Creative and Performing Arts High School, Pittsburgh, PA

Creative and Performing Arts High School, Pittsburgh, PA

The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) is a vertically functional and visually exciting educational facility in the city’s Cultural District. The school’s exterior redefines many of the visual elements used in the Bitz Building, a nine-story Beaux Arts style building that adjoins CAPA. Philanthropist François Bitz donated the actual building site; six floors of his creatively retrofit building are structurally connected to the school and used for additional classroom and studio space. CJL’s electrical engineering design included lighting systems for the classrooms, studios, cafeteria, corridors, lobbies, auditorium and gymnasium power distribution system with emergency back-up fire alarm, security, and public address systems, a Panasonic Astrovision screen (30 feet high and 21 feet wide) that faces Ft. Duquesne Boulevard at the 9th Street Bridge, showcasing the best creative work of the CAPA High School students.