Colburn School Begins $335 million Frank Gehry-Designed Campus Expansion

February 21, 2024, 1:36 PM · The Colburn School in Los Angeles announced this week that it will break ground April 5 on a $335 million 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by the celebrated architect Frank Gehry.

Rendering of the Colburn Center at the Colburn School, aerial view. Image courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP. Labeling provided by Violinist.com.

The new building, to be called the Colburn Center, will be located adjacent to Colburn’s Grand Avenue campus in downtown Los Angeles, creating the largest concentration of Gehry-designed buildings in the world. It will be located in close proximity to Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023, and The Grand by Gehry, a $1 billion mixed-use retail and residential development that opened in 2022.

Map of the Colburn Center and surrounding buildings in downtown Los Angeles.

The Colburn Center will dramatically increase the school’s training and performance facilities for music and dance, and it will provide a mid-sized hall for the region’s performing arts organizations. The Colburn Center is expected to reach substantial completion by the first months of 2027.

The expansion will include a 1,000-seat concert hall named for Terri and Jerry Kohl, which features an in-the-round design to create intimacy between the performers and the audience. The hall includes an orchestra pit and a large stage suitable for orchestra, opera, and dance performances.

Colburn Center: Rendering of Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall within the Colburn Center. Image courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP.

With this addition, downtown LA will have a mid-sized concert hall for the first time. The Colburn Center will also more than double the facilities for the School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, with dance facilities including a 100-seat theater and four professional-sized studios for instruction and rehearsal.

The Colburn Center will also add a rooftop garden large enough to host receptions and outdoor performances, as well as a ground-level garden with a dedicated performance space that will be open to the public.

Rendering of the Colburn Center, view from Hill and 2nd Streets. Image courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP.

"The Colburn Center will be a game-changer, stepping up everything we do for the school’s own community, for our peer organizations that make the LA artistic ecosystem so vibrant, and for the public that we look forward to welcoming," said Sel Kardan, President of the Colburn School.

The Colburn School opened its Grand Avenue building in 1998 and expanded its campus with a building on the neighboring Olive Street in 2007. Today, Colburn hosts over 500 performances by students, faculty, visiting artists, and guest presenters annually on campus.

The new Colburn Center project is being funded through the generosity of philanthropists from Los Angeles and around the world, with a total of $315 million in gifts so far towards the Colburn School’s $400 million "Building Our Future" campaign. The campaign will cover an estimated $335 million in construction costs as well as $65 million in endowment and operating costs to support the activities of the Colburn Center and the Colburn School.

"The Colburn Center will enable us to expand the world-class training and performance opportunities we offer our students and further our mission of democratizing access to the arts," said Andrew Millstein, Chairman of the Colburn Board of Directors. "As we reach this milestone, I give my thanks to the far-sighted and profoundly generous donors who have enabled us to move forward with this project of such importance for so many of the people of Los Angeles."

Architect Gehry said that "I hope that it will be well-used and well-loved by the students of the Colburn School and the other cultural institutions of Los Angeles. Our goal for this hall is that it will help strengthen the already robust classical music community here, solidifying Los Angeles’ leadership in this arena."

And from LA's Mayor, Karen Bass: "This is an exciting contribution to the cultural and civic life of Downtown Los Angeles. Colburn has shown a commitment to making education accessible to youth of all ages at their school. With projects like this and Colburn’s commitment, Grand Avenue will continue to grow into an energetic cultural district while also creating more opportunities to collaborate with renowned local and touring artists."

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Colburn School Begins $335 million Frank Gehry-Designed Campus Expansion

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