UCLA ML GAS – Johnston MarkLee
The design of the UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios brings together a community of students and faculty in a space that considers the nature of artistic practice today and anticipates future needs. Inspired by the concept of the urban plan with an orchestrated mix of community spaces and private, domestically scaled neighborhoods of studios, the 48,000 sqft building creates a cohesive space unifying old and new structures to support the full range of activities of the department. The design team integrated feedback from engagement with students and faculty in the design process, resulting in an openness throughout the building that provides a casual, undetermined quality to the spaces: a blank canvas for artists to create.
The project entailed a cohesive renovation and providing additional space for the facility to house all the disciplines of the Master of Fine Arts program: ceramics, interdisciplinary studio, new genres, painting and drawing, photography, and sculpture. The new building contains artist studios, lab spaces, a gallery, a classroom, a shoot-room, shared exhibition spaces, an artist-in-residence loft, and covered exterior yards including a communal entry garden, ceramics and loading zone, and a sculpture yard.
