HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has won an Award of Merit through the Community College Facility Coalition (CCFC) for the Visual, Communication, and Performing Arts Complex at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The complex's two main buildings, the Art Center and Music Building, were cited in the Project-in-Design Phase category for projects pending construction.
"This award recognizes the contribution strong architecture makes to the educational and creative experience," says Michael Ross, vice president and managing principal with HGA's Los Angeles office. "The Music Building and Art Center are designed to strengthen the campus' growing arts programs."
The Visual, Communications, and Performing Arts complex is part of an overall campus master plan by HGA that envisions an "Arts Village" at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. HGA designed the two key buildings to enhance campus circulation, site views, and natural light.
The Art Center, which will be used for dance, visual arts, and digital media, is strategically oriented as the village gateway on the campus' northern perimeter, with the smaller Music Building defining the eastern perimeter. The Art Center is visually open to the campus, allowing passersby to glimpse activities inside through expansive windows and glass bi-fold doors that expand the performance spaces to the exterior. The Music Building, clad in stucco and architectural panels, is more enclosed for greater acoustic and auditory accuracy.
Construction is estimated to begin on the arts complex this month.
CCFC provides advocacy for facility issues and critical information to community college districts on facility matters. The Award of Merit was presented at the CCFC annual conference in Sacramento in November 2007.
HGA Architects and Engineers is a full-service architecture, engineering, and planning firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento; Minneapolis and Rochester, MN; and Milwaukee, WI. Founded in 1953, the firm has become known for its innovative design, having won four national AIA design awards and more than 150 state and local awards. HGA creates design for arts, community, and education projects as well as corporate, institutional, and healthcare facilities.
