Though art generally remains still, right now at UCLA it is in
the process of moving.
Two departments of the School of Arts and Architecture has
packed its bags and is making a new home in the newly-built Kinross
building located in Westwood’s Lot 32. It will make way for
more parking woes and the construction of the new Edythe and Eli
Broad Art Center, to be completed in 2004. The Kinross building
will accommodate the art and
design | media arts departments.Â
The world arts and cultures department also relocated to Kinross
to allow renovations in its own Glorya Kaufman Hall. Summer
sessions for all three departments were held in Kinross.
“The Wight Gallery in the Dickson building was much more
professional,” said Barbara Drucker, chair of the art
department. “We have less space (in Kinross) to show, but we
are working on making it the best that we can. The students seemed
to like the new building this summer and found it to be really
exciting.”
While several departments experienced being in Kinross this
summer, they have not seen what it will be like during the actual
school year with increased traffic and more students.
“What we are expecting is an intensified sense of
community,” said Peter Nabokov, chair of the world arts and
cultures department. “Of course we have not experienced to
date what it is going to mean to have three times as many students
as what we had last year (sharing with two other
departments).”
The WAC department will move back into its home in Glorya
Kaufman Hall after its renovation, which is also expected to be
completed in 2004.
Due to increased traffic around Kinross, parking in Lot 32 will
be strained. UCLA has gotten rid of cross-parking privileges before
4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Guest parking in Lot 32 will cost $4 after 5
p.m. on weekdays, and all-day on weekends.
The Kinross building, designed by Steven Ehrlich Architects,
provides 75,000 square feet of space for lectures, exhibitions,
symposia, film screenings and dance performances.
Constructed expressly for the purpose of temporarily housing
UCLA’s art departments, its location at 11000 Kinross,
just west of Gayley Avenue is prime for attracting students from
campus as well as art connoisseurs in the greater Westwood area.
Kinross features indoor and outdoor studio space, which will be
rotated on two-year cycles among the departments of the art
school.
Though, the departments are making adjustments to the new
building, the longer distance students must travel from class is
still to be addressed.
“We’ve requested and I think are going to be getting
some special adjustments in the transportation schedule, an
additional van or two, or an additional route,” said
Nabokov.
In addition to the three departments, the school’s Office
of Student Services and audio/video labs will also relocate to
Kinross. Meanwhile, the Arts Library will move from Dickson Hall to
1400 Public Policy Building during the interim. In all, the Kinross
building will house 750 students, faculty and staff for the next
two years.
The plan to construct the Broad Art Center was made possible by
a $20-million-plus donation from CEO of SunAmerica Inc. and
chairman of Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation Eli Broad and his
wife Edythe Broad. UCLA is also contributing funding for the new
art center.
Richard Meier & Partners Architects designed the new art
center, which will be home to two art departments, as well as the
New Wight Gallery and the Arts Library.
Pre-construction has already begun with the removal of several
works from the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden adjacent to
Dickson Art Center. The removal and storage process was handled by
a team from the UCLA Hammer Museum. Plans for the art center
include a rejuvenation of the sculpture garden and surrounding
areas as well as a large new sculpture to be placed within the
Broad Center Courtyard.
Overall, the art department at UCLA is trying to treat the move
to Kinross as a positive change in things, despite the
inconveniences.
“In any move there are going to be adjustments. The
positive side of course is that we’re going to be in town,
which means that the energy of Westwood and access to places for
students to go, coffee shops and the like, is of course
enhanced,” said Nabokov. “I think they’ll like
that.”