A surface parking lot across the street from Woodlawn Cemetery could soon make way for Santa Monica College's new arts complex.

The project, announced this week by architecture firms Grimshaw and Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, would rise at the southeast corner of 14th Street and Pico Boulevard.  Plans call for the construction of a two-story, 21,000-square-foot building which would consolidate the Santa Monica College Arts Program under a single roof.  The program is currently housed in an aging building on the school's main campus and in a satellite facility near Santa Monica Airport.

The design, which is described as industrial, would split the buildings into three volumes housing studios, teaching spaces, and workshops.  A perforated metal screen would link the complex together.

The arts complex is scheduled to be built over a roughly two-year period concluding in 2024, according to an environmental study published by the City of Santa Monica.

Santa Monica College, located in the City's Pico community, neighbors several new and proposed affordable housing developments surrounding Woodlawn Cemetery.  Community Corp. has three projects in the pipeline for the neighborhood - one of which is already under construction - while EAH Housing has proposed constructing housing at the former site of Santa Monica Nikkei Hall.