. By locating the studios around a courtyard, separated from the North Walk, the design supports art and artists to spill out from the studios into the shared courtyard space. Several of the studios feature large, sliding curtain walls that allow an entire wall to be opened up to the outdoors. The exterior plaza encourages cross-pollination of disciplines and stimulates creative exchange among students.Physical Context
Located on a heavily wooded sloped site, the building is carefully threaded among existing trees. The hilly site made possible a double-height gallery and a flexible studio at the lower level. Operable sliding doors open to allow the gallery to weave seamlessly with the campus circulation and allow passersby to connect directly with the art on display. A central louver covered stair leads to the upper-level arts courtyard.
Five day-lit art studios, which wrap around the courtyard anchored by a hundred-year heritage oak tree, are connected, and have direct access to covered outdoor spaces for expanded use. By preserving the trees, the building benefits from additional exterior shading, thus minimizing heat gain and creating a comfortable inviting environment for students and faculty alike. The transparency of the building brings views and daylight into and through the studios for an immersive environment with the surrounding landscape. The exterior plaza encourages cross-pollination of disciplines and stimulates creative exchange among students. North facing skylight monitors add additional daylighting into the studios.
