Vanderbilt University Plans San Francisco Campus

Vanderbilt University is expanding its national footprint by establishing an academic campus in San Francisco. The former California College of the Arts (CCA) site will be transformed into a new destination for education, collaboration, and global engagement beginning in 2027. Serving approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the project represents the next step in the university's strategic growth and builds on recent initiatives in New York City and West Palm Beach. Honoring CCA’s century-long legacy in the Bay Area, the development is expected to host the California College of the Arts Institute at Vanderbilt, which will include the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Vanderbilt’s interdisciplinary model will integrate engineering, entrepreneurship, and design with a strong foundation in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. By blending inspiration and analysis in ways that foster discovery, Vanderbilt will define a new approach to higher education, cultivating visionary inventors and thinkers who are prepared to make a difference. This vibrant campus will also serve makers and artists whose work bridges creative expression and technological innovation, preparing graduates to translate ideas into cultural, civic, and real-world impact.

A significant expansion of the California College of the Arts was undertaken in 2023. Designed by Studio Gang and delivered by Hathaway Dinwiddie, the highly sustainable project provided 96,500 sf of new floor area, as well as a microgrid for the harvesting and storage of clean energy. With two four-story structures and one two-story building incorporating mass timber and exposed concrete, these facilities feature multiple layers to enable movement, gathering, and immersive learning.