Sinclair Garden Pavilion
Hodgetts + Fung

October 06, 2003 /

Pasadena, California, USA

Photo: arcspace

The Sinclair Garden Pavilion is the first finished building of the Master Plan, a collaboration between Frank Gehry and Alvaro Siza, to expand the Pasadena campus.

The Art Center College of Design moved to the Craig Ellwood designed building on the 175 acre site overlooking the Rose Bowl in 1977.

Photo: arcspaceThe Ellwood walkway.

The Pavilion serves as an alternative lounge for the art center's student body. As part of the design process Craig Hodgetts led a charrette with fifty students acting as clients; the students decided on the site, a favorite student hangout with great views of the Valley and Pasadena, and the allocation of space.

Photo: arcspace

In order to be "liberated" from the Miesian coordinates of the existing building the architects developed a concept in which structural elements, similar to those employed by Craig Elwood, would be deployed to a new purpose.

Photo: arcspace

The overscaled structural system provides a link to the existing campus architecture while the apparently random grid suggests a less disciplined level of activity. Special built-up sections of steel tubing were required to meet formal and structural requirements. Unfinished concrete, fiberglass, and galvanized steel create a robust framework for exhibitions, video projections, and casual hours.

Craig Hodgetts demonstrates the manually operated systems.

Photo: arcspace

The buildings roof structure far exceeds it's footprint thus broadening the potential uses of the pavilion. Cost savings were achieved by incorporating existing handicap ramps as integral parts of the design.

Drawing courtesy Hodgetts + Fung
Site Plan