Jason An - Education Portfolio by jasonbkan

Occidental College Clapp Library Center for Student Success

Los

The Center for Student Success & Excellence is a peer-to-peer learning environment that provides welcoming, adaptive study spaces to accommodate all learners and educators. Occidental approached us about adding additional classrooms that can support multiple functions for three separate departments. We identified the ground floor of Clapp Library as underutilized. It was not seen as a desirable space for students or educators to use for their studies. Two classrooms, support spaces, and restrooms were completed in 2022, supporting multiple organizational configurations through strategically positioned audiovisual components and electrical power, movable furniture, and zone lighting.

We were soon tasked to renovate the entire ground floor of Clapp Library. With separate departments already collaborating on the same floor, we wanted to establish a communal hub in this central and historic building on campus. The spaces are organized like a village, with “streets” that provide direct and clear access to each part of the Center. These streets are designed to lead users into gathering spaces with views to the outdoors. The Center includes multi-purpose spaces, up-to-date classrooms, offices, testing rooms, and creative writing areas. With future flexibility in mind, the HVAC system was completely updated with the new classrooms, with ducting crossing through the classrooms, to condition Occidental’s new communal hub.

Occidental College Weingart Video Production Classroom

Los Angeles, CA / Higher Education / Completed / West Edge Architects

The Media Arts & Culture department needed a new video production classroom equipped with state-of-the-art professional video production equipment seamlessly integrated. Collaborating with Occidental’s Associate Director of Facilities and Construction, West Edge Architects identified two classrooms with the potential to merge into one larger, multifunctional space. We reinforced the existing ridge beam and demolished the dividing wall below. The new space was designed to function both as a traditional classroom and as a credible film production studio. Working closely with faculty members and the Information Technology department, we developed a comprehensive list of studio requirements.

The faculty requested black-out and perforated shades, a custom blackout curtain track shelf to minimize light leakage, a green screen wall and cove, adaptable room lighting, specialized studio lighting, room-scale VR, flexible power outlet locations, and rollable, stackable furniture for efficient storage. This was in addition to mechanical and electrical coordination and delivery. The result was a stark, utilitarian, hyper-customized ceiling grid that expressed the pitch of the roof and housed many of the required components, allowing flexibility in their location within the grid.

Occidental College Fowler Lecture Hall

Los Angeles, CA / Higher Education / Completed / West Edge Architects

West Edge Architects’ relationship with Occidental College began when they expressed their need to renovate their outdated lecture hall. The existing lecture hall featured ample natural lighting and beautiful stepped, wooden floors. But a large soffit on the corridor side provided a challenge. Instead of trying to hide this feature, we dressed the face of the soffit with our most elaborate acoustic panel design, letting the face be a platform to highlight our acoustical treatment.

The warmth of the refinished wooden floors is accentuated by the warm textiles for seating and fabric for acoustic panels. We developed the blue color palette primarily to accentuate the natural lighting. It also complements the warm colors and helps isolate and minimize the mass of the existing soffit. Motorized sunscreens and black out shades can be used to cover the windows as needed. Combined with updated audiovisual equipment and lighting, the new lecture hall can support multiple presentation protocols, plus recording, broadcasting, and participation from remote locations in classroom discussions.

KEYNOTES

7.01ACOUSTICAL PANEL JOINT

7.02MOTORIZED PERFORATED AND BLACKOUT SHADES ON A TWO ROLLER SYSTEM. (TYP FOR FOUR WINDOWS).

7.02MOTORIZED PERFORATED AND BLACKOUT ON A TWO ROLLER SYSTEM. (TYP FOR FOUR WINDOWS).

7.03FABRIC WRAPPED ACOUSTICAL PANEL MOUNTED TO FINISH DRYWALL (FWAP).

7.04HANDRAIL.

7.061.5" X 3" FINSIHED WOOD TRIM. FWT

7.07NOT USED

7.08(N) PROJECTOR ON (N) MOUNT.

7.09INVISIBLE JOINT AT NEW DRYWALL FURRING.

7.10WALL MOUNTED SPEAKER.

7.11FINSIHED PANEL FP-1 OR FP-2.

7.12DRYWALL AND METAL STUD "EYEBROW" WITH RECESSED PROJECTION SCREEN.

7.13VERTICAL SLIDING MARKER BOARD (TWO SLIDING PANELS OVER FIXED BACKGROUND).

7.15(E) WALL PLANE.

7.16(E) DRYWALL SOFFIT.

7.17(E) DOOR WITH PANIC BAR EXIT DEVICE.

7.20WALL MOUNTED SERVER CABINET.

7.21WINDOW EXTENDS ABOVE LEVEL OF FINISHED CEILING (TYP.FOR 4)

7.22WALL MOUNTED, MOTORIZED SHADE ASSEMBLY.

Diamond Bar High School Band Building

Diamond Bar, CA / K-12 Education / Completed / HMC Architects

The Band Building is a $9 million, 3-story, 15,000 square foot steel structure designed for Diamond Bar High School’s Grammy award-winning music program. Positioned strategically at the front of the school and nestled along a steep slope, its architectural presence is defined by a masonry veneered plinth that emerges from the surrounding blacktop basketball courts. A continuous ribbon window accentuates the transition between the plinth and the main structure, supporting a substantial corrugated metal volume above. This design element serves to alleviate the visual weight of the building, harmonizing its scale with the surrounding environment.

The primary building is a large, metal volume that houses the band and orchestra rooms. The band room accommodates 125 musicians and anchors the orchestra room above. Adjacent practice rooms and storage facilities are complemented by a small lobby entry, a dedicated piano and harp practice room, restrooms, and additional storage on the upper level. A smaller cluster of volumes housing essential support spaces is connected to the primary building. This arrangement optimizes space utilization while providing convenient access to both public and private areas.

West Los Angeles College Programming, Needs Assessment, & Master Plan

Los Angeles, CA / Higher Education / Completed / West Edge Architects

West Edge Architects led a unified effort for a Needs Assessment study for West Los Angeles College. The task was to evaluate several factors influencing the growth potential of the campus, which included population growth of the college, changes in technology, and the economic cycle of community college enrollment. Next was to determine what each college department was offering and assess their capacity compared to the growth potential.

Departments that demonstrated above average growth rate were the focus of a programming effort. This effort to assess current conditions of the spaces available included reallocating resources, determining spaces that needed renovation, or calculating the amount of new spaces that were needed. These needs were addressed in a master planning effort that organized existing, renovated, and potential new buildings in a logical way that considered student intensive spaces and student traffic. We developed preliminary designs for new construction serving high growth rate departments, taking into account the needs of the user groups within those departments.

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC (TWO-WAY)

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC (ONE-WAY)

RESTRICTED VEHICULAR TRAFFIC

STUDENT CIRCULATION BARRICADE (GATE OR BOLLARDS)

Campus Programming and Master Plan

LACCD Los Angeles Valley College Facilities & Landscape Master Plan

Los Angeles, CA / Higher Education / Completed / West Edge Architects

West Edge Architects was tasked to update Master Plans for the three Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) campuses. Mission, Pierce, and Valley Colleges vary in size and character; all were required to integrate a number of District-wide initiatives currently underway. Most importantly, LACCD initiated a concerted effort to reduce excess space and improve utilization rates for instructional, administrative and student services spaces, to be more in-line with the California Community College Board of Governors standards. This has required an overall reduction of building areas and a reprioritization of planned projects, with an emphasis on the replacement of those in need of significant maintenance and modernization. As a consequence, buildings are now planned for shared use by multiple departments, a departure from long established practices across all campuses and a significant cultural shift. District-wide initiatives included storm water management, accessibility, signage and wayfinding, and security/safety.

The Vision Plan for LAVC has 25 sections that included existing space analysis, existing site infrastructure analysis, security and safety assessment, facilities master plan, circulation pattern analysis, landscape master plan, project/plan cost estimates, and design guidelines. We worked with all campus stakeholders to evaluate how successful prior Master Plans had been, and identify opportunities to extend, modify or adjust those plans to accommodate current conditions without undermining any of the principles previously established.

UFCW Union Office

Los Angeles, CA / Workspace / Completed / West Edge Architects

The UFCW Union Office presented a unique design problem. The union needed this space for two distinct purposes: first as an everyday office space to be used by employees of the union and second as a congregation space for its members and city officials to facilitate public events with the community. The design solution was to develop a hierarchy of spaces in terms of size and flexibility. The private offices are smaller and static. The open office allows for employee meetings and conferences. The multipurpose space is large and dynamic, accommodating parties for dozens of city officials as well as large meetings with constituents by rearranging movable furniture.

The existing building had previously been used as a hardware store. It is constructed of brick masonry walls, steel sash windows, and a wooded bow-truss roof. We sandblasted the walls to strip off the paint to reveal the beautiful texture of the exposed brick. We chose the colors specifically to bounce off the warm brick. Its heating system comprised of two inefficient gas heaters suspended from the roof and there was no air conditioning system. These issues were solved by providing a mechanical tower that housed new heating and cooling units. The exposed mechanical elements outside the tower reinforce the spatial organization, with ducts that meander through the trusses as zones are separated by interior partitions which extend to the underside of the bottom chord.

jason.bk.an@gmail.com 818-212-9084