This reputable Boston-based institution on the US West Coast includes arts and communications departments - Emerson College's greatest strengths. In addition to educational and administrative premises, the new building has a 217-bed dormitory and a public space elevated above street level. Thus, the building united the whole campus: in such an uncharacteristic compactness for Los Angeles, the architects reflected the origin of the college from the Atlantic coast with its densely built up historical cities.
The dormitory (159 single and 29 double rooms, 4 apartments for employees) forms the vertical parts of the outer "frame" of the 10-storey building. Outside, its glass facades are covered with horizontal slats, which can be rotated depending on the intensity of the sun's rays. On the inside, the open corridors leading there are shaded with a metal mesh, which at the same time serves as a backdrop for the platform - a public space for students, where film screenings and concerts are also supposed to be held: the equipment for them is fixed in the upper part of the "frame".
Educational and administrative premises (including two theater studios) are located in curved volumes in the center of the "frame".
The building is 40 m high, with a total area of 11 thousand m2 and a budget of $ 85 million, claims to be a "gold" LEED resource efficiency certificate. In addition to the sun protection devices on the façade, recycled and rapidly renewable materials were used, plumbing equipment that reduced water consumption by 40%, and the infrastructure for monitoring all life support systems.
