ArtCenter College of Design

Art Center College of Design

Motto	Learn to create. Influence change.
Type	Private
Established	1930
Founder	Edward A. "Tink" Adams
President	Lorne Buchman
Provost	Fred Fehlau
Students	1,737
Undergraduates	1,554
Postgraduates	183
Location	Pasadena , CA , United States
Campus	Suburban
Website	www.artcenter.edu

Art Center College of Design (a.k.a. "Art Center") is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S. News & World Report, and BusinessWeek regularly features Art Center among the world’s top design schools. U.S. News also ranks Art Center’s Art and Media Design programs among the top 20 graduate schools in the U.S. The college logo is an orange circle, also known as the Art Center "Dot," which has been a part of the school's identity since its inception by founder Tink Adams. Art Center offers undergraduate and graduate programs in a variety of art and design fields, as well as public programs for children and high school students, and continuing studies for the Los Angeles metro area. Art Center is particularly known for its Transportation (Automobile) Design, Product Design and Entertainment Design programs. It also has notable Photography, Graphic Design, Advertising, Illustration, Fine Art, Film and Environmental Design programs. Art Center offers graduate degrees in Fine Art, Media Design, Broadcast Cinema and Industrial Design. The college maintains two campuses in Pasadena; both are considered architecturally notable.

Art Center built its reputation as a vocational school, preparing returning G.I.s for work in the commercial arts fields. It has traditionally maintained a strong "real world" focus, emphasizing craftsmanship, technique, and professionalism while somewhat de-emphasizing theory. Instructors are generally working professionals, and projects are intended to map to real-life clients or assignments, with some class projects being sponsored by industry or nonprofit organizations including Nike, Disney, NASA, and BMW. During the past decade, Art Center has developed programs and projects that focus on design's potential to generate positive social change and improve people's lives through a college-wide initiative, Designmatters. In recognition of Art Center's commitment to addressing social and humanitarian issues through design, 2003 saw Art Center become the first design college to ever receive NGO (non-governmental organization) status by the United Nations.

Art Center offers programs year-round with three terms per year. While undergraduates can obtain a four-year Bachelor degree in about 2 years and 8 months (8 terms total), most students take a term off for independent study or to complete industry internships, or they enroll in part-time terms with light course loads, lengthening their stay to three or more years. The accelerated learning environment stems from the college's trade school roots. Administrators and faculty aim to create a "real world" working environment, where the summer vacation does not exist.

Art Center is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges[1] and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design[2].

History

Art Center was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. During and after World War II, the Art Center ran a technical illustration program in conjunction with the California Institute of Technology. In 1947, the post-war boom in students caused the school to expand to a larger location in the building of the former Cumnock School for Girls in the Hancock Park neighborhood, while still maintaining a presence at its original downtown location. The school began granting Bachelor's and Master's degrees in arts in 1949, and was fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 1955. In 1965, the school changed its name to Art Center College of Design. The school expanded its programs, including a film program in 1973. The school moved to its trademark Hillside Campus in Pasadena in 1976. The school operated the Art Center Europe in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland for ten years starting in 1986. In 2003, the Art Center was granted Non-Governmental Organization status by the UN Department of Public Information. After mulling locations in Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles, Art Center opened the South Campus in Pasadena in 2004.

Facilities

Art Center College of Design maintains two campuses in Pasadena: Hillside Campus and South Campus.

Hillside Campus

Photo of Art Center's Hillside Campus at night.

Designed by noted modernist architect Craig Ellwood, the Hillside Campus broke ground in November 1974. The trademark "bridge building" dramatically spanned an arroyo and roadway on 175 acres (0.71 km²) in the hills above Pasadena. Opening in 1976, the building was later expanded with the south wing, designed by former Ellwood associate James Tyler, and constructed between 1989-91. The Hillside Campus houses classrooms and studio space, multiple computer labs, the James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library, a model shop with traditional tools as well as rapid prototyping technologies (multi-axis CNC, laser-cutting, and multiple types of 3D printing), painting facilities, the Color, Material, and Trends Exploration Lab (CMTEL), an (Auto) Interior Simulation Lab, the Sinclair Pavilion, photo and film stages with printing and editing facilities, as well as a curated student gallery and an external exhibit gallery, both open to the public. The Hillside Campus has been designated as a historic monument by the City of Pasadena.

South Campus

The South Campus opened in 2004 in a former aircraft-testing facility built during World War II. Renovated by the Santa Monica-based firm Daly Genik Architects, it houses the graduate Fine Art and the Media Design programs and studios, exhibition space for both of those programs, a print shop, a letterpress studio, a full range of public programs (Art Center at Night, Art Center for Kids, Design-Based Learning Lab), as well as a unique 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m²) exhibition space known as the Wind Tunnel, which is currently the home of the Media Design program. The award-winning building received the first LEED rating in the city of Pasadena and its sustainable features include a "green" roof and sculptural skylights made of Texlon ETFE. The Wind Tunnel has hosted major events including the biannual Art Center Design Conference, like 2008's "Serious Play"; an annual Summit on Sustainable Mobility; large exhibitions such as "Supersonic: 1 Wind Tunnel, 8 Schools, 120 Artists", "Gardenlab", and "Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living" (with Vitra Design Museum); and various community meetings and events.

Noted people

Main article: List of Art Center College of Design people

See also

• List of colleges and universities in California

External links

• Art Center College of Design
• The Dotted Line, Art Center blog
• Art Center College of Design Graduate Studies in Art MFA program site
• James Lemont Fogg Memorial Library