wHY Architecture's innovative partnership with EpaCenterArts has broken ground in East Palo Alto, coinciding with a community stakeholder event to celebrate the occasion on Saturday, October 13th. 

The planned $50 million 21,000-square-foot EpaCenterArts, the construction for which began last month, will host an arts, design and music center for youth in the area. As one of the go-to designers for art spaces, Kulapat Yantrasast and his firm, which is currently working on the Asian Art Museum in nearby San Francisco, was a natural choice for the foundation.

Positioned at the center of Silicon Valley, East Palo Alto has struggled to maintain levels of equity among its residents as the region's booming tech economy continues to raise rents and home values. The youth center, funded by John & Marcia Goldman Foundation, is the result of a grassroots effort to address these external pressures by creating something for the community. 

In response, Yantrasast favored a community-driven approach for the arts center. He has partnered with Bay Area landscape architect Walter Hood to help create what they hope becomes a cultural landmark.

The design team spent time in East Palo Alto, biking around the region, conducting community design sessions, and turning the building process into an educational opportunity for students in the area. 

"Taking classes at EPACENTER and also contributing to the design process of the building and programming has been eye-opening for me” notes Jennifer Mancia, 16-year old native of East Palo Alto and an EPACENTER student. “Through this process, not only do I get to contribute in a real way to my community, but I get to create what my community is going to be about.” 

Design plans include classrooms, artist studios, presentation galleries, a theater, professional grade recording facilities, a café, and other flexible-use community spaces, with an emphasis on visual, performing, and digital arts taught by practicing artists and professionals in the field. 

Conceived as an elevated village, the design is a cluster of pavilions housing different creative disciplines, oriented around a central courtyard. The result is a porous assemblage that invites the public to participate in every area of the ground floor, strengthening connections between youth, the arts, and the community.

"The center truly celebrates 'unity via diversity'," says Yantrasast. "Throughout this process, we were continually reminded that designers who isolate themselves have difficulty connecting with their communities and end-users. Our partnership with East Palo Alto will not only have lasting effects, but pinpoints that deep collaboration must become the future of design.”