Los Angeles, US | L.A.-based AUX Architecture
Located in a transformed synagogue on the Vista Del Mar campus, the GKPAC is a multifaceted performing arts hub complete with a 300-seat theater that establishes a permanent home for Vista Del Mar’s therapeutic arts program. Completed over the summer, the synagogue-turnedperforming arts center was designed to host a range of programming including dance, music, theatrical productions, educational efforts, and community events geared to draw the wider neighborhood, and neighborhoods beyond, to the Vista Del Mar campus. Relatively modest in size but expansive in its impact, the 10,550-square-foot adaptive reuse-slash-extension project (4,700 square feet of renovated existing space is joined by an L-shaped 5,850-square-foot new addition) was designed by L.A.-based AUX Architecture with Shawmut Design and Construction serving as general contractor. Noting that the existing synagogue was primarily only utilized during high holidays, Brian Wickersham, principal of AUX, explained to AN that “the building was always intended to be a catalyst for change on the campus, but functionally it has been transformed into a building that could be used seven days a week both day and night.” Backed by the Glorya Kaufman Foundation, the project involved the sustainable renovation of an existing building and a new addition. (Nic Lehoux).
