Loyola Marymount University has begun construction on the Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion, a 24,000-square-foot addition to the top-ranked School of Film and Television’s facilities that will build on the success of the film program’s recent expansion into the Silicon Beach area.
The four-story pavilion, to be built adjacent to the existing Communication Arts building on LMU’s Westchester campus, will include state-of-the-art classroom and technical space, providing students with a more flexible education, adaptable to the ever-changing nature of the entertainment industry.
“At SFTV, our storytellers learn to unite the joy of artistic expression with the power of media and entertainment to deepen our understanding of the world,” said Peggy Rajski, dean of LMU’s School of Film and Television. “The sparkling new Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion will help our talented students gain the skills and expertise they need to become industry leaders.”
The pavilion will include a high-tech post-production studio, a camera directing stage, and motion-capture studio space for students and faculty in the school’s highly ranked animation program. Also among its features is a flexible innovation lab, which can be used for multiple purposes, including instruction in the emerging field of immersive storytelling.
Additionally, the pavilion includes an 86-seat theater with high-definition 4K projection capabilities, meeting the highest industry standard for projection and audio.
The new pavilion will add to the School of Film and Television’s facilities, which currently includes LMU’s Playa Vista Campus, the 50,000-square-foot home of graduate programs in production and screenwriting. That location, which opened in Fall 2018, includes new sound stages, editing stations, screening rooms, classrooms, and other resources for students.
LMU’s Playa Vista Campus has also served as a bridge between L.A.’s tech and entertainment worlds by hosting a series of speakers and events exploring ongoing and future intersections. The campus has hosted The Portal, an annual exhibit of virtual and augmented reality films developed in partnership with Film Independent; the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s T3: The State of Tech Talent Today symposium; and the TechTainment conference put on by the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association.
