California Construction News staff writer
Construction is underway at Double Ground, an expansion project at California College of the Arts.
The 96,500 square-foot addition was designed by Chicago-based architecture firm Studio Gang and new construction will integrate exposed concrete and mass timber, with mass timber as the primary structural element.
The tallest buildings will stand 58 feet tall. The design features cross-laminated timber, a renewable resource that has the warm materiality of wood, and many of the new campus’s shops and studios open into shared maker yards.
Hathaway Dinwiddie is the general contractor and construction is expected to be completed next year.
There will be two four-story structures and one two-story mass timber wrapped with wooden lateral braces and deep 11-foot-deep open-air walkways. This simple design across the site at scale will undoubtedly become an iconic landmark for the CCA campus.
Double Ground’s lower-level design includes shops, studios, and labs with heavy equipment, which open into shared maker yards. The upper level includes classrooms, galleries, offices, and other spaces. The design makes use of mass timber—layers of compressed, cross-laminated wood—and features wide, exterior walkways that provide natural shade. Compared to concrete or steel, building with mass timber produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
A rainwater reuse system irrigates 65,000 square feet of green space. Rooftop photovoltaics will convert solar energy into electricity and energy infrastructure is planned to allow renewable technologies to be smoothly integrated.
