Emerson College Los Angeles by Morphosis Architects
![Boston-based Emerson College has opened a west-coast outpost in Los Angeles, designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fSDKfxWGgWDFS5j42E7zrF-415-80.jpg)
Emerson College Los Angeles, the newly opened West Coast outpost of the Boston-based institution, sits on a stretch of Sunset Boulevard that is rapidly changing from seedy to cinematic. The school has strong alumni community in Los Angeles and an established internship program. Designed by Wallpaper* Design Awards judge Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects, the $85 million, 10-storey building-cum-microcampus hosts students majoring in television, film, marketing, acting, screenwriting, and journalism.
At nearly 10,000 sq m, Morphosis' scheme maxes out the site, but has a hollow centre. The mixed used educational building includes two 10-story dormitory towers (housing 217 students), classrooms, faculty offices, video and film production labs, and multi-use performance spaces, including an outdoor amphitheater with a view of the Hollywood sign. A superstructure roof connecting the two towers does double duty as a theatrical lighting grid and helipad.
The architects hope to achieve LEED Gold certification. Motorized sunshades on the east and west tower facades control solar heat gain and give the building a tough, mechanical-looking exterior. Designed using computational processing, the folded aluminum screens on the sides of the courtyard are dynamic and mesmerizing, an optical illusion suggesting depth and motion.
Mayne was inspired by the hangar-like soundstages found on studio lots. 'There are all these worlds in a big room,' he says, reflecting on the sets. 'We understood our building as being very flexible and open ended. And very possibly used for a background for filming.' Indeed, every curved wall is endlessly photogenic, and in true Sunset Boulevard fashion, ready for its close up.
The college is situated on a stretch of Sunset Boulevard that is rapidly shrugging off its seedy reputation.
Covering nearly 10,000 sq m, the college's microcampus is formed of two dormitory towers which frame a network of classrooms, faculty offices, video and film production labs and multi-use performance spaces, connected by a snaking system of walkways.
Motorized sunshades control the towers' solar heat gain and give the building a tough, mechanical-looking exterior.
In customary Hollywood style, every Mayne's project is a faultlessly photogenic, from the grand curving walls down to the security desk.
The main entrance to the college is situated in the hollow space in between the two dormitory towers.
Seen from above, Mayne's meandering walkways are testimony to how space has been manipulated to maximum effect.
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published