Frank Gehry-designed expansion of the Colburn School performing arts center set to break ground

In April, the Colburn School, an institute for music and dance education and performance, will break ground on a 100,000-sf expansion designed by architect Frank Gehry. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the performing arts center will join the neighboring Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand by Gehry, forming the largest concentration of Gehry-designed buildings in the world.

“This has been a long time in the making. The Colburn School expansion is a much-needed project for the community,” famed architect Frank Gehry said in a press statement. “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.”

The Colburn School provides music and dance education at all levels of development, from children as young as 7 months old to adults. Each week, the downtown L.A. campus welcomes about 10,000 people, and each year, over 2,000 students from around the world study at Colburn. 

The new building, the Colburn Center, will be adjacent to Colburn’s Grand Avenue campus. In addition to training and performance facilities for music and dance, the Colburn Center will provide a concert hall for the region’s performing arts organizations—downtown L.A.’s first midsized concert hall, according to the Colburn School. The 1,000-seat, 17,200-sf hall will feature an in-the-round design, an orchestra pit, and a stage that can accommodate large-scale works.

Frank Gehry hopes to strengthen L.A.’s classical music community 

“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,” Gehry said.

The Colburn Center will more than double the facilities for the school’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, including a 100-seat theater for dance and four professional-sized studios for dance instruction and rehearsal.

The building’s new rooftop garden will be large enough for receptions and outdoor performances, while a ground-level garden will have a performance space that will be open to the public.

According to the press statement, Gehry’s design is “conceived as an ensemble of interlocking volumes, each of which houses a distinct program while interacting dynamically with the whole, the new Colburn Center will be built into a terrain that slopes down from Olive Street to Hill Street and clad in a pink metallic finish. The components are knit together by an expansive light-filled entrance and a pair of gardens planted at street and rooftop level.”

To date, gifts to the Colburn School total about $315 million toward its $400 million Building Our Future campaign. The campaign will cover about $335 million in construction costs and $65 million in endowment and operating costs for the Colburn Center and the Colburn School.

The performing arts center is expected to reach substantial completion in early 2027.

On the Building Team:
Owner: The Colburn School
Architect: Gehry Partners
Civil engineer: KPFF
MEP engineer: ARC Engineering
Structural engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates
Contractor: McCarthy