{"id":210463,"date":"2023-05-12T12:44:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T16:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=210463"},"modified":"2023-05-30T09:54:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:54:19","slug":"loyola-marymount-university-los-angeles-som","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/loyola-marymount-university-los-angeles-som\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyola Marymount University Gets a Theatrical Addition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"the
In the evening, the new SFTV undergrad complex\u2014the main building, in back; the adjoining theater with rooftop terrace, front left; and the outdoor planted patio, front right\u2014takes on a soft lanternlike glow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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May 12, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Joseph Giovannini<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Dave Burk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Loyola Marymount University Gets a Theatrical Addition<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The word design may derive from the Italian verb segnare<\/em>, meaning to sign, but Skidmore, Owings & Merrill<\/a> senior associate principal Carlos Madrid III eschewed a splashy signature in favor of cultivating a sense of community in two recent projects at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The School of Film and Television Undergraduate Building, a four-story slab of teaching spaces with an attached theater\u201424,000-square-foot in all\u2014and the Drollinger Family Stage, an outdoor performance pavilion, both serve as student magnets that foster and sustain campus life. \u201cThe main driver was creating and activating people-oriented buildings,\u201d says Madrid, who led both projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main SFTV building is straightforward, a no-nonsense block of concrete finished in troweled stucco. Its upper levels host flexible multipurpose classrooms while staff offices, post-production classrooms, and a camera directing studio occupy the ground floor, which is pierced by a wide breezeway leading to a landscaped courtyard and the existing SFTV graduate building in back. The 86-seat theater, housed in a separate yet adjoining volume clad in matte silver aluminum panels, sits in front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOM Designs The School of Film and Television Undergraduate Building<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"the
At Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, a semitransparent brise-soleil covers the east facade of the ground-up School of Film and Television Undergraduate Building by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which also designed the campus\u2019s new Drollinger Family Stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Madrid, form did not mean shape\u2014or at least, not unusual shape. Rather, the architect used it to organize patterns of movement and rest around the simple slab, to create an armature for all the in-between moments of student life: getting to and leaving from class; hanging out; sitting down to chat, read, check phone messages. Some interiors have windows but most do not, so Madrid extroverted the introverted program. \u201cWe started thinking about how to activate the building\u2019s exterior, putting all the circulation outside,\u201d he says, \u201cso we would see people moving up and down the stairs, like an ant farm.\u201d L.A.\u2019s mild climate allowed him and his team to service the classrooms with outdoor corridors<\/a>\u2014a stack of cantilevered aerial sidewalks, wide enough to accommodate tables, chairs, and casual encounters alongside bustling foot traffic\u2014with staircases at each end. The whole east facade is populated and alive, a human terrarium, not simply a designed composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrid veiled the vertical streetscape with a gauzy brise-soleil. Made from pleated sheets of perforated powder-coated aluminum, the semitransparent screen lets breezes flow through the corridors while shielding them from the direct morning sun. The space between the veil and the facade acts as a passive buffer, a naturally regulated microclimate that augments building energy efficiency, exemplifying why SOM is ranked not only 19th among our Sustainability Giants but also 49th amid the 100 Giants<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm put additional outdoor square footage to use by turning the adjoining theater rooftop into a planted terrace, which Madrid calls a \u201cmeditative space,\u201d while the plaza next to the theater, outfitted with bright yellow umbrellas and caf\u00e9 furniture, serves as a shaded patio. All the outdoor zones overlook a wide, landscaped pedestrian mall\u2014the spine of the university complex\u2014which has a pleasingly symbiotic relationship with the SFTV building. \u201cThe patio has become one of the most popular places on campus,\u201d Madrid reports. \u201cIt\u2019s always active, with people hanging out and classes being taught there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
The SFTV building sits on Alumni Mall, a landscaped walkway that\u2019s the spine of the campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Building Interiors Feature Mobile Furnishings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In what was a soup-to-nuts project, Madrid and the SOM team designed and furnished the school\u2019s interiors, addressing requirements for a high-tech electronic infrastructure and highly mobile furniture that\u2019s easily moved or stored for multipurpose classroom flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyola Marymount is a repeat client for which SOM has helmed eight projects over the last decade. The architects have taken contextual clues from the existing modernist buildings, conceiving structures with a simplicity and clarity that fit into the larger ensemble, seeking agreement rather than disruption\u2014a strategy Madrid continued with the Drollinger Family Stage. Asked to design an outdoor theater to support film, dance, and drama, he was able to take the program further, in part because the pandemic proved the relative safety of gathering outside. \u201cThe building could be more,\u201d he explains, \u201ca classroom for everyday use, plus a facility for health, wellness, movement, and meditation\u2014not just a place for a performance several nights a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Innovative Outdoor Theater Designed by SOM <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In devising the 3,200-square-foot open pavilion, Madrid took the formal restraint of the SFTV building to the point of minimalism. Located on a central grassy plaza, the stage comprises a low concrete podium with a row of eight slender columns on each side supporting a canted roof that seems to hover weightlessly 24 feet above the ground. In fact, the canopy incorporates a hefty grid of 2-foot-deep perforated steel beams, its coffered underside packed with lighting and audiovisual systems. Thanks to its anodized aluminum\u2013clad perimeter soffit, which extends some 10 feet beyond the columns while tapering to a razor-thin edge, the roof appears to have no mass. Slimmer than the trunks of the surrounding palm trees, the steel pillars have no visible lateral bracing to break the structure\u2019s floating spell or block audience sightlines and yet are sturdy enough to accom\u00admodate conduits running up to the ceiling apparatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This futuristic bandshell is more than a feat of sophisticated engineering, however. In its purity and symmetry, the pavilion is like a modern take on a garden folly or a cyber-age version of a classical tempietto. Full-length curtains hang ready to encircle the performance area if required. Stirred by breezes from the nearby ocean, the billowing drapes turn the stage into a sailing vessel\u2014a poetic moment singular on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside Loyola Marymount University’s New Film and Television Building<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"a
The diaphanous custom screen is made from pleated sheets of perforated powder-coated aluminum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"students
It is separated from the concrete building, which is clad in stucco, by cantilevered balconies that serve as open-air circulation corridors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"students
Giancarlo Piretti\u2019s Pirouette tables outfit a classroom, where linear LEDs provide illumination and acoustic paneling is covered in Suzanne Tick\u2019s Heather Tech polyester.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"an
Fermob tables and chairs designed by Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sofia turn an outdoor corridor into a breakout zone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"the
In the evening, the new SFTV undergrad complex\u2014the main building, in back; the adjoining theater with rooftop terrace, front left; and the outdoor planted patio, front right\u2014takes on a soft lanternlike glow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"inside
Equipped with a 4K projection screen, the state-of-the-art 86-seat theater is swathed in plush polyester-velvet curtains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Recessed lighting illuminates the broad aluminum-clad roof soffit of the Drollinger Family Stage, a multipurpose outdoor pavilion. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"curtains
Stirred by the breeze, performance-fabric curtains billow through the structure\u2019s slender steel columns, which echo the surrounding palm trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lawton
The pavilion is located on grassy Lawton Plaza, which is bounded by wide, bleacherlike steps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
The roof comprises a grid of steel beams, its coffered underside packed with theater light\u00ading and audiovisual equipment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
skidmore, owings & merrill<\/span><\/a>: paul danna; tannar whitney; karl gleason; brandon horn; wooil kim; abel diaz; john gordon; yanhong liu; lonny israel; kacey bills; nour mourad<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
mig<\/span><\/a>: landscape consultant<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
hlb lighting design<\/span><\/a>: lighting consultant<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
ama group<\/span><\/a>: mep<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
KPFF<\/span><\/a>: civil engineer<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
w.e. o\u2019neil<\/span><\/a>: general contractor<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT SOURCES<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
FROM FRONT<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
fermob<\/span><\/a>: tables, chairs (hall, patio)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
ki<\/span><\/a>: tables (classroom), seating (theater)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
luum textiles<\/span><\/a>: acoustic panels (classroom, theater), curtains (theater)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Tuuci<\/span><\/a>: umbrellas (patio)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
sunbrella<\/span><\/a>: curtains (stage)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
alphabet<\/span><\/a>: handrail lighting<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
chauvet<\/span><\/a>: theater lighting<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
THROUGHOUT<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
valmont structure<\/span><\/a>: custom brise-soleil<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
axis lighting; targetti<\/span><\/a>: light fixtures<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
alucobond<\/span><\/a>: exterior cladding<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
automatic devices company<\/span><\/a>: curtain tracks<\/span><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n