When the opportunity presented to realize Richard D. Colburn’s founding vision for a full-sized concert hall and educational space to serve our future students and growing community, one architect rose to the top of Colburn’s list. Frank Gehry possessed deep passion for classical music, commitment to Downtown Los Angeles, and unique understanding of architecture as a portal to cultural experience and human understanding. His extensive experience and love of architecture for acoustics positioned the Gehry Partners team as the creatives who could achieve the next level of Colburn’s mission. With nearly a decade of involvement with Colburn, Frank understood our particular needs to nurture educational excellence as well as build bridges to the performing arts for students from all ages and backgrounds. His iterations of design for the Colburn campus expansion reflect innovation and beauty akin to our neighboring Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as the Boulez Saal in Berlin, tempered with sensibility and restraint for a budget and urban site with our particular needs.
(Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)
Frank’s legacy lives on in so many transformational projects around Los Angeles and the world—and now especially here at the Colburn School. At the end of September, he visited our construction site with Esa-Pekka Salonen and was so pleased to see the progress and potential of our project. We are profoundly grateful that he was able to witness the impact of his transformational contribution to Colburn firsthand, with his dear friend by his side.
Bringing this concert hall and education center to life—complete with his signature floating balcony and sculptural cloud acoustical panels—will be a privilege to achieve as one of his final projects and creative gifts to Los Angeles.