The city is your campus. CCA is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a one-of-a-kind cultural and innovation hub—the ideal landscape to study the theory and practice of art, design, architecture, and writing.

The Nave activated by crowds and student work during an Architecture pop-up event.

CCA’s new student residence, Founders Hall, includes Makers Cafe on the ground floor.

The city is your campus. CCA is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a one-of-a-kind cultural and innovation hub—the ideal landscape to study the theory and practice of art, design, architecture, and writing.

Exit the Nave and you’ll find yourself in a multi-use outdoor area. Currently an open-air maker space, the Backlot will be the centerpiece of CCA’s transformational campus expansion.

Writing & Literature students read their work as part of the Commencement Exhibition.

The heart of CCA’s campus is the Montgomery Building, which is located in San Francisco’s vibrant Design District.

The Nave is a space for sharing work, sparking conversation, and hanging out, as seen here in the Architecture division’s show-and-tell mixer.

An Architecture student takes advantage of the light-filled Nave for a pinup review with Master of Architecture Chair Brian Price.

It’s also a space for site-specific installations, such as the FLOW STATE PAVILLION by MArch students Anbin Liu, Elif Aydinli, Saina Gorgani, Shreya Shankar, and Weisheng Zhong.

Clubs and student organizations use the flexible space to celebrate community and honor cultural traditions. Here, Manos Abiertas shares their ofrenda altar for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

First Year Core Studio courses introduce students to the creative potential of mediums and techniques, such as this textile class teaching weaving, surface design, and three-dimensional structures.

The Drawing Studio focuses on this fundamental skill and practice, which is integral in art, design, and architecture practices and relevant to all CCA programs.

First-year students transform white jumpsuits into wearables that make a statement through paint, color, text, and collage.

From your first day at CCA, you'll be immersed in a supportive culture of constructive feedback and critique.

The 2D courses investigate how artists communicate and tell a visual story, covering vocabulary, formal properties, digital literacy, and presentation.

The First Year Core Studios include space for presenting work during a critique, sharing ideas, and even spreading out, as seen here.

Friendships, collaborative partners, and future networks will blossom from students’ shared experience of starting college at CCA.

The foundational First Year Experience helps students discover what matters to them artistically and personally. In this case, a jumpsuit’s “blank canvas” leads to colorful, unique expressions.

Students collaborate in the Visual Critical Studies homeroom in the 184 Hooper Building.

History of Art and Visual Culture students explore race, gender, and sexuality through performance in Adjunct Professor Jessica Calvanico’s class.

Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies Shalini Agrawal’s Radical Redesign course identified areas or opportunities within design work to radically reorient it toward inclusion.

Lanterns of Sorrow is a project from Senior Adjunct Professor Nakashima Degarrod's Critical Studies seminar, honoring those lost in the global refugee crisis.

Graduating students from the Writing and Literature program present their work annually at Senior Readings.

Undergraduate students benefit from the MFA Writing program’s acclaimed reading series, which includes lectures in Timken Lecture Hall, craft talks, and workshops with novelists, poets, and memoirists from all over the world.

Humble Pie, CCA’s undergraduate student-run literary magazine, provides editorial and publishing opportunities with annual calls for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid writing, and visual art. Published in spring 2022, the 19th volume explores the theme “transition” through the lens of marginalized and underrepresented voices.

Undergraduate students review work from Architecture Studio 1, a course focused on the formal, spatial and tectonic characteristics of architectural design.

A moment in the Materials and Methods studio taught by Mark Donohue and Margaret Ikeda, which introduces the basics of non-structural material for architecture.

Students and faculty—from interiors and architecture, grad and undergrad, studios and seminars—brought physical models, drawings, and other creative outputs into the Nave for a pop-up mixer.

A student glues a balsa wood model in the Materials and Methods studio.

An Interior Design student presents work during finals week.

Architecture students learn how to use the clay 3D printers in an Ecological Tectonics workshop in the Digital Craft Lab.

Student Nicole Wong works on a piece in the Bench Room, the Furniture program’s home room for woodworking, furniture design, and fabrication.

The Fashion Design program holds a Senior Review in the Nave to a panel of industry professionals.

Chang Sun and a friend sew a project for a Conceptual Fashion course, which explores the relationship between textile, form, and dimensionality.

A Furniture student presents their work in the Nave, from physical objects to renderings of the conceptual process underlying the design.

Sparks fly as Jack Morningstar (BFA Furniture 2020) uses a vertical bandsaw in the Metal Shop.

Adjacent to classrooms, the Illustration homeroom features individual workspaces, models, books, and a mural by Sendy Santamaria (BFA Illustration 2018).

Graphic Design students review an installation of colorful posters and vinyl graphics from Assistant Professor Christopher Hamamoto’s undergraduate advanced studio in exhibition design.

The Graphic Design studio is an open space for collaborative work and creative dialogue.

Fashion Design and Industrial Design students tape shoe molds in Adjunct Professor Caroline de Baere’s investigative studio focused on footwear design.

Dean of Design Helen Maria Nugent and a student engage with an Interaction Design project.

Students learn fundamental techniques and explore stylistic approaches in Associate Professor Karla Wozniak's introductory Painting and Drawing course.

Students work on hand-built forms in the Ugly Beautiful course taught by faculty member Cathy Lu, which explores topics such as the grotesque, abject, surreal, and kitsch, along with historical and cultural perceptions of beauty.

Film 1 covers fundamental aesthetic and technical principles of film production, such as lighting, shooting, editing, and sound.

The Game Arts homeroom is a drop-in space for gaming and collaborating.

A Jewelry & Metal Arts student indents a copper piece with a drill press—just one of the many tools at your disposal as a metal artist.

Textiles facilities include traditional floor looms, pictured here, plus a digital Jacquard loom and a computer-operated dobby loom.

Photography students learn both the artistic and commercial side of their practice. The program’s media center boasts special lenses, lighting kits, tripods, and any additional equipment you may need for your project.

Introductory Printmedia courses teach students about professional screen printing techniques and DIY processes.

Students live on campus for their first two years at CCA. Founders Hall offers welcoming rooms, downstairs dining, and convenience (it’s across the street from the Montgomery Building!). Photo by Richard Barnes.

Residential Assistants (RAs) grab a bite to eat in Makers Cafe, which is just downstairs from where they live.

Students socialize in Makers Cafe, which is a central hang-out spot on campus.

First- and second-year students are paired up in a double studio room, which includes a bathroom and shared living and sleeping area.

The fifth-floor terrace is a place to hang out and take in San Francisco’s iconic skyline.

Makers Cafe is the perfect spot to grab a bite to eat with friends or fuel up on coffee.

The terrace offers views and vibes, especially at sunset. Photo by Richard Barnes.

Across the street from Founders Hall and Makers Cafe, you’ll find all the support you need. The 80 Carolina building is where you can meet with staff from Financial Aid, Admissions, Student Life, and International Student Affairs and Programs.

CCA India’s Holi celebration welcomes spring with an afternoon of Indian snacks, Bollywood music, and color-filled fun.

The Students of Color Coalition meets weekly to support and embrace the unique perspectives of students and artists of color at CCA.

The Office of Student Success celebrates CCA's first-generation college community in a celebration held annually on November 8.

Director of Student Life Noki Seekao welcomes new students at Chimerapalooza.

Get face-to-face time with creative industry leaders at the Office of Career Development’s annual Career Expo, which is open to students and alumni.

The Office of Student Life’s Chimerapalooza is an annual event that welcomes new students and returning ones at the start of the fall semester.

The view from Potrero Hill offers sweeping city views with a perfectly framed downtown skyline.

Brand-new exhibition galleries on the ground floor of Blattner Hall offer rotating exhibitions for both CCA and the public. Pictured here, the exhibition YES, WE’RE ILLUS presented the diversity of contemporary illustration through recent alumni and faculty work.

Textiles Professor Josh Faught’s exhibition at the Wattis, Look Across the Water Into the Darkness, Look for the Fog, offered programming specifically for the CCA community.

A few blocks from campus, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts brings accomplished contemporary artists, academics, and thought leaders to San Francisco.

ARCH Art Supplies has long been the go-to location for CCA students and faculty. It’s located in Blattner Hall, just a few steps out the door for many on-campus residents and a five-minute walk from the Montgomery Building.

CCA's Double Ground expansion will connect new residence halls and current buildings on a unified San Francisco campus. Rendering courtesy of Studio Gang.

CCA’s storied Ceramics program has a new home in San Francisco alongside all other creative disciplines. Photo by Carlos Graña.

Most Printmedia classes are held at the Rayko Photo Center, as well as in partnership with the San Francisco Center for the Book, just a few blocks from campus.

One of the outdoor maker yards on Double Ground’s lower level with space for collaborating and working with heavy materials. Rendering courtesy of Studio Gang.