Center for Performing Arts Addition
Client
Center for Performing Arts
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Program
Performance spaces
Size
21,000 sf
The Center for Performing Arts (CFPA) has provided performing artists with affordable studio spaces to develop and share their practices since 1995. Located in a 1923 convent in the south Minneapolis Kingfield neighborhood, CFPA has been at full capacity for years and lacked modern accessible spaces needed for artists to better collaborate and engage the public.
The four-story, 21,000 square foot addition more than doubles the existing building’s capacity, providing new performance spaces accessible from the street, and elevator connections to all floors.
A new lobby between the old and new building invites students and artists to socialize and audiences to mingle before and after performances. The new entrance and porch reach out to the street, engaging the commercial node to the west and strengthening CFPA’s connection to the neighborhood.
The upper floors, comprised of private studios, shared rehearsal spaces, and restrooms, are connected to the original building through transparent links.
On these upper floors, carefully placed windows frame exterior details of the original building and provide sweeping views of the neighborhood beyond.
