The primary challenge posed by the charge to transform the original ‘Post Office’ building into a home for Art Center College of Design’s Fine Art and Illustration departments had to do with the potential relationship between the existing conditions and the program. The program of galleries, classrooms and offices filled the entire existing volume while still requiring an abundance of natural light. The existing building contained five natural light sources: a thirty foot square skylight above a double height atrium space in the center and double height voids in all four corners that we termed ‘light courts’. Formal galleries and circulation (conceived as informal galleries) were used to connect  all of the light courts effectively carving the mass of classrooms and studios with light.

The primary challenge posed by the charge to transform the original ‘Post Office’ building into a home for Art Center College of Design’s Fine Art and Illustration departments had to do with the potential relationship between the existing conditions and the program. The program of galleries, classrooms and offices filled the entire existing volume while still requiring an abundance of natural light. The existing building contained five natural light sources: a thirty foot square skylight above a double height atrium space in the center and double height voids in all four corners that we termed ‘light courts’. Formal galleries and circulation (conceived as informal galleries) were used to connect  all of the light courts effectively carving the mass of classrooms and studios with light.