The UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios restores and expands portions of the existing University of California campus located in the industrial Hayden Tract in Culver City, Los Angeles County since 1986. The Holcim Awards Acknowledgement 2017 winning project led by Johnston Marklee architects was officially opened in September 2019 and exemplifies the art of extending the life cycle of an existing structure. 

Sustainability has become a core principle of architecture and construction in North America. Winners of the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction presented in Chicago show how the leading edge of sustainable design means reaching far beyond “common sense”.

Johnston Marklee in Los Angeles received a Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize for their plan to renovate and expand the UCLA Graduate Art Studios in Culver City, CA, exclusively using sustainable materials and methods.

The jury appreciated the idea to bring a nondescript building back to life through new construction, a design respectful of the existing structure, while introducing new spatial qualities to the entire ensemble. A dialog is established between past and present, for an educational facility directed toward the future – a dialog most clearly expressed in the sequence of spaces at the intersection of the “new” and the “old”.

Strategic simplicity: The building integrates elemental construction methods in a new approach to spaces for exploratory studio production. Rather than adding layers of sustainable technology, the design distills the performance of each of its components.

Sustainable resource management: The primary goal of the Graduate Art Studios is to retain the provisional character of the existing studios while incorporating essential student facilities.