Marin Academy Performing Arts Center

San Rafael, CA
Completed 2001

The 235-seat Theater Building includes chamber and ensemble music classrooms, practice spaces, and offices. The Studio Building houses dance and music studios and an AV recording suite. A courtyard allows the Performing Arts Center to serve not just the arts, but the entire campus. It reestablishes pedestrian links between campus administration and classroom buildings. It acts as an exterior lobby, accommodating large audiences. And, by dividing the program into two smaller buildings on either side of the court, the design is able to use natural site contours to conceal the theater’s volume.

Photography: Robert Canfield