HGA Architects and Engineers have begun redesigning the Los Angeles City College’s Clausen Hall. The 60,000-sq.-ft. structure, which houses the school’s music department, will undergo a $13 million modernization. The project, set to be complete in 2012, is an example of HGA’s continuing concentration on designing visual and performing arts facilities.

The facility is being reconstructed by Summit Builders and will soon serve as a visually striking campus entrance. The adaptive reuse includes the expansion of the 190-seat recital hall and the addition of a 150-seat lecture hall, music library and study area, and classrooms and practice rooms, as well as renovations to the band room, coaching studios and faculty offices.

To restore the building’s historic appeal, the team will make exterior upgrades such as replacing metal-frame windows and curtain walls with double-pane low-e glass. The redesign of the interior, focused more on functionality for the students, will involve realigning spaces for better acoustics and adding student meeting rooms along the hallways. Many of the materials used will have recycled or renewable content and be produced regionally.

Clausen Hall is HGA’s most recent of many performing arts center project along the West Coast at higher-education facilities and is one of several currently underway for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).