KCRW, the NPR-affiliated public radio darling of Southern California, broke ground yesterday on its new 35,000 square-foot Media Center, located on Santa Monica College's Academy of Entertainment & Technology campus. For the past thirty years, KCRW was run out of a basement underneath the campus, while producing top-notch music and journalism programming that balances local flavor with international news. Now they'll have much more room to breathe, with spaces devoted to community socializing and performance alongside expanded operations.

Home to such popular podcasts as "DnA: Design and Architecture" and news digest "To the Point", KCRW also produces content outside of the studio, by hosting events around Los Angeles. With the Media Center, the station will have a homespace for its own events, to concretize its role in the local culture.

Designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects, the Media Center also meets LEED Silver Certification standards, and is slated to open by early 2016.