UCSD and the La Jolla Playhouse collaborated in the creation of a Play Development and Education Center in the Theater District of the campus. The Center consists of a flexible “Black Box” theater, a lab theater, two large classroom/rehearsal spaces, technical support and warehouse spaces, restaurant and café, and offices to provide a permanent artistic and administrative home for the Playhouse. The facility will serve as an experimental laboratory for artists and educators, and a state-of-the-art, teaching and performance venue.

In planning the site, the goal was to give the three unrelated buildings and incomplete eucalyptus grove in the Theater District a more coherent identity. First, the grove needed to be re-established enough to be perceptible as a whole. Next, new public areas and walkways were delineated and strategically located to facilitate movement into the Theater District’s “outdoor public rooms” bordered by trees and buildings. Finally, the placement and configuration of the new building helped unify the site’s existing buildings.