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ROBERT H. TIMME GRADUATE RESEARCH CENTER, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles, CA

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center Floorplan and Section
View of Watt Hall prior to addition

BEFORE

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center Exterior View

AFTER

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of main atrium

The School of Architecture, the School of Fine Arts and the Fisher Gallery share Harris Hall and Watt Hall at the southern edge of the University’s campus.  In 2004, the School of Architecture decided that it needed more space and a permanent home for its graduate program.
 
Watt Hall, a building that was designed in the early 70s by Hurst and Killingswoth, was conceived in a way that would allow the future addition of a third floor.  The new floor was to house the School of Architecture’s graduate school, ample space for reviews, presentations and receptions and the maximum number of faculty and research offices that the design would allow.

 

The area of the addition is about 23,000 sq. ft., the budget was very limited and the design needed to accommodate the wishes and aspirations of students, staff and faculty alike.

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The new facility is designed to provide maximum flexibility and adaptability to future requirements and uses while providing a strong identity for the School. 

THE HEART OF THE SCHOOL

The new floor consists of three major zones, each wrapping around the other’s perimeter, starting with the most public zone at the center and becoming increasingly private towards the perimeter of the building.

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Being located within two buildings connected by bridges on the second floor, the School needed an identifiable center.  A large central atrium space connects the new floor with the floors below and provides light and air for the previously dark second floor hallways.  This tall atrium space forms the physical heart of the School and generates a strong identity for the entire building.  

 

It serves as entry, review space and location for informal talks and lectures.  One side of the atrium features a 30-foot-tall exhibition wall and the top clerestory provides generous natural lighting with minimum amount of glare.  
 

The building provides a space for a seamless flow of energy, an exchange of knowledge and resonance of aspiration


Qingyun Ma: Dean, School of Architecture

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of exterior stairs
USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of exterior stairs

photo: Julius Shulman

THE OPEN STUDIO ZONE

Wrapping around the central atrium space, the open studio zone is designed to be the most flexible zone of the addition providing a “plug and play” learning and research environment.  The 16-foot floor to ceiling height in combination with a solid row of clerestory windows and the additional light from the central atrium create a light, airy and welcoming environment for short- and long periods of work and study.  The roof overhang above the clerestory windows was developed with the help of intensive lighting simulation in order to avoid glare and sunlight in a heavily computer-oriented studio environment.  Floor access points in strategic locations allow data and power to be distributed for several tested furniture layout alternatives.  The perimeter wall facing the faculty and research offices is conceived as presentation wall and lit by a continuous row of wall washers while the general lighting level at night is provided by metal halide ceiling washers mounted to the main structural columns.  In line with the design concept, the colors of the studio are kept rather muted to allow a contrast between the architectural shell of the building and its colorful inhabitants.

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of open studio

photo: Julius Shulman

USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of faculty office andd patiio

photo: Julius Shulman

THE PERIMETER ZONE

At the perimeter, the new floor becomes increasingly porous.  A ten-foot zone houses a multitude of private and semi-private uses.  There, faculty / research offices that are bundled back- to-back alternate with gardens open to the sky. To reach the offices, one must enter through one of the gardens.  While the offices are reserved for individuals, the open gardens form an ideal meeting place for students and faculty.  The four corner suites are three times the size of the individual offices and serve as seminar rooms and headquarters for the four graduate programs of the School.  

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The open sky gardens are screened at the building’s perimeter to provide surface for planting and to serve as additional safety measure for the garden’s railing.

Floor to ceiling storefronts between sky gardens and studios provide visual communication and additional daylight for the studio spaces.

 

NATURAL VENTILATION CONCEPT

In the mild and temperate climate of Southern California one of the main objectives of the design was to create an indoor-outdoor learning environment and to provide a maximum of natural ventilation for the building.  The perimeter offices feature cross ventilation in addition to individual split units.  Mechanical fans are installed above the sky garden storefronts to draw natural air into the studios during the mild seasons.

 

The atrium clerestory features automated ventilation openings at its leeward side.  These openings are designed to create air-flow between the lower floor of the building, the studio fans and the atrium.  Once the outside temperature reaches 75 degrees, the fans shut down and the central AC system kicks in.

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USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of faculty office patio
USC School of Architecture Graduate Research Center. View of faculty office

ROBERT H. TIMME GRADUATE RESEARCH CENTER, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, USC

Scope: CK-Architecture as Design Architects

Client: USC, Capital Construction Development

Size: 23,000 SF

Budget: $ 8.2 million

Year: 2006

Executive Architect: A.C. Martin Partners

Structural: Walter P. Moore & Assoc., HVAC: IBE Consulting Engineers, Lighting: Kaplan Gehring McCarroll ​

Project Type: institutional

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