The Colburn School’s new 100,000-square-foot expansion downtown will open Sept. 25, 2027 – a parting gift from the late architect Frank Gehry.
The new expansion will include the 1,000- seat Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall, which will serve as the future permanent home of the Colburn Orchestra while hosting local resident musicians, such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. It will also include the Dance Center, the new home for Colburn’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, featuring a 100-seat studio theater and four professional-sized studios.
Once opened, the building will join Colburn’s existing facilities – including the 430-seat Zipper Hall and 189-seat Thayer Hall – and create the largest Gehry-designed build- ing cluster in the world. As of now, the music school’s facilities cover 428,137 square feet.
“We are excited to announce the opening date for our extraordinary new facilities, which the late Frank Gehry designed for us with unsurpassed artistry and skill and heartfelt devotion to our mission,” said Sel Kardan, president and chief executive of Colburn, in a statement.
Now under construction, the school estimated its completion by next summer.
Meaghan Lloyd, partner at Gehry Partners, added that Gehry “created this world-class hall in the hope that it would inspire generations of artists to experiment, take risks, and find their own voices.”
The renowned architect and Santa Monica resident died in December.
Cultural spaces
The new facility adds to L.A.’s growing cultural scene. The year alone saw the opening of the $835 million David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the 300,000-square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
The momentum is poised to continue as the experience economy soars. Meow Wolf Los Angeles, an immersive art exhibit at Westchester, is poised to open later this year or early next. The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the latest addition to Expo Park’s California Science Center, will also open to the public in November.
