Jazz Caffe #2, california jazz conservatory, downtown berkeley
The California Jazz Conservatory (CJC), a Berkeley Institution for 40 years, is a renown graduate jazz school in Downtown Berkeley and has a small 75-person live performance hall (Rendon Hall) where students can perform. Rendon hall is also a well-known intimate venue for accomplished local Bay Area and nationally-recognized jazz musicians and considered to be a Bay Area Institution among jazz enthusiasts. After the original Jazz Café flooded in the basement, the CJC needed a public street-level café (by day) to provide food and beverages to students, jazz instructors, and foot traffic during the day. By night, the café converts to a sultry romantic jazz bar for the jazz patrons who attend the 3x weekly jazz performances. The café is on the same block as the nationally known Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Aurora theatre and the Freight & Salvage venue. The caffé will provide another choice for patrons at those venues before and after shows.
The caffé architectures captures the improvisational nature of jazz by mixing existing building components (the initial score) with new interpretations and riffs by new building components to create a harmonious improvised fusion.