California College of the Arts

Through a focus on advanced digital technologies and material systems, design research and urban agency, CCA strives to develop the next generation of designers who will shape our future built environments.

The Urban Works Agency leverages architectural design to affect social justice, ecological vitality, and economic resilience at the urban scale. We believe that the complex and often invisible forces shaping cities today require that designers test new formal and organizational strategies for engaging laws, markets, and publics. UWA works with interdisciplinary partners to produce original research and design projects disseminated through books, exhibitions, and interactive media. We also run symposia, design studios, seminars, and a post-professional (MAAD) degree program, which engages students as active agents in dialog with the entrepreneurial and counter-cultural legacies of the Bay Area.

California College of the Arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. Benefitting from its San Francisco Bay Area location, the college prepares students for lifelong creative work by cultivating innovation, community engagement, and social and environmental responsibility.

California College of the Arts was founded in 1907 by Frederick Meyer to provide an education for artists and designers that would integrate both theory and practice in the arts. Meyer’s vision continues to the present day.As a newly emerging identity in the Bay Area, the BuildLAB seeks out projects that not only embody the principles of design/build, but also serve to strengthen communities through a strong focus on social equity and engagement.
The BuildLAB consists of several dedicated professionals within the design/build industry in the Bay Area who feel strongly about bringing San Francisco to its full potential through the creation of more beautiful and vibrant spaces and communities.

The Oakland campus witnessed much new construction after World War II, including Martinez Hall for painting and printmaking, the Treadwell Ceramic Arts Center, and Founder’s Hall, which houses the Meyer Library and Nahl Hall.Several gallery spaces on the Oakland campus host faculty and student exhibitions and reviews; these include the Oliver Art Center, the Irwin Student Center gallery, the Isabelle Percy West Gallery, and the North/South Galleries.The college established a presence in San Francisco starting in the 1980s, using leased space for its architecture and design programs, and the tremendous growth of those departments inspired the establishment in 1996 of a permanent campus in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, which continues to grow.The 120,000-square-foot main building has won several awards for green design, and the Montgomery Building on the San Francisco campus -- among the largest solar-heated facilities in Northern California -- was designated as one of the country's top-10 green buildings by AIA COTE (American Institute of Architects, Committee on the Environment).

The International Student Affairs and Programs (ISAP) office promotes international education within the greater CCA community and supports student success at CCA.The International Student Alliance (ISA) is composed of CCA's international students and local students who share an interest in the various cultures of the world and connecting with the CCA Community.ISA can help keep you informed of the many culturally relevant events and opportunities CCA offers throughout the year.

The International Student Ambassadors is a group of international and local students dedicated to improving and supporting how new students learn about CCA campus life and policies.

CCA’s International Exchange program provides an opportunity for students from international partnering institutions of CCA to study fine arts, design, or architecture at CCA (on each campus). The exchange program is managed by International Student Affairs and Programs on the San Francisco campus.

Through the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design Exchange program, full-time CCA juniors who are attending, have the unique opportunity to attend another one of the 31 participating AICAD schools for one semester at no additional cost. AICAD Exchange offers students the benefit of studying and being immersed in the art scene of a different geographic area. By sharing resources and facilities, AICAD colleges offer unparalleled educational opportunities to students at AICAD schools.

Get inspired. Create. Let creativity and innovation fuel you as you engage in our interdisciplinary community.Different academic disciplines require different ways of thinking and making.Our industrial designers show products on the fashion runway, our painters think and create beyond their canvases, our architects build with sustainability in mind, and our writers collaborate with illustrators to produce graphic novels.

CCA is a distinguished leader in graduate-level education. Our programs provide significant professional education in a highly creative environment.The San Francisco Bay Area, a global hub for ecology, technology, innovation, and creativity, is home to distinguished cultural institutions, an extraordinary number of innovative companies, progressive thinking, and alternative movements.

This unique positioning makes the Bay Area the perfect launch site for your career. Additionally, graduate students have access to excellent state-of-the-art facilities, tap into world-renowned organizations for internships, enroll in phenomenal partnerships in sponsored courses, and exert an ever-growing influence on the future of culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

CCA has been known throughout its history as a leader in the arts and crafts movement, where our faculty, students, and alumni foster collaborations that cross disciplinary boundaries, while developing connections and life-long opportunities to make meaningful and engaging new modes of practice.Through meaningful investigations and conversations, our students seek to make significant contributions to the fields of art, design, architecture, film, criticism, curation, writing, and business.At CCA you will make an impact by engaging today’s social issues and making a difference.CCA's dual-degree options give exceptional students the opportunity to integrate two distinct degree options and complete them concurrently in three years.