IML moving to innovative new building

Beginning next fall, the Institute for Multimedia Literacy will be moved into its new home in the Media Arts and Student Services building.

 

The four-story, 60,000-square-foot building, located adjacent to the George Lucas and Steven Spielberg buildings of the School for Cinematic Arts on 34th Street and McClintock Avenue, will house classrooms, labs, offices, a digital theater and cutting-edge technology to support the endeavors of students pursuing a major, minor or honors program at the IML.

The 15-year-old institute is dedicated to empowering its students in the interpretation and design of media through the use of media applications and tools.

IML Multimedia Lab Manager Michael Bodie said although the IML is a division of the School of Cinematic Arts, its current location at West Adams Boulevard between Hoover and Figueroa streets makes it seem far more isolated and mysterious for students.

“It’s sort of an island effect,” Bodie said.

And partly because of that, the IML has faced challenges with garnering attention from students and faculty. Director of Academic Programs Holly Willis said the IML faculty hopes the institute’s new central location on campus will help showcase IML students’ work more effectively.

“Hopefully there will be a good flow of people coming in and seeing what we do and walking through the lobby to see the displays and examples of student work,” Willis said.

Previously, IML classes have been housed in both the current main off-campus building and in the Taper Hall of the Humanities.

Josh Kim, a sophomore majoring in business administration and an IML student, said the new on-campus location could also make IML students’ interactions with faculty and staff more effective, leading to a better educational experience.

“Since it’s closer and actually on campus, students will go to office hours more, which should obviously improve grades and scores,” Kim said. “I’m just glad I won’t have to go to Adams Boulevard just for office hours or class.”

The new building will also be home to the Interactive Media Division, including the Game Innovation Lab and the Interdivisional Media Arts and Practice Ph.D program, which offers courses dedicated to game design, animation and audio. Bodie said that bringing these like-minded programs under one roof is all part of an effort to streamline and consolidate the programs for better interaction.

“One of the ideas with the new building was also to put the groups for the working of the new media and new forms of technology in the same space,” Bodie said.

To accommodate these programs, the building will be outfitted with cutting-edge technology, including labs, digital offices and furniture that have been designed to be fluid in order to facilitate collaboration.

“In the lobby area, for example, there are six touch screens where students and faculty will be able to create touch-based projects that we can showcase there,” Willis said.

Willis said she hopes that IML students will use their time in the Media Arts building to explore the other programs based there and collaborate with students beyond those just in the IML.

Kevin Tsukii, a freshman majoring in print and digital journalism who plans on undertaking the Honors in Multimedia Studies program, said the institute’s move will have a positive effect on the IML’s identity within the School of Cinematic Arts.

“IML has always seemed so disjointed from the SCA,” Tsukii said. “Now that they’re physically sharing a building, it just changes how you look at the institute.”