A work of art: Frank Gehry chosen to design Downtown performing arts center

Frank Gehry, Los Angeles’ famous and famously outspoken architect, has been tapped to design the campus extension for the performing arts Colburn School. Once completed, it will mark the third Gehry-designed building in three blocks in Downtown L.A.

The project, located along Grand Avenue between Olive and Hill streets, will feature an 1,100-seat concert hall and a 700-seat studio theater for dance and vocal performances. There will also be a 100-seat theater for smaller shows, along with classrooms, dance studios and housing for students, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Colburn School campus is adjacent to the proposed expansion.

Local and touring companies, in addition to Colburn students, will be able to put on shows at the space.

Details about the project’s costs and timeline were not available.

Gehry, 89, is also designing the Grand, a $1 billion mixed-use project set to include residential units, a 20-story hotel and 200,000 square feet of retail. Related Companies is developing the project, which has been in the pipeline for more than a decade.

AECOM is managing construction for the development, expected to break ground in the fall. The project will rise across the street from one of Gehry’s most recognizable works, the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The outspoken architect — he famously called the Manhattan’s High Line park a “rusty railroad bridge” — is also building Jeff Worthe’s Ocean Avenue project in Santa Monica. He is also designing concert hall for the L.A. Philharmonic’s youth orchestra in Inglewood. [LAT] — Natalie Hoberman