A Play of Light and Shadow for an Educational Project

By Editorial Staff - 2 April 2026
Dott.Gallina has participated in the project

For over a century, the Vista Del Mar Foundation has been a benchmark for education and services focused on mental health, autism spectrum disorders and early childhood intervention. Founded in 1908 with a small cottage that served as an orphanage, the Los Angeles–based organization has expanded its campus over time with an increasing number of facilities dedicated to children. The most recent addition, developed during the Covid-19 pandemic through a philanthropic donation and the adaptive reuse of a postwar temple, is the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center. Designed by AUX Architecture, this venue is conceived primarily for children with autism but open to the wider community throughout the day thanks to the varied functions of its spaces. The project preserves the existing structural core, now housing a new theater with roughly 300 seats, while a series of ancillary spaces unfolds around it within a high-performance translucent polycarbonate envelope. Manufactured by dott.gallina, the envelope gives the center its identity, shifting throughout the day thanks to its semi-transparency and the interplay of light and shadow visible both day and night.

Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center © Nic Lehoux

In total, 160 fully recyclable arcoPlus polycarbonate panels were used for the new façade, covering an area of approximately 270 sq. m. Within the framework of an adaptive reuse project, the envelope helps reduce the building’s carbon footprint and environmental impact while ensuring high performance standards and interior visual and thermal comfort, without sacrificing esthetic quality or architectural character. By day, silhouettes of people and the rhythm of structural columns emerge behind the polycarbonate façade; by night, the building takes on the appearance of a glowing lantern.

In the words of Brian Wickersham, principal at AUX Architecture, the polycarbonate makes it possible to “revitalize” a temple from the past through an innovative and contemporary architectural approach.