California State University Sacramento Replacement Art Sculpture Lab

Optimizing Art Spaces

HGA and CSU Sacramento are working together to replace the mid-century warehouse that has housed the drawing, painting, sculpture, and graduate studio facilities since the 1960s. The new building will provide safe and appropriate instructional and graduate studio spaces, including a secure working courtyard and a public sculpture yard. The new space is designed to encourage art instruction, discussion, debate and critique in a learning environment. Due to the limitations of the site’s shape, two buildings were constructed instead of one, allowing for more natural light, easy access, and multiple points of entry to the secure yard. The new building’s design prioritizes strong connections between the interior studio spaces and exterior yard areas, resulting in rational, regularly-shaped buildings with simple roof forms and generous height clearance in the art studios. The clean and simple lines of the building lend themselves to repetitive modules commonly found in pre-engineered metal buildings. All exterior openings are thoughtfully placed and coordinated to enhance circulation, flow, and movement of art, while interior circulation space is kept to a minimum. A network of projecting and cantilevered overhangs provides essential shaded areas for circulation and protection from the elements for students and their projects.