Valley Performing Arts Center, California State University, Northridge
Award of Merit Higher Education/Research
CSU Northridge's new $125-million Valley Performing Arts Center is a five-story, U-shaped building wrapping around a central courtyard. The center, recently certified LEED Gold, features a 1,700-seat, technically and acoustically superior performance hall; a 180-seat experimental theater; dressing rooms and green room; costume, scene, props and paint shops; lighting, scenery, acting, sound and multimedia labs; radio station; and a 230-seat recital/lecture room. A dramatic glass lobby wall opens the building's interior to the campus and Nordhoff Avenue. This orientation creates courtyard and lobby spaces that connect visually with adjacent music and theater building courtyards.