Leimert Park Institute of Film Arts

The Leimert Park Institute of Film Arts aims to bring the vibrant street culture into the building through a network of pathways. Visitors are afforded a dynamic range of experiences based on their path of travel. Viewpoints down into the archive spaces are distributed throughout to increase ground level engagement as visitors can enter the site from the street, parking or metro plaza. Coming out of the metro, visitors are led up into the building to the central atrium that brings visual interests downwards to the public amenities such as classrooms or cafe and upwards to the art programs. The central atrium not only serves as a means for visual connectivity but also as a mixing core with programs pushed to the perimeter and viewpoints pointing outwards back to the city, street and metro plaza. The top floor houses all the art and gallery programs as a solid mass rising above the surrounding context as a landmark for the community. Thus, the Institute is made up of a channel glass and glazing system on the lower floors providing for both transparency and translucent privacy, serving as an extension of adjacent retail spaces, while the aluminum composite panels exist above to reinforce the idea of a solid, floating landmark.