The UCLA Music Department is establishing a new program for the study of music in the 21st century. Their goals are to integrate the study of Western classical music with jazz, world music and popular music; to utilize new technologies for the creation and dissemination of music; and to engage the public in a more effective way. 

Their current facilities have been stretched to the limit by the demands of an increasingly diverse and continually expanding scope of study. The existing building is composed of an original structure designed by Welton Beckett and a 1981 addition. Since that time, the nature of the surrounding campus has changed greatly and so has the way in which students and the public approach and circulate through the building. Additionally, the internal infrastructure has not kept up with developing technologies that have become essential to the teaching and study of music. KDA was asked to identify building expansion options and consider site-specific opportunities related to the building’s relationship with the UCLA campus. 

The architectural strategy involves breaking the rambling sequence of existing buildings into separate elements connected by courtyards and common spaces, in effect making the existing building into a small campus within the larger context of UCLA. From the east, a new entry signals to vehicular traffic and pedestrians coming from a nearby parking structure that this is a music school. As visitors approach, glazed prismatic structures at the south façade enclosing new rehearsal spaces allow a glimpse into the performance and practice of music inside.

The entry stairway draws visitors into a central garden which features seating, indoor/outdoor performance spaces and a small café. A new 250-seat multi-media facility at the edge of the garden will serve as a performance theater, rehearsal space and classroom. Large doors can be opened to allow the audience to spill into the outdoor space. The garden also connects to a new indoor, naturally ventilated and sky-lit ‘commons’ within the 1950’s building, opening up a clear path of circulation and access to the various performance venues. An existing rehearsal space will be re-purposed to create a digital nerve center connecting performance, practice and teaching spaces throughout the complex.