An expansive glass curtain wall and dramatic fly tower define an iconic new campus landmark and the new home of Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity mural at City College of San Francisco. Located between the existing Multi Use Building and future STEAM building along Frida Kahlo Way, the complex — a collaboration with LMN Architects — will provide a central base for the music and drama academic departments while serving as a vibrant new cultural hub for the college and local arts community.  

Its design concept unifies three concrete blocks of differing sizes, each containing a separate performance venue within a frame that also wraps around the lobby housing the mural. Program features include a 600-seat performance hall, 150-seat studio theater, and 100-seat recital hall — optimized for diverse performance experiences — and highly flexible instructional spaces, practice rooms, and administrative offices to support learning and multidisciplinary exploration.  Targeting LEED Gold certification, key sustainable design measures include displacement HVAC in the auditorium, radiant floor heating and cooling, and an extensive stormwater filtration and retention system.         

The Diego Rivera Theater will advances the vision of the college to provide a sustainable and accessible environment that supports and encourages student potential by building on the vibrancy of San Francisco, while providing an exciting new destination for visitors and culture-bearers near and far. 

Project Credits

Architect of Record: TEF Design
TEF Project Team: Justin Blinn, AIA, Paul Cooper, AIA, Mrunalini Kulkarni and Douglas Tom, FAIA

Design Architect: LMN Architects
LMN Project Team: John Chau, AIA, Vernita Lytle, Sam Miller, FAIA, Sonja Miranda, Erik Perka, Assoc. AIA, Jennifer Sasahara, AIA and Zihao Wang

Structural Engineer: SOHA Engineers
ME Engineer: Interface Engineering
Plumbing Engineer: MHC Engineers
Lighting Design: HLB Lighting
Theatrical Consultant/AV: The Shalleck Collaborative, Inc.
Acoustical: Jaffe Holden
Cost Estimating: Directional Logic
Civil: BKF Engineers
Landscape: Creo Landscape Architecture
Client: City College of San Francisco

Renderings
LMN Architects