Image: Benny Chan/Fotoworks

Designed by MDA Johnson Favaro Architecture, South Campus is the first project to be completed within the the Los Angeles Trade Technical College's campus master plan. The reestablishment of the 80-year-old urban college is a result of the Los Angeles Community College District's voter approved bond funding in 2001. Located on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, South Campus consists of two 5-story buildings totaling over 120,000 SF and nearly $80 million in construction costs.

As one of several higher education projects by the firm, Johnson Favaro's approach is a fundamental component of LACCD's transformation. Principal Steve Johnson states, "Buildings of simple form but enduring substance are the norm and have served well for a long time to impart purpose and dignity to the endeavor of higher education. Community colleges, long neglected and for too long often seen as "13th grade," deserve the same quality environment that we experience at a 4-year college. It is arrogant to assume we can best the tradition with our experiments. It is a challenge to simply do as well."