Archinect - News

Rios Clementi Hale Studios is now RIOS

2020-06-09T16:23:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based architecture, urbanism, and landscape design practice Rios Clementi Hale Studios (RCH Studios) has changed its name to RIOS following the recent departure of two of its namesake principals.

In a statement on the RIOS website, firm Creative Directors Mark Rios, Bob Hale, Mark Motonaga, Jessamyn Davis, Andy Lantz, and Sebastian Salvado explain their thinking behind the change: are "While our name has changed, the elements that define who we are — the people and the values — stay the same," adding, "For years, many have referred to us as RIOS for short, despite our longer name. This familiar name reflects a spirit of values and creates an identity that will carry us into the future."

The firm leaders continue: "RIOS establishes us as a collective that is inclusive, optimistic, and multidisciplinary — all qualities that have shaped us since the firm was founded in 1985. Our name is more encompassing of the brilliance of everyone as we work to reveal, explore, and inv...

"From plates to parks," Julie Smith-Clementi and Frank Clementi launch new design office

2020-01-08T09:00:00-05:00

Los Angeles-based architects Julie Smith-Clementi and Frank Clementi, former founding partners at multidisciplinary architecture office Rios Clementi Hale Studios (RCH Studios), have launched a new comprehensive design practice offering "the full spectrum of place-based design."

Exterior of the Austin City Limits complex. Image courtesy of Smith-Clementi.

The new firm, Smith-Clementi, will work in many of the same arenas that the two principals have engaged with over the decades, including educational projects, public space design, and re-programmed commercial and retail spaces. In addition, Smith-Clementi will continue a focus on residential projects and "artful product designs for the home.”

The two designers left RCH Studios in late 2019 and launched their new practice, according to an announcement, "to more directly work with clients and end users on broader place-based design."

View of the revamped Hollywood Bowl artist spaces (top) and public concession areas (bottom). Image co...

Lawsuit against contentious S-shaped towers designed by Natoma Architects in Los Angeles fails

2019-12-06T15:04:00-05:00

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit initiated against a series of high-rise developments slated for a stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles's Hollywood neighborhood.

The projects in question, The Los Angeles Times reports, include the 905-unit SOM and RCH Studios-designed Crossroads Hollywood development as well as the 731-unit Natoma Architects-designed Palladium Towers project.

VIew of the multi-towered Crossroads Hollywood project designed by SOM and RCH Studios. Image courtesy of Crossroads Hollywood.

The lawsuits were filed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit group that has come out against a series of dense development proposals in the city. The group, whose headquarters are located directly across the street from the Palladium project site, contends that the new developments will fuel displacement in the surrounding area, which is home to a historic concentration of naturally affordable multi-family housing and has seen a sharp increase in...

Los Angeles's Music Center Plaza makes its public debut

2019-09-06T19:45:00-04:00

RCH Studios recently completed a $41 million renovation of the public plaza that unifies the Music Center arts complex in Downtown Los Angeles.

Flanked on either side by the Welton Becket-designed Mark Taper Forum and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the plaza has been revamped with an eye toward universal design and passive recreation.

Aerial view of the revamped plaza. Image courtesy of Tim Street Porter.

For the project, RCH Studios has added a total of five new structures to the 53-year-old plaza, including a welcome center, a full-service restaurant, a wine bar, a coffee shop, and a series of accessible public restrooms.

The space, designed as a multi-functional “plaza for all,” has been reconsidered by the architects as the Music Center's "fifth venue," joining the Ahmanson Theatre, located behind the Taper Forum building, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which sits across the street.

At the center of the space sits a joyful splash pad, while surrounding areas, formerly composed ...

A+D Museum & RCHS announce The Alley Fellowship

2018-04-18T17:12:00-04:00

The A+D Museum has announced the unveiling of their inaugural fellowship program, developed in collaboration with the LA-based multi-disciplinary design firm, Rios Clementi Hale Studios.

The aim of the The Alley Fellowship is to produce a two-month rotating exhibition and lecture series and is open to emerging, young, progressive artists in Los Angeles. The fellowship will be awarded to six artists, selected by a seven-member jury consisting of artists, designers, and architects from the A+D Museum and Rios Clementi Hale Studios. The jury will select based on which projects best embody the spirit of transdisciplinary creative exploration, a key focus area for RCHS and A+D.

A+D Museum

“A fundamental aspect of the A+D’s mission is to produce a platform for analysis, exploration, and for the ever-expanding perspectives of our field regardless of their historical arenas. The Alley Fellowship is a direct expression of this mission, it explores the means and modes of contemporary inquiry a...