AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School Performing Arts Center

Pasadena, California

Firm

John Sergio Fisher & Associates, Inc.

Client

AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School

Area

27,600 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$7,995,000

Completion Date

07/2017

John Sergio Fisher & Associates, Inc., served as architect, theater consultant and acoustician for an adaptive reuse and renovation that converted a former Nazarene church 500-seat sanctuary built in 1959 into a performance center and student activity center with support spaces.
The goal of the project was to create a state-of-the-art performing arts center for music, musicals, plays and school convocations. The design aimed to provide excellent acoustics and the best theater system possible within the constraints of the church structure. It also sought to include excellent back-of-house amenities for the performers and a grand lobby expansion.
The renovation has created a 600-seat main theater as well as a multipurpose banquet room with a stage and performance lighting below. New dressing rooms, a green room and storage supplement the stage below. A new kitchen serves the banquets.
The entrance and façade of the facility have been transformed by adding a glass-enclosed lobby, which has a 26-foot cantilevered overhanging roof. This provides sun protection, required because the lobby faces west.
New public restrooms have been added to the lobby along with meeting rooms. This building was designed with a goal of receiving LEED Silver certification
Since opening, the facility has been constantly in use by students, traveling productions and the community.