Studio Gang’s new building at the California College of the Arts (CCA) expands on the school’s San Francisco campus, establishing a vibrant indoor-outdoor environment for learning and making that strengthens relationships among varied people, ideas, and creative practices.

The 7,646-m² (82,300-sf) building emerges from a robust base that contains two mass timber pavilions that house classrooms, art studios, and exhibition galleries.

Leading onto a green terraced landscape that unites the building’s lower and upper levels, the pavilions are among the first exposed mass timber structures in California.

Other passive design strategies, such as self-shading facades and night-flush ventilation, naturally cool the building, reducing the size and energy demand of mechanical systems. With the infrastructure in place to enable a closed-loop, net-positive building in the future, the building’s design is dedicated to supporting healthy, resilient spaces for students, faculty, and visitors.