A Foyer for the Arts

The De Paul lobby needed to fulfill its role as a celebrated threshold for the Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory’s (SHCP) arts campus.  Located on the corner of Ellis and Gough Streets directly beneath the iconic Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, this formerly exterior in-between space is a crucial conduit from the surrounding community to the hub of the school’s Arts and Humanities campus. Building into the new masterplan, INTERSTICE Architects transformed the formerly cold, open-air lobby from a leftover space into a welcoming and collaborative student-centered gallery—a foyer for the arts, students, and the SHCP community—to more actively engage with one another in a creative learning environment.  The gallery, with its new identity, is a flexible communal place that is a nexus for teachers, parents, and students to gather, share, and exhibit their creative work.

From Space to Central Place

The new vision for the lobby called for creating place—a place of engagement, collaboration, and education. This required an evolution of the space from its original conception. Before INTERSTICE came onto the project, the De Paul lobby was an open-air, exterior courtyard structure, which funneled students and visitors into the campus by passing a small security desk parked in one corner of the drafty, cold, and hard space. One’s first impression of SHCP’s arts campus had previously lacked artistic expression: it was an in-between, a space to be passed through rather than remain in. By enclosing the lobby and adding warm and articulated wood, enhanced lighting, texture, and color, INTERSTICE reimagined the space, giving it an entirely new identity appropriate to the daily needs of a bustling, artistic student body—one that bolsters the school’s storied history within the city and its celebrated musical theatre productions.

Intertwined with the City

The history of SHCP is deeply rooted in San Francisco. What was once two separate Catholic educational institutions founded by the Daughters of Charity and the Christian Brothers in the mid-1800s is now Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. The two schools officially merged in 1987, officially creating SHCP, a school now known throughout the Bay Area for its keen focus on educational excellence.

 

The Multi-Purpose Gallery

The redesigned De Paul lobby offers visitors a more engaging and welcoming first impression coupled with the flexibility of a multipurpose educational hub. The natural wood material, bright linoleum floors, and layers of use-specific lighting combine to create comfortable and warm reception within an informal modern classroom/gallery setting. Community table areas and comfortable seating, clustered together in team breakout workstations, facilitate the lobby’s use as a collaborative teaching space, while acting as SHCP’s main foyer for the Arts. The new multipurpose lobby is now the De Paul Campus gallery for the students’ artwork, from visual and costume designs, along with graphic arts, to an impromptu film screening location, complete with AV multi-screen compatibility. The design of the space maximizes how the SHCP students can showcase their work to other students, parents, guests, prospective students, teachers, and alumni, creating a welcoming environment for all, with a deeper connection—past, present, and future—to the school’s creative heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• CAMPUS/CULTURAL
• Landscape