Corita Art Center

The Corita Art Center creates a dynamic home for Sister Corita Kent's legacy of art, activism, and education in Los Angeles. Located on Vermont Avenue in the heart of the city where Kent lived and taught, the 40,000-square-foot museum employs a sophisticated play of transparency and light to embody her philosophy of finding the sacred in the everyday.

The museum's layered spaces mirror Kent's artistic approach of revealing meaning through juxtaposition and careful looking. Various degrees of transparency throughout the building—from fully glazed walls to translucent screens to solid surfaces—create a constantly shifting experience that encourages discovery and contemplation. This architectural strategy transforms the galleries into dynamic spaces where art, light, and shadow interact, much like Kent's own serigraph techniques.

At the heart of the complex, an interior courtyard with a reflecting pond provides a contemplative pause, while a community art studio actively continues Kent's teaching legacy. The program thoughtfully balances public spaces including galleries, a lecture hall, and café with dedicated areas for the Corita Kent Foundation's ongoing work. Through its materiality and spatial organization, the museum creates an environment that celebrates both the power of art to inspire social change and the quiet moments of reflection necessary for creative practice.