
CCA Graduate Studios
The Art (School) of Adaptive Reuse
When California College of the Arts needed to quickly expand its MFA studios, Jensen Architects recast a run-down warehouse with the poetry of everyday materials.
Illuminating
Presented with a 10,000-square-foot warehouse and an eight-month schedule, JENSEN innovated by turning to inexpensive, everyday materials that recall the neighborhood’s industrial character and history. Corrugated polycarbonate siding forms a continuous clerestory, allowing diffuse daylight to pour into the artists’ studios within, while corrugated cement board wraps the rest of the exterior walls. A low, wide building that could have appeared squat and lifeless instead is subtly dynamic and intriguing.


