ArtCenter College of Design has two campuses in Pasadena: Hillside Campus and South Campus.
Hillside Campus Designed by
modernist architect
Craig Ellwood, the Hillside Campus broke ground in November 1974. The "
bridge building" spanned an
arroyo and roadway on in the hills above Pasadena. Opening in 1976, the building was later expanded with the south wing, designed by former Ellwood associate James Tyler, and constructed between 1989 and 1991. The Hillside Campus houses classrooms and studio space, multiple computer labs, the James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library, a model shop with traditional tools as well as rapid prototyping technologies (multi-axis
CNC,
laser-cutting, and multiple types of
3D printing), painting facilities, the Color, Material, and Trends Exploration Lab (CMTEL), an (Auto) Interior Simulation Lab, the Sinclaire Pavilion, photo and film stages with printing and editing facilities, and both a curated student gallery and an external exhibit gallery, both open to the public. The Hillside Campus has been designated as a historic monument by the City of Pasadena.
South Campus The South Campus opened in 2004 in a former aircraft-testing facility built during
World War II. Renovated by the
Santa Monica-based firm
Daly Genik, it houses the graduate Art and the Media Design Practices programs and studios, exhibition space for both of those programs, a print shop, a
letterpress studio, and public programs including the ArtCenter at Night, ArtCenter for Kids, and the Design-Based Learning Lab. There is an exhibition space known as the Wind Tunnel, which is currently the home of the Media Design Practices program. The Wind Tunnel has hosted events including the biannual ArtCenter Design Conference like 2006's "Radical Craft" and 2008's "Serious Play"; an annual Summit on Sustainable Mobility, large exhibitions such as "Supersonic: 1 Wind Tunnel, 8 Schools, 120 Artists"; "Gardenlab", and "Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living" (with
Vitra Design Museum), and various community meetings and events. In 2012, ArtCenter announced the expansion of South Campus with the acquisition of a former
U.S. Postal Service property adjacent to the existing campus, made entirely possible through the college's
philanthropic efforts. At that time, the college appointed
Michael Maltzan Architecture as its partner in planning academic spaces and expansion of its educational resources. With this agreement still intact, actual renovation of the former USPS building was completed by Darin Johnstone Architecture in 2014. Also in 2014, ArtCenter announced the acquisition of an office building at the "gateway" to Pasadena and future plans for new student housing, all of which will elevate South Campus from a "satellite" location to equal programs and activities found at the Hillside Campus. In 2014, ArtCenter announced a $2 million gift to establish the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography "to advance the research, teaching and understanding of letterform design." The center is named after 20-year Art Center typography teacher
Leah Hoffmitz Milken and the establishing gift was made by the
Lowell Milken Family Foundation. == Student outcomes ==