Extension classrooms will fill gap

By Amy Golod

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA Extension’s Architecture and Interior Design Program
students will soon be able to observe a Westwood project, which
will serve as both their classroom and educational model.

The building space above the Gap on the corner of Westwood
Boulevard and Weyburn Avenue will soon become UCLA
Extension’s newest facility, the third in the village.

“This is a wonderful project for all who use it, but
particularly for us because it’s our field” said Jeff
Daniels, director of the Architecture and Interior Design
Program.

In addition to Westwood, UCLA extension currently offers classes
at the World Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles, Universal
CityWalk, and Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Once the new site opens, UCLA Extension will close its Santa
Monica facility.

“We are enthusiastic because this is a wonderful academic
opportunity to create a synergy among programs that were
traditionally dispersed,” said Robert Lapiner, dean of UCLA
Extension and Continuing Education.

UCLA Extension hopes to begin use of the building during its
winter quarter in January, he said.

Extension programs will also lose space when UCLA follows
through with its plans to seismically upgrade classrooms on its
main campus that it shares with extension students, Lapiner
said.

Students will now have greater access to educational materials
since the rooms available on campus for art students, for example,
were limited, he added.

“We want to husband our resources with a consolidated
facility,” Lapiner said.

The new site is expected to hold 24 classrooms and host programs
on visual graphic arts, landscape architecture and interior and
environmental design in addition to other traditional classes.

With sites spanning the city, UCLA Extension could not create
the best learning experiences, Lapiner said.

Certain classes will be able to share facilities at the new
building, he added.

Space will be dedicated to an art gallery, draft rooms and
computer-based classrooms.

“Interior Architecture: A Paperless Studio” will be
one class to take full advantage of the technology being brought to
the site since students begin and end their projects on computers,
Daniels said.

“This teaching facility is progressive, creative and
imaginative. The idea we teach is how to use inexpensive solutions
for interesting spaces,” Daniels said.

Negotiations between Madison Marquette, the building owner, and
UCLA Extension began in May 1999 and concluded in March when UCLA
Extension signed a lease.

Ensuring that the building would meet university seismic codes
accounted for some of the delay in reaching a final agreement to
use the building, Lapiner said.

University seismic standards are stricter than those of the city
of Los Angeles and the second level of the building was gutted to
observe whether or not these renovations would be possible, he
added.

Once the seismic renovations are complete, architectural plans
can be designed, said Frank Clementi, architect for Rios
Associates, Inc., the group working on the project.

The group has a conceptual plan based on the designated
classroom needs, he said.

“The idea of being closer to Westwood is terrific,”
Daniels said.

Students will enjoy being closer to the university campus so
that they can enjoy more access to its resources, such as the
libraries, Lapiner said.

UCLA Extension students can also contribute to the growth of
Westwood Village since students will want to have dinner or coffee
after their evening weekday classes and may shop while visiting for
weekend classes, Lapiner said.

Some homeowners in the area are concerned that the new site will
increase traffic throughout the village, but Lapiner does not
believe they should be concerned.

“We are comfortable that we are not adding to a problem in
the village,” Lapiner said.

Extension classes are organized between peak traffic hours, like
7 p.m. A movie, for example, would begin later than that. Parking
also should not be a problem because students can use special
university parking permits, Lapiner said.

Once classes begin and students meet one another, they also tend
to carpool, he added.