The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Exterior PhotographyThe Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, HandrailThe Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, ChairThe Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Living RoomThe Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - More Images+ 19

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The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Exterior Photography
© Michael Moran

Text description provided by the architects. The Santa Monica College (SMC) Center for Media and Design (CMD) is a renovation and expansion of the school’s old Academy of Entertainment & Technology. The 3.5-acre project includes the construction of a 30,000-square-foot instructional wing and renovation of an existing 50,000-square-foot teaching facility; a new, three-story building for KCRW, a public radio station licensed to the school; and a new, seven-level parking structure. A courtyard with water features and a performance stage is showcased in the center of the complex. Located in ‘Silicon Beach’ – home to major media firms and tech startups – the CMD enables the school to unite all of its programs focused on media content development and design on one campus.

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Exterior Photography
© Michael Moran

Our design process began with an intensive period of curriculum analysis, classroom visits, facility tours, client workshops, and visioning sessions. Early on, it became clear that the Client considered instructional education alone insufficient preparation for a world in constant flux, as it has become increasingly difficult for students to apply academic knowledge in the workplace. After several weeks of visioning, the Design Team determined that the fundamental idea uniting the CMD and KCRW is storytelling. Thus, we set out to create architecture that acts as a narrative vehicle, shaping the campus into a sequence of experiences that showcase education as a progressive cycle. The three buildings and central courtyard represent a student’s progression from higher education to the professional world via the following narrative:

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Handrail
© Michael Moran
The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Image 22 of 24
Plan - 1st Floor
The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Chair
© Michael Moran

  1. Renovated Media Technology Building: Arrival + Development

The renovated 50,000-square-foot building, which received a complete interior redesign, consists of classrooms and offices distributed along a central path indicated by an unfolding yellow ribbon. Interior glass walls maximize light and transparency into the classrooms, exhibiting students’ ideas-in-formation.

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Beam, Chair
© Michael Moran

  1. New Media Technology Addition: Experimentation + Discovery

The unfolding ribbon continues into the 30,000-square-foot addition, wherein students can explore and experiment with their ideas in professional-grade workspaces. The two-story instructional facility now holds a 180-seat screening auditorium, a large production suite with control booths, multiple editing bays for post-production work, high-end computer rooms, and a radio broadcasting suite, in addition to classrooms, spaces for collaboration, and a wide variety of student support services and amenities.

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Facade, Handrail
© Michael Moran
The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Image 24 of 24
Section
The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs
© Michael Moran

  1. New KCRW Media Center: Maturation + Real-World Application

The new 34,000-square-foot Media Center marks the first time KCRW will have a standalone building in its 35-year history. An outdoor stage, audience viewing gallery, and a large performance studio allow the community more opportunities to engage with the station through events. As a professional center for the convergence of media, KCRW is the ideal and logical endpoint for this narrative. Characterized by a similar internal path and open workspaces, the station will share its resources to encourage creative collaboration and educational reciprocity.

The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects - Exterior Photography
© Michael Moran

  1. Courtyard: Creative Collaboration + Educational Reciprocity

Connecting all of these experiences together is the new 18,000-square-foot courtyard. Complete with a café, event infrastructure, and supportive landscaping, this central space encourages collaboration and interaction while enabling all CMD programs to publicly converge into a single creative community.

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Project location

Address:1660 Stewart St, Santa Monica, CA 90404, United States

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "The Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design / Clive Wilkinson Architects" 16 Sep 2021. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/968515/the-santa-monica-college-center-for-media-and-design-clive-wilkinson-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© Michael Moran

圣莫妮卡学院影视设计中心 / CliveWilkinson Architects

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