The proposed 25 year master plan for the Art Center College of Design is facing opposition.
The master plan includes upgrading the existing Craig Ellwood designed building, a new Frank Gehry designed Design Research Center (DRC, consisting of a new library, technical skills center, and studio spaces), as well as a new parking structure.
Please, if you can, take a moment and sign this petition supporting the DRC. We are trying to get the support of the broader Design and Architecture community.
I personally believe that in order for Art Center to remain competitive, the college must expand its facilities, or risk becoming irrelevant. The DRC is a crucial component of the master plan.
In addition to the master plan for the Hillside Campus, the college is also expanding its South Campus, with new graduate facilities to join the Raymond Building, which was formerly a wind tunnel renovated by Daly Genik Architects.
The following news articles can better illustrate the concerns about the master plan:
LA Times|Pasadena Star News|LA Weekly
57 Comments
please sign the petition to help support contemporary architecture in pasadena!
This isn't a fight against contemporary architecture. If you would read the posts, this is about higher education.
If you believe that great architecture cannot first exist without great education, please sign this petition.
www.accdpetition.com
How about no?
www.accdpetition.com
Also, I might add, are those that are involved with the greater architectural community but not the day to day operations of Art Center really at liberty to weigh in on this issue? The students, alumni, and faculty, not the greater design world are the substance of Art Center and we are the ones effected by the decisions of its leadership.
Someone should be asking the question, "why does Richard Koshalek have to look outside of the school for support?"
I first want to sarcastically thank the author of this for their objectivity and informative article.
I am an Art Center student and am in full support of the petition. If you'd like to be informed, please read the blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8117949974294911559&postID=5424547392783598460&page=5
This is not about architecture. This is about our education.
ACCD Student Here!!!!! Education first please!!!!!, We are already doing design research, and have the latest technology. We have a great building that serves a essential function to house a great design education!!!! The Gehry building is the third new architecture piece in 10 years. the first two are severely underused. OUR TUITION HAS GONE FROM $10,000 to $15,000 a trimester!!! In 2005 the acceptance rate was 70% and average debt per student is $70,000. (www.collegedata.com)
The education need to be competitive before we get another makeover!!!!!
this is about the future. this IS about facilities to give students and faculty a competitive edge. students are not paying for the building.
in the end, it IS about long-term vs. short-term. and just like in america today, architecture often gets the short end of the stick. we deserve better than that.
Who are you astrid c.?
Are you a student at Art Center? Are you a faculty member? Are you an alumni? What gives you the right to determine my future and that of my classmates?
you're (sarcastically) very welcome colin. ;)
seriously, though, i agree with you that this is about education, but it has now spiraled into an attack on architecture and the master plan.
i understand and sympathize with your concerns about your education. it is your school. you are the reason why ACCD exists in the first place.
what i cannot wrap my head around is why the educational experience and the master plan have to be diametrically opposed?
it's been said time and time again that the money raised for the DRC is not coming from your tuition dollars. in fact, it is part of a three-pronged fund raising effort (the other two parts being scholarships and endowment).
what is so hard to understand about that?
and let me add also, that before we start talking about "who gets to decide who's future" these petitions are purely symbolic.
in the end the decision will come down to the board of trustees.
I judge by the lacking answer to my question you are not here experiencing what we students, faculty, and alumni are.
I am not going to argue this with someone who is misinformed and has no connection to the school.
you know everyone on that blog is raving about education first but no one talks about what that means. because the way i see it is that a new building allows the school to raise more money to further enhance the education experience.
i believe in the importance of design and architecture in everyday life. and sadly, i don't get to make this decision. but when i rule the world...
colin,
in all seriousness, accd believes in education first. the drc is about providing future students with the studio space, workspace, technology and tools they'll need to be competitive. it is all ABOUT enhancing the education experience.
I would also like to ask you defenders of no expansion. Where are you going to hold classes if the DRC isn’t built. There is little dedicated space in the Ellwood building right now and if we renovated the building without another place for classes the space would be taken away in order to have enough space to hold classes, and even that won’t be enough. The DRC takes the pressure off the Ellwood building so it can be renovated. there is a whole plan underway on how to bring the building up to date and that information has been put out there for students and you don’t want to hear it. So since your all education first tell, seriously, what your plan. How do proceed in bring the building up to date with ADA, mechanical, and sustainability while not expanding.
Are you really questioning whether the students, faculty, and alumni of Art Center doubt the importance of design?
if you read the blog, the importance of architecture and design of architecture is being challanged and doubted.
It is being challenged in this particular instance. Nobody objects to new space and facilities, we object when we choose the most lavish and unnecessary solution to our woes. Furthermore, as a student a current student it is very noticeable that education is jeopardy so what other big thing is going at our school other than the Master Plan? The conferences, the PR and such is all for pushing this draconic endeavor forward. Who suffers from all of this?The students, the faculty and those who care about the school.
So scratch it out of your heads, this is not ACCD vs architecture. This a different fight.
one building is not a lavish solution. one building is not draconian. the master plan offers the college the possibility of future growth, but it is not mandated. education is not suffering because of the master plan. if you really think that education is suffering, talk to your department chair - the educational leadership.
Uhm yeah, that doesn't seem to help now lately.
At any rate it is not draconic for a normal institution.
Art Center is not MIT, Harvard or such. The resource we have are more stringent.
Besides, it seems to me that the focus on education is half-assed at best. When the proponents of the master plan had to argue for the latter they were very eloquent. When it came down to tough questions about educational standards they fell flat on their faces.
It seems that a lot of the people that are supporting this vision are copying and pasting from somewhere. Seems bizarre.
what is dragon-like about art center? the educational leadership at art center?
do you talk to your department chair? how about the acting chief academic officer? they are the people who deal most closely with the education problems you're concerned about.
the people who are writing understand the value and importance of architecture. they get it.
Yeah pity our Chief Academic Officer resigned under "mysterious" circumstances and unexpectedly. So uhmm yeah need help there. And department chairs are subordinate to that structure can't really do much.
You know that the department chairs were put in place by the previous CAO. Also the structure of the school hasn’t changed except that the CAO left. All the same people up and down the ranks are still there. So what exactly is the problem with the education? Be specific. How has your classes been impacted since you have been at art center. And to say the enrollment has increased or that the quality of students has decreased is a cop-out. Because as they stated in the meeting the other day enrollment is down. And if you think the quality of the student work has gone down, who are you comparing that to. Have you seen all the portfolios for incoming students? Also in the meeting they talked about the high percentage of acceptance rate. Which is mostly attributed to people taking prep classes in the public programs in order to gain the skills needed to get into the regular program? There is also the talk about people who get in and don’t perform at the same level as everyone else. Well guess what that is true at every school. And I tell you what we handled those people by peer pressure. So maybe you need to step up as a class and talk to you instructors and fellow students when others aren’t performing well. So when you take our those arguments what is the problem with the education.
it's not such a big mystery. everyone wants to believe in conspiracy theories. there are disagreements and differences in opinions: short-term vs. long-term issues.
No such thing as conspiracy theories. But Richard agreed not to disclose the details. The bottom
line is that there were unreconcilable difference in the direction of the school.
As for you archpatriot, we have classes that are impossible to get in because there are too many students. The fact that the administration says that enrollment is down its because they are comparing their figures to the record enrollments they had in recent times.
I have a class right now, that is 3 hours long and we barely manage to get much done because there is too many people in it. When we crit we have to through 20ish people and it eats up all the time we have to work in class. So that is dysfuction right there.
Our easels, tables, chairs are inadequate and they are a really easy fix, but nooo 5th term and I haven't seen them replaced ever. And before that when I was going through ACAN still the same stuff.
Hours where you can work at school have been slashed. Computer labs are not open 24 hours anymore. It seems that paying security guards to keep the place open is too much to ask.
In spring or fall it's pretty damn hard to find parking during the day. You would think that a parking lot would be a priority. But no, they will build it eventually and it's going to be on top of everything paid daily by students.
Then we have that huge waste of space that is the South Campus. I'm glad they are planning to move media design graduates there at least it will make a tinsy bit of sense to maintain that facility.
Beyond print classes nothing much happens there. Unless it's some fancy event were students are mostly not welcome.
So its pretty obvious that the disconnect is not a made up issue. If we do not deal with these issues that have been lingering for a long time. It will impact VERY negatively on the school.
fyi, a clarification: the south campus has the print shop, archetype press, grad art -- these programs were previously located off-site and the college had to pay to lease space for them. not anymore.
the south campus will be the home of grad media and eventually other grad programs. it is also the site of a majority of ACAN classes, Saturday high, ACAN offices. the point now is to keep undergrad/grad programs together on one campus as to minimize the need to travel between the two campuses.
with lower enrollment, you get crowding and reduced services, but more parking, yes? it's definitely a problem. no one is happy about that.
talk to your dept. chairs! griping on an architecture site won't change much.
My company only hires students who were educated in Frank Gehry buildings
Well yeah now we have to pay back loans instead for it. Not sure which situation is better. They borrowed money for that thing.
I can't read all these posts...where is the masterplan - I'd like to look at that before making any decision in support of it. Granted saving any historically modern structure gets my nod.
here is the EIR (enviromental impact report) that we have submitted to the city right now. There are sight line studies of the DRC in there and there are sections and plans.
http://cityofpasadena.net/planning/environmental/Art%20Center/ArtCenter_Home.asp
The master plan is a 25 year plan with the bulk of the building happening in the first 6 years. Basically the hillside master plan builds out in this way as of right now. Additional parking lots (green lots, not hard paved more sustainable approach) get built around the school. The DRC gets built, then the Ellwood building is retrofitted to bring it up to ADA, Sustainability, earthquake, and mechanically. The longer term plan contains a parking structure and other small additions that expand the number classroom.
I completely stand with Troy on this matter, and agree fully with everything he said.
It's definitely easy to stand at a distance and judge what you think you might know. However, until you try working and functioning within that same space you don't fully understand all of the issues. Have you ever tried painting on an easel that wont hold your canvas level and is missing a wheel? Have you tried drawing on a desk with millions of gashes and holes on the surface? Have you ever been trapped in a building for three hours with no bathroom? (the annex) Have you ever had to wear a dust mask while using a laser cutting lab because the ventilation system is messed up, and if you don't you'll get terribly sick? Have you ever been halfway through an oil painting and been yelled at by a security guard to get out because he said so?
How then can you judge us and say we're making this up, and that a new building is more important than maintaining the one we already have?
Not to mention if enrollment is dropping, then there will no longer be a need for more space! Besides I like the Ellwood building too much to have it be lopped in half and then out done by some goofy Gehry Ice Castle posing as a "Library". I find it funny that Koshalek keeps saying that prospective students and parents are very impressed by the architecture. Well, yeah that's true. I too was impressed by the ELLWOOD building, not by the Sinclaie Pavillion or South Campus. I can't help but feel like the Gehry building might also be a letdown. If the Gehry building is so amazing maybe it should be built somewhere where everyone can see it, not hidden up in the mountains, don't you agree?
My name is Kelsey Dake and I am a third term illustration student.
art center students don't read. so they don't realize that the program of the Gehry building includes much-needed studios and technical skills spaces (for prototyping, etc.), along with a library.
a recently completed conservation study, funded in part by the Getty and done with Arup, will assist with future upgrades (seismic, ADA, sustainability) and maintenance. art center applied for and received building designation as a "historic monument" from the city of Pasadena, so the ellwood building will be protected in the future.
Oh believe me, I can read just fine, and I read up on the issues at hand on a daily basis not to mention attending all of the forums and meetings, so I am fully aware of everything the building entails. But as it is we already have a technical skills lab, and with graduate students moving out there will be even more studio space, and I don't know if you have ever been to South Campus, but there are plenty of rooms and spaces that are barely used. Maybe administration should work with the buildings and space it has currently, rather then worry itself with more space. Maybe once the college has re-established its name with high quality students and an impressive faculty then it can worry about a new building, but that is not the case at this moment in time.
Oh and all of the before mentioned plans of building preservation are great, but wait a minute no one takes care of the Ellwood building now? So why would anyone start?
THIS IS ALL NONSENSE!! if you don't go to ACCD, then you don't have to suffer in the labs while the trans kids do their renders, or wait in line for the laser cutter, or stand shoulder to shoulder in the shop, etc etc.
building additional facilities on the hillside is stupid. we have a TOTALLY underutilized SOUTH CAMPUS right off the 110 freeway, parallel to the metro line and within walking/biking distance to downtown Pasadena. access to ALL!
SOUTH CAMPUS is what should be expanded and built upon, not the campus in the clouds, prob the most remote college campus in southern california.
and YES, of course we need more resources as students, but putting them on the hill will continue to elite mentality, when we should be walking the walk of sustainability and not just talking the talk; i.e. EVERY student driving to class everyday solo.
Cool! It looks like Patricia and Nik brought the discussion over here. Hey guys!
BTW: I think you should reconsider using the name “Archpatriot” . It’s clear you’re Art Center admin and the leadership has been trying really hard to message that this isn’t about architecture and it’s not a battle. Then you go picking a heroic sounding name for an architectural battle. This name may not go over very well with all of us Art Center students once we learn how to read!
Then your bosses will hear about it and they might yell at you and tell you to stop using that name. I’m sure you don’t like that. We don’t like papa when he’s angry.
BTW Stu, That’s a good point about the Hillside campus requiring too much transportation for a 15 year plan.
hmmmm....is archpatriot any better then design soldier.....
The south campus is not underutilized. It actually removed over 4500 public programs students off the hillside. That means that campus gives three times the amount of people as the hillside campus the opportunity to use public transit and relieves allot of burden on the hill. Plus it gives more people access to public art classes, especially for people who are under the driving age. So when we talk about talking the talk and walking the walk look at south campus which is the start of the greening of Art Center.
Speaking of the grads moving and how that is going to relieve all this pressure. Well yes it will relieve some. But not so much on the technical skills considering they have their own set up for most of that. What it will relieve is some parking tension and laser lab tension. The space they vacant will quickly be taken over by the classes that come out of the annex. Speaking of which, because I don’t want you to have to keep holding it, there are restrooms just inside the Ellwood building. what might be interesting is if you measured the distance from your class to those restrooms and then measure the distance from your classes in the Ellwood building to the closest restrooms, are you really having to walk much farther.
hey guess what how do you think the tables got gouges in them and how the easels were broke or how the graffiti got on the wall of the restroom......hmmm.....it couldn’t have because of how well the students have treated the building and its contents.....oh wait I know it must have been Richard, he must come in at night when no one is around and cuts up the tables, destroys the easels, and marks up the walls. You think he could be working for the underwear gnomes
So onward Christian soldiers, opps I mean design soldiers, marching off to war.....
it's nice to see that some art center students occasionally read, but still, cherry-picking info off anonymous blogs is not quite design research.
"designsoldier" was supposed to be a joke just for you archpat. Its not like I had an account here until I realized you brought all the fun over to your archbuddy blog. I'll speak more s--l-o-w-l-y next time
What is the Christian thing? I've seen that twice. Seriously I don't get it.
Oh I got the designsoldier joke and I don’t think archbuddy is on here, if you see him say hi. but I like that one too.
Onward christian soldier is a christian hymn. do a quick search and you’ll get the reference. I personally don’t side with any religion other then architecture. that said I often find it interesting how people pick up a cause and carry that cause into battle with nothing more then an affinity of faith that what they believe in is the truth and the only truth and that there cant be any valid or real information that contradicts that view.
I know you saying well aren’t you doing the same thing. and I say no I actually have read all the master plan and have done the research to understand what the school is planning and how it is all implemented. I have also had classes in studios with broken easels and in the Raymond building. so I know that there are things to be fixed and from my research there is a plan to fix these things also
hey did you get my underwear gnomes reference. hahaha. That one is freaking funny.
Archbuddy,
I’ve read the master plan. Nice doc. Looks expensive. Care to explain how that got done for free?
I also understand the vision that a Gehry building and the conferences might raise Art Center’s prominence THEN attract new segments of culture to the mission of the school THUS, attract new donors from those ranks and THEREFORE, raise money for tuition from those donors.
I understand the vision. I also think its convoluted and ill conceived. It will take 5-10 more years to see what a failure this will be for the school. In the mean time the core of the school is being ignored.
If you know that easels and simple things need to be fixed then why the hell do you need a *plan*. This is our point! You bureaucratic-admin-architecture-planning jockeys don’t seem to be able to see that point of view. The easy shit NEEDS TO BE FIXED. There’s no big plan required. Its basic blocking and tackling. But you have placed “the vision” as the top priority not education!
Sorry, I still don’t understand what you think Richard has to do with underwear gnomes.
cherry picking information off anonymous blogs?
Los Angeles Times?
LA Weekly?
Pasadena Star?
Last I check those all had credited writers.
Oh, and I attend the school?
This blog however I'm not sure has a reliable author.....
So astrid c, I think you should start picking battles you can win.
good idea. just a gentle reminder that anonymous blog entries, graphs without sources, and newspaper reportage are all secondary sources.
the point is to keep an open mind -not to find only that which backs your preconceptions.
you may be surprised. i will do the same.
cheers, kdate and designsolder!
Um cheers Astrid.
There’s a glut of verifiable evidence that the current admin does not have education as its top priority so my mind is post-conceived.
Now can you guys start backing up your claims on this blog and explaining some things while we keep an open mind?
Like answering “I’ve read the master plan. Nice doc. Looks expensive. Care to explain how that got done for free?”
There was a post on the other blog this morning that sums it up nicely:
The claim: NO TUTTION OR SCHOLARSHIP MONEY IS BEING DIVERTED AWAY FROM STUDENTS
The questions: Does that include debt service on the South Campus? Fundraising expenses for the capital campaign for the Master Plan? Personnel and direct expenses for marketing these projects? Overhead cost of running a 5 person architecture office? Planning and EPA report costs? Architectural design costs for Mr Gehry? Once the building is built will the heating, cooling and maintenance be free?
And Astrid can you or Archbuddy can explain why we need a plan in order to fix desks and easels?
Seriously, you guys keep making these big claims but totally ignore the follow on questions. I don’t have pre-conceptions. I have conceptions based on starting with an open mind months ago and finding very little support for the Master Plan.
designsoldier,
after doing some research, i found out the following: no tuition/scholarship funds are being used for debt service. all the college's fundraising and pr does come out of tuition. as does overhead -- but it's a smaller than 5 person office and they do interior projects all over the campus (mostly, in ellwood bldg) including 30 this year (and 100 last year), so it is reasoned, actually save the college a lot of money. gehry costs come out of fundraising. and future heating, cooling, maintenance will be funded by an endowment, that is being bundled into the capital campaign, i.e., HVAC will be tuition-"free."
okay, as for your last question, that is outside the realm of "architecture," but i learned that formerly, at every term break, easels and desks were repaired and refinished by work-study students, who were paid by the education dept. this practice may have changed after the arrival of new dept. chairs. but you may ask, who should pay for it? perhaps education or operations/facilities, it's not clear. this is a good question for your dept. chair(s).
i hope this helps!
I had a teacher my first term who had taught at art center for I believe 30 some years (she retired after my first term) but I remember her mentioning how she remembers that all of the desks, chalkboards, and easels were resurfaced and repaired after every term, but it stopped happening within the last ten years. It would be rather interesting to find out why it suddenly stopped? I think that's a big complaint amongst the students, at least it's one of my biggest complaints. I would really like to see some money go back into taking care of the school first before I can feel comfortable about the school building another building, it seems like a really unstable time to build.
yes, that's what i heard -- repair after every term. it was guessed that an incoming dept. chair didn't know about the practice so it didn't continue, but you would have thought that someone would share that info.
as far as i heard, it was previously funded by the education dept. but facilities could/should be responsible. i'll look into this some more.
Hi astrid.
Thanks for the research and thoughtful reply. I think you made a mistake though.
My research indicates that college fundraising is a 23 person office, marketing is 22 person, and architecture is 5 people. So that's 50 people not 5. Is that what you meant?
If so then we can probaly agree that costs a bunch of money and as you stated it comes out of tuition.
It would definitely be cool to get the desks tuned up every term. I'll check into that.
Thanks!
designsoldier --
i meant the architecture and planning office has fewer than five full-time. btw, the fundraising dept. has been reorganized over the past two years and that number may be different.
the main thing about all of those depts. is that they are working on stuff for the entire college, not just the drc/master plan. i think that most universities/colleges have depts. funded the same way. one more clarification, the pr dept. includes the design office staff and photographer(s). it's all batched together.
p.s., i realize if you listen to me it's not a lot different than gathering info off an anonymous blog! ;)
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