San Jose City College Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Center & Multi-Disciplinary Complex

Certified LEED® Silver, the concept for this project focused strongly on sustainability –maximizing open space, natural daylight, and ventilation – while satisfying the project’s programmatic needs. A flagship project, it is the first LEED certified building for the District.

Typically separate programs, Math and Arts are brought together in one complex. The Math building expresses the program’s conservative nature through a strongly linear form accentuated by shades of blue and grey in geometric and linear patterns.

In contrast, the Arts building expressed its playful personality through bold colors and irregular form, which follows the footprint left behind from a previously demolished building. It also features a “forest wall” consisting of repurposed redwood lumber that faces the main courtyard arranged in an irregular, yet rhythmic pattern. To take advantage of informal learning opportunities, writable interior wall surfaces and outdoor gathering spaces were provided throughout the buildings to encourage collaboration.