MAR/APR 2019_ _ 055When Darin Johnstone Architects designed the Bruce Heavin and Lynda
Weinman Alumni Center for Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design, the
team found inspiration for two standout features – a dazzling glass curtain
wall in a colour gradient and a massive interactive screen – among the
school’s alumni. The glass curtain wall separates the conference centre
and lounge from the elevator lobby and incorporates the school’s iconic
motif: an oversized dot. To establish the tonal field for the translucent
colour-screened film applied to the glass, the team referred to the poster
for the classic 1966 surfing doc The Endless Summer, a vibrant design by
ArtCenter grad John Van Hamersveld that captures the “sunny, vibrant
and diverse culture” of Southern California. “Once we established the
concept, we worked through many versions of basic colour field and letter
form iterations,” Darin Johnstone explains. “When the basic artwork
was set, we self-printed many full-size iterations to establish the correct
screen pattern and exact colour palette.” His firm then worked with the
printer and installer Coloredge to establish the ideal material, printing
and installation process.
In the Alumni Gallery space, DJA designed a 7.6-by-2.4-metre digital
touchscreen programmed with an interactive virtual gallery of works
by distinguished alumni through the decades. The starting point in
the curation came from “an amazing set of books” conceived by graphic
designer Kit Hinrichs, a 1963 grad. Early on in the process, the team
began to work with the collective Downstream, which designed the
digital interface and the technical integration. They then brought on
technology integrators Mtek to install the piece. “In some ways, this one
component embodies the spirit of the college. Certainly, it captures the
work of alumni across time and space, but the design and implementation
of the element also required collaboration through the college across
disciplines: architecture, graphic design, interface design, engineering and
more,” Johnstone says.
These features constitute only two aspects of DJA’s larger redesign of
the South Arroyo building, ArtCenter’s newest South Campus addition.
The team transformed four of six floors, renovating nearly 585 square
metres altogether, in a former office building from the 1980s. The Alumni
Center stands out, however, for what the firm achieved graphically with
glass. djarch.net, coloredge.com, downstream.comGlass Masters
SETTING THE TONE
To communicate a design college’s distinctive identity,
California’s Darin Johnstone Architects turns to the work
of a famous alum – plus specialty printers and installers
Inspired by a classic
film poster, DJA’s
curtain wall for ArtCenter
College of Design was
created by applying
translucent colour-
screened film to glass.