Frank Gehry’s Colburn School Expansion Opening Date Set for 2027

Frank Gehry Expansion Opening Date Set for September 2027

The Colburn School’s new 100,000-square-foot downtown expansion will open on September 25, 2027. This milestone marks a parting gift from the late architect Frank Gehry, who died in December. The project expands the downtown music school’s footprint beyond its current 428,137 square feet of facilities.

Sel Kardan, president and chief executive of Colburn, said in a statement that the late architect designed the new spaces with unsurpassed artistry and skill and heartfelt devotion to our mission.

Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall and the New Dance Center

The expansion project features two primary architectural components designed to house major performance and instructional programs. Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall will seat 1,000 people and function as the future permanent home of the Colburn Orchestra, while also accommodating local resident musicians such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Alongside the concert hall stands the new Dance Center, the new home for Colburn’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute. This facility includes four professional-sized studios and a 100-seat studio theater.

Meaghan Lloyd, partner at Gehry Partners, stated that Gehry created this world-class hall in the hope that it would inspire generations of artists to experiment, take risks, and find their own voices.

Downtown Los Angeles Cultural Expansion

Once opened, the 100,000-square-foot building will connect with Colburn’s existing campus facilities—the 430-seat Zipper Hall and the 189-seat Thayer Hall—to form the largest Gehry-designed building cluster in the world.

The September 2027 opening arrives during a period of heavy cultural development across Los Angeles. The year alone saw the debuts of the $835 million David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the 300,000-square-foot Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Additional projects on the regional timeline include the forthcoming Meow Wolf Los Angeles immersive art exhibit in Westchester and the November opening of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Expo Park.