On Feb. 13, The Los Angeles Times ran a story about the new Wallis Annenberg Hall, opening in the Fall of next year.
The five-story, 88,000-square-foot building is being built out of concrete and steel, covered with brick veneer, to recreate the “Collegiate Gothic” style that “many Americans associate with academia.”
Kristina Raspe, who is the Vice President of USC’s real estate development, noted that many of USC’s buildings, including the Ronald Tutor Campus Center and the Bovard Administration Building, have utilized Italian Romanesque style in their architecture.
According to the article, the new building will be the first in years to mimic the Gothic style of USC’s Mudd Hall of Philosophy and Student Union Building.
"We're taking Gothic elements from those classic USC buildings and making an effort to embrace them in future USC design," said Raspe.
Through this new development, the school will be adding 5 million square feet of classrooms, labs, housing and other facilities. The building will also house a “multistory, digital media tower” that will display student programming, live broadcast news and social media content.
The university claims that this “design is intended to eliminate barriers among broadcast, print and online journalism in a converged newsroom that will enable students to simultaneously produce content for multiple media platforms.”
The $50-million hall will be paid for by The Annenberg Foundation and is being named for its president and longtime member of USC’s board of trustees Wallis Annenberg.
