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Founded in 1907, the California College of the Arts (CCA) has established numerous sites and campuses across the Bay Area where it has offered arts-focused education and opportunities to students and the surrounding communities. To continue supporting different modes of learning and making, CCA needed expanded space for classroom instruction and studio work. They sought to unite its main academic space with a new building connecting various programs and disciplines.
In collaboration with Studio Gang, Arup provided structural engineering and timber specialty services. We played a key role in the incorporation of fully exposed timber for the expansion by leveraging our material knowledge to achieve the client’s design and sustainability objectives. Arup also provided acoustic consulting services to aid in realizing this project.
The campus buildings’ architecturally exposed timber bracing is the first-ever use of an exposed mass timber eccentric braced frame (EBF) system in a high-seismic zone. By using this highly sustainable material, its qualities will allow for the campus to lower its carbon footprint as it serves the community for many years to come. This expanded campus will allow CCA to deliver sustainable impact, foster inspiration for students, and serve as a building of the future.
Prioritizing sustainability through mass timber
The utilization of mass timber lends itself to several benefits, namely that it is light weight and is a highly sustainable construction material. Timber is emerging as a leading sustainability component as it carries a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to more conventional materials like concrete and steel. The newly expanded campus incorporates timber in its two pavilions, which house studios, classrooms, and a gallery space. The campus buildings’ architecturally exposed timber braces are the first-ever use of an exposed mass timber eccentric braced frame (EBF) system in a high-seismic zone.
Arup played a key role in the incorporation of fully exposed timber for the expansion, leveraging its material knowledge to achieve the client’s design and sustainability objectives. In doing so, the Arup team executed a design that allows the building to foster inspiration for students and serve as a building of the future.
The campus buildings’ architecturally exposed timber braces are the first-ever use of an exposed mass timber eccentric braced frame system in a high-seismic zone © Jason O'Rear
Incorporating a one-of-a-kind innovative seismic system
Since CCA is in the Bay Area, it was crucial to address potential seismic concerns. To achieve this, Arup designed a unique seismic system that doubled as the key architectural expression of the building’s pavilions. Arup’s structural and acoustic experts came together to produce a design that addresses and overcomes the existing challenges of using mass timber as a structural system for a university building in a seismic zone. The resulting solution included glulam columns and beams with cross laminated timber floor panels and a concrete topping. This build-up serves to improve the vibration and acoustic performance of the floor and act as a structural diaphragm for seismic loads.
Leveraging digital solutions to deliver quality acoustics
Utilizing the SoundLab, the project team worked collaboratively to address acoustic issues related to the tight program adjacencies of the expanded campus design. Early in the planning phase, the team and client convened in the SoundLab to develop a common vocabulary for the ways in which mass timber behaves acoustically and an understanding of the challenges of combining multiple fabrication shop programs into a small campus footprint. This analysis was then leveraged and applied to the final design, allowing for the successful incorporation of mass timber and new programs into the CCA campus.
Dovetail Construction Project Management / TEF Design / Atelier Ten / MEYERS+ / Surfacedesign, Inc. / Lotus Water / PritchardPeck / Public Design / Coffman Engineers / Thornton Tomasetti / Urban Design Consulting Engineers / Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company
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