Stern to Design New CSUN Arts Building

Cal State Northridge officials have selected architect Robert A.M. Stern to design the university’s $18-million Arts, Media and Communications Building, campus officials said.

The new building will replace the university’s fine arts building that was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The old building was designed by modernist architect Richard Neutra in the early 1960s.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and university officials deemed the fine arts building irreparable following the 6.6-magnitude temblor, which caused one section of the building to sink 6 inches into the ground.

Philip Handler, dean of the College of Arts, Media and Communication, said Stern was chosen from among 36 architects who applied for the project. The selection committee was impressed with the way Stern’s buildings, although different from each other, blend in with their unique surroundings.

“He looked around the campus and understood so much about the campus, both as a physical site and its relationship to the students and the community,” Handler said. “It was astounding the way he did that.”

The new Arts, Media and Communication Building will house the art, journalism and radio-television-film departments and include a 125-seat theater.

Stern, who is based in New York, is perhaps best known locally for his design of the Feature Animation Building at Disney Studios in Burbank. He also designed the Fine Arts Studio at UC Irvine and the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University.