Despite a prolongued delay due to the ongoing pandemic, construction for the new California College of the Arts (CCA) extension campus in San Francisco succesfully resumed in 2022. The CCA gathered with the community, city officials, and the project team in November to officially celebrate with a ceremonial groundbreaking and reception showcasing the campus’ vision of sustainability.

Designed by a team led by Studio Gang, the new campus will feature overlapping courtyards and plazas that tie in a campus vision of interdisciplinary practice, engagement, and connection to the surrounding urban neighborhood. Both the construction process and the completed campus’ functionality are meant to be resource efficient. Lotus provided all civil engineering design for the campus and public realm spaces from concept phase through final design, and continues to provide support during construction.

live webcam of the work site

“To fuel culture and industry, a great city needs a great art school. CCA is building the most exciting urban art and design campus in the country, the only independent, privately endowed art and design school in Northern California. We educate students to meet the many challenges of our world with creative problem-solving, to become the innovators and game-changers of the future,” said Stephen Beal, President of CCA. “We know that diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to innovation and that educating students from diverse backgrounds is essential to realizing the full potential of art and design to positively impact the future of our communities,” said President Beal. “These valued organizations share our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the arts and design. Together, we are empowering talented students from historically underinvested communities to focus not only on their education but on becoming creative leaders who will make powerful contributions to shape our world.”

We’re excited to watch this project unfold and come to life!