Archinect - News

Frank Gehry talks to the LA Times about his ever-expanding vision for downtown Los Angeles

2024-04-12T17:50:00-04:00

Frank Gehry has provided some interesting comments to the LA Times to coincide with last week’s groundbreaking of the new Colburn Center in downtown Los Angeles, a vital lynchpin for the city’s post-COVID economic rebound.

Speaking on the record for an article to the paper’s business section, the 95-year-old Walt Disney Concert Hall designer told reporters about his still-expanding vision for the Grand Avenue corridor and beyond. The neighborhood has been a bit of an obsession of his since the end of the 1990s. Now, he says, "we still have work to do," adding that Little Tokyo, the Arts District, and other neighborhoods near Bunker Hill can and should have their own culture-backed transformations performed to facilitate a revival pushed by LA Mayor Karen Bass and other civic leaders.

The Broad museum also recently announced its own $100 million expansion plans. Our February preview of the new $335 milli...

Developer behind BIG-designed 670 Mesquit LA project is seeking financial assistance for scheme's hotel

2023-08-22T12:31:00-04:00

The project, slated for a property at 670 Mesquit Street, would include four buildings on a site stretching between 6th and 7th Streets creating more than 800,000 square feet of offices, 420 homes, ground-floor commercial uses, and a 236-room hotel. That last component of the project is the subject of a new motion introduced on August 16 by 14th District City Councilmember Kevin de Leon.

The motion, which was referred to the Los Angeles City Council’s Trade Travel and Tourism Committee for consideration, states that Vella Group, the developer behind the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed 670 Mesquit Street project, is seeking financial assistance from the city for the completion of the development’s proposed hotel. Vella Group would pay $150,000 to cover the cost of an economic feasibility study for the hotel.

Previously on Archinect: Major changes coming to LA's Arts District as BIG and EYRC projects both move forward

BIG’s scheme, which was first unveiled in 2016, aims to be another major addition to LA’s Arts District. The complex will sit just south of the recently-completed Sixth Street Viaduct and its upcoming park space. Councilmember de Leon’s motion also makes note that the hotel would include an outdoor deck that extends over the adjacent rail lines, which could be spurred by a range of public events.

As noted by Urbanize Los Angeles, these types of incentive p...

Major changes coming to LA's Arts District as BIG and EYRC projects both move forward

2022-11-17T13:01:00-05:00

The skyline of Los Angeles’ Arts District remains on track to be transformed by a series of major developments flanking the LA River. Along Mesquit Street, a Bjarke Ingels Group-designed development of four towers has submitted a final environmental impact report, while a neighboring tower by EYRC Architects recently overcame an appeal which sought to block its construction.

670 Mesquit by Bjarke Ingels Group. Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group

BIG’s scheme at 670 Mesquit was first unveiled in 2016 and now constitutes four buildings stepping in height along the riverfront, crowned by roof terraces. The tallest tower, measuring 378 feet in height and containing 32 stories, will be dedicated to residential and hotel uses, while the remaining towers will contain a mix of retail, restaurants, gyms, offices, an event space, and a museum.

Between the development and the river, an expansive public realm is proposed, extending over and above the railway line running adjacent to the waterfro...

Grimshaw will deliver a new production studio campus to Downtown LA's Arts District

2022-08-29T12:14:00-04:00

Grimshaw has revealed its design for a new 16-studio production campus to be located in Downtown LA’s Arts District.

The project will transform a disused 15-acre industrial site that was recently purchased by East End Studios. According to Urbanize LA, the site will also include four office buildings totaling 292,000 square feet, another 106,000 square feet of production spaces in addition to the total 321,000 square feet of studios, and below-ground parking that will allow for 1,327 vehicles daily. In addition to Grimshaw, Studio-MLA has been attached to provide a landscaped connection to the intersection of 6th and Alameda streets, with a new open public space sited along Mill Street to the eastern side of the new “campus on top” studios.

Image courtesy Grimshaw

“By taking a vertical approach to the campus design, we free up valuable land area for larger studios and base camps while also creating better pedestrian and vehicular circulation between the soundstages and creative work...

David Adjaye and Studio One Eleven design $2 billion Arts District proposal for Downtown Los Angeles

2021-05-05T13:42:00-04:00

An Arts District cold-storage plant dating to the 1890s would be replaced with housing, offices, a hotel and shops in a proposal unveiled Thursday by Denver developers. With a price tag between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, the complex would rank among the largest L.A. commercial real estate developments in recent memory.

Image: Studio One Eleven/Adjaye Associates

According to the Los Angeles Times, the proposed Fourth & Central mixed-use mega-development in Downtown LA's rapidly transforming Arts District would consist of 10 buildings.

While local firm Studio One Eleven is in charge of the master plan and building design, David Adjaye's firm was brought in to design two key buildings, including a 42-story residential tower.

How L.A. corruption kills affordable housing

2020-06-26T12:56:00-04:00

At a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna cited [a forthcoming project in the Los Angeles Arts District] as an example of “the harm that comes with bribery.” “Thanks to Mr. Huizar, the development would have minimal affordable housing units, despite the fact that this area is desperate for low-income housing,” Hanna said.

Writing in The Los Angeles Times, Emily Alpert Reyes and David Zahniser dig into the fallout of a still unfolding corruption probe taking shape in Los Angeles that implicates sitting City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who was arrested earlier this week by federal authorities.

The probe has ensnared, according to The Los Angeles Times, a development that matches the characteristics of 520 Mateo, a 475-unit, 35-story mixed-use project developed by Carmel Partners and designed by Works Progress Architecture and Solomon Caldwell Buenz that is currently under construction. The project, as well as other high-profile developments implicated in the probe, was approved with Huizar's help while he sat on the city's Planning and Land Use Committee, allegedly in exchange for bribes, kick backs, and other financial favors from developers and other interests, according to federal officials.

Among the favorable terms granted with the project's approval, The Los Angeles Times reports, was a reduction...

Studio One Eleven's industrial-meets-residential complex is approved in Los Angeles

2019-11-17T09:00:00-05:00

The Arts District Soho Warehouse mixed-use development designed by Studio One Eleven in Los Angeles has won formal approval from the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

THe project, developed by real estate investment firm Jade Enterprises will bring 110 live/work apartments, 113,000 square feet of offices, and 51,000 square feet of commercial space to the Los Angeles Arts District, Urbanize.la reports. The project also includes 11 low-income units and 479 parking stalls.

A series of retail paseos wrap the market hall building. Image courtesy of Studio One Eleven.

The development is anchored by a retail market hall at its center that is overlooked by a collection of mid-rise housing blocks. The project's market hall takes the shape of an industrial warehouse and features a large roof canopy above a multi-level shopping area topped with an amenity terrace.

The project's residential buildings are, according to renderings, wrapped in a variety of industrial materials, including co...

This new incense conjures up the spirits of Frank Lloyd Wright, Carlo Scarpa and the Eameses

2019-02-07T14:47:00-05:00

The Archinect Outpost has never smelled better. We're now carrying YIELD's new Architect Series incense — a delicious way to spruce up the atmosphere of your work or living space! You can purchase them from us online or visit our retail store in the LA Arts District to smell-before-buying.

Locally handcrafted by Florida-based designer and manufacturer YIELD, this series was inspired by some of the YIELD team's favorite 20th-century architects. The collection features three scents that distill distinct elements of nature and place: Entenza, Wright, and Scarpa.

Inspired by the natural surroundings of the Case Study Homes in the Pacific Palisades, Entenza embodies the essence of the California coast with notes of eucalyptus, rosemary, and birch.

Wright pairs light floral rose with warm sandy tones, like the desert landscape of the iconic architect's Arizona home.

Scarpa balances deep notes of palo santo and rich leather, drawing from the architect's bold yet harmonious sanctuary ne...

An immersive 35,000 square foot art park opens in Los Angeles' Arts District

2019-01-14T15:32:00-05:00

The Arts District in downtown Los Angeles is filled with several must-see locations. Now home to one of the world's first fully immersive entertainment art park, Wisdome LA allows for visitors to enter into unforgettable audio and visual experience. The park features five fully immersive domes that are outfitted for 360-degree visual and audio entertainment. Each dome is fitted with 10.1 surround sound to enhance the shared VR experience that showcases the future of art, entertainment, and technology.

Image @ Wisdome LA

The park can hold up to 1,000 people inside and around the domes. Through the use of 360-degree projection mapping technology, the domes display beautifully mesmerizing images. The centerpiece of the exhibition will feature renowned digital artist Android Jones and his project, Samskara. "This city is one of the creative capitals of the worlds and is filled with people looking to learn, try something different, a...

Herzog & de Meuron's "6 AM" is a late bloomer, reaching completion in 2035

2017-02-23T19:28:00-05:00

Two 58-story towers, eighteen years and two billion dollars make up the fundamental elements of Herzog & de Meuron's city-like mixed-used development "6 AM," which, while beginning its first phase of construction in 2018 in downtown L.A.'s Arts District, won't be finished until its principal architects are both 85 years old.

The wait should be worth it, though: Mia Lehrer will be providing the landscape architecture, while the project's seven buildings will include space for arts and performance, retail, a public/private school, a hotel and of course, plenty of apartments. The delay does prompt the question: will Los Angeles' Arts District still be the Arts District by then, or will it just be an evocative placard in 2.8 million square gentrified feet?

h/t Archpaper

Winners, Whiners and Wine Boxes: Paul Revere Williams' posthumous Gold Medal, Jean Nouvel's legal woes and BIG's LA River project, on Archinect Sessions #92

2016-12-15T18:16:00-05:00

On this episode, we discuss the biggest news items of the past week, covering: the political bent to the AIA's Gold Medal being awarded posthumously to Paul Revere Williams; Jean Nouvel's legal battle over his "defiled" Paris Philharmonie; and BIG's new proposal for a giant, riverside mixed-user in LA's Arts District.

Listen to episode 92 of Archinect Sessions, "Winners, Whiners and Wine Boxes":

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The news stories we discussed this week:

Jean Nouvel's court battle over the Philharmonie continues

2017 AIA Gold Medal posthumously awarded to Paul Revere Williams — the first African-American recipient

BIG proposes massive, gridded development for the LA Arts Distri...