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OMA's Audrey Imas Pavilion makes its long-awaited debut on Wilshire Boulevard

2022-01-04T18:38:00-05:00

The wait is over for one of the most hotly-anticipated editions to the cultural landscape of Los Angeles in recent memory.

OMA has announced the official completion of its much-heralded Audrey Irmas Pavilion for the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown.

The new building offers a unique center for aging in addition to a rooftop terrace and sunken garden that connect through a series of small meeting rooms that provide users the chance to gather in the topmost example of three distinct voids defined by their separate sacred and public meeting spaces wrapped in gray GFRC panels which form a hexagonal motif geometric facade.

Image by Jason O'Rear, courtesy of OMA New York

Back in September, OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu referred to the project as a potential catalyst for a return to mass-scale social interactions, stating that its completion “comes at a time when we hope to come together again,” and that the pavilion “can be a platform to reinstate the importance of gathering, exchange, an...

OMA’s Audrey Irmas Pavilion nears completion, their first religious building

2021-09-01T16:01:00-04:00

OMA New York have released an update on their Audrey Irmas Pavilion taking shape in Los Angeles, California. The scheme, designed for the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, is OMA’s first cultural building in California, and the first religious institution building in the firm’s portfolio.

Image by Jason O'Rear, courtesy of OMA New York

Having been selected for the scheme’s design in 2015, OMA have progressed construction of the scheme through the COVID-19 pandemic. “The making of the Audrey Irmas Pavilion sustained forward momentum through the COVID-19 Pandemic, a period in which the act of human interaction was questioned and contemplated,” explains Shohei Shigematsu, the OMA Partner in charge of the project. “Its completion comes at a time where we hope to come together again, and this building can be a platform to reinstate the importance of gathering, exchange, and communal spirit.”

Image by Jason O'Rear, courtesy of OMA New York

The 55,000-square-foot pavilion sits adjacent to the cent...

OMA's Audrey Irmas Pavilion at Wilshire Boulevard Temple is taking shape

2021-03-19T15:19:00-04:00

After breaking ground in late 2018 and topping out nearly one year later, the OMA/Shohei Shigematsu-designed Audrey Irmas Pavilion at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles is increasingly taking shape.

The $75 million expansion — OMA's first building in the city — will house a chapel and terrace, a grand ballroom, meeting rooms, performance spaces, and a rooftop sky garden.

Rendering of the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion next to the historic 1929 temple building on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A.'s Koreatown neighborhood. Image courtesy of OMA New York.

Gruen Associates is the executive architect, Studio-MLA designed the sunken garden, and Arup is the structural and facade engineer on the project.

The new building is expected to open in early 2022.

Photographer Hunter Kerhart has shared a few more recent construction photos over at Urbanize LA.

Steel frame of OMA's Audrey Irmas Pavilion for Wilshire Boulevard Temple tops out

2019-08-01T14:35:00-04:00

After breaking ground last November, the steel frame of the $75-million Audrey Irmas Pavilion has quickly taken shape in Koreatown. Located at the corner of Wilshire and Harvard Boulevard, the expansion to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple will house cultural, religious and community events. The three-story, 55,000-square-foot structure will consist of a chapel and terrace, a grand ballroom, a catering kitchen, meeting rooms, performance spaces and a rooftop sky garden.

The OMA/Shohei Shigematsu-designed Wilshire Boulevard Temple expansion in Los Angeles recently celebrated the topping out of its steel structure.

Conceptual model. Image courtesy of OMA New York

On its website, OMA explains that the "structural frame, weighing about 700 tons, is composed of steel beams and columns with buckling restrained braces to resist earthquake loads. The steel framing is designed economically to resist its own weight under gravity, with three sloped elevations. The long transfer girders supporting the upper level columns will accommodate an open, clear-span ground floor event space."

View of the historic 1929 temple building with the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion from across Wilshire Boulevard. Image courtesy of OMA New York

OMA's collaborators on the Audrey Irmas Pavilion project are executive architect Gruen Associates, landscape architect Studio-MLA, and engineers Arup. Completion is scheduled for late 2020.

To get a clearer picture of the current progress, head...

Construction on OMA's Audrey Irmas Pavilion kicks off in Los Angeles

2018-11-12T13:59:00-05:00

The oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, broke ground on its anticipated $75 million OMA-designed expansion over the weekend.

Named after the project's lead donor, the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion will rise right next to the Temple's historic sanctuary and will house spaces for multi-use cultural and religious purposes.

Image courtesy of OMA New York

The expansion effort is led by OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas as Partner-in-collaboration. Gruen Associates is the executive architect, Studio-MLA oversees the landscape architecture, and Arup is the engineering partner on the project.

View from across Wilshire Boulevard. Image courtesy of OMA New York

“Focusing on communicating the energy of gathering and exchange, the pavilion is an active gesture, shaped by respectful moves away from the surrounding historic buildings, reaching out onto Wilshire Boulevard to create a new presence," said Shohei Shigematsu. "We are thrilled to break ground ...