Archinect - News

Eric Owen Moss’ first LA home relists for $10.95 million

2024-04-25T18:39:00-04:00

Eric Owen Moss’ first residential design in Los Angeles, the 1991 Constellation 167 home in Brentwood, has hit the market courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty for a listed price of $10.95 million. The home had previously been listed by Compass and Sotheby’s for $12 million last fall before being put up again for the lower price, held exclusively by the latter.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

The 5,476-square-foot design includes four bedrooms and 5 full baths and sits on just a quarter-acre parcel. It has appeared several times in various television shows (R.I.P. Curb Your Enthusiasm) and is distinctive of Moss’ warped style, which was later repeated in 2022’s A+M House. A “comprehensive” series of upgrades and restorations has been performed since it was commissioned, according to Robb Report.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

Moss, who turns 81 this year, recently completed his (W)RAPPER office tower in Culver Ci...

Flea's Michael Maltzan-designed hillside LA compound drops price from $10M to $7M

2024-04-23T12:41:00-04:00

[...] property in the unincorporated community near Glendale has once again resurfaced for sale, per TMZ, this time asking a speck under $7 million. That’s still a lot more than the $4.3 million Balzary paid contemporary artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell for the place in 2018, but it does include an 875-square-foot addition that was installed on the land in 2021, as well as a pool and cabin that were tacked on in 2020.

As we wrote in 2022, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist listed the property asking $9.8 million, having purchased the property four years previous for $4.3 million. The Michael Maltzan-designed complex contains an outdoor movie pavilion, a redwood cabin, and a smaller two-bedroom house designed by Richard Neutra.

Engel Studios, Cameron Carothers; Associated Press

Artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell originally commissioned Maltzan for the single-bedroom addition in 2009, and it has since been featured in several design magazines, in addition to receiving an AIA Award in 2012.

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger demolish Craig Ellwood's 1950 Zimmerman House, raising ire online

2024-04-22T18:12:00-04:00

Chris Pratt has drawn ire from architecture aficionados after news broke that the actor and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, had razed a historic, mid-century modern home to make way for a sprawling 15,000-sq-ft mansion. Architect Ken Ungar, whose portfolio largely features high-end modern farmhouse-style residences, will design a home for the couple, Architectural Digest reported. The property [...] will also feature a three-car garage and a secondary unit near the pool.

As The Guardian reported, plans for a demolition went mostly under the radar until the Los Angeles Conservancy issued a warning last January. Actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger purchased the home later with the apparent intention of replacing it with an oft-reviled “modern farmhouse” design and have yet to respond to any other news outlets or critics, who are framing this as a loss tantamount to the destruction of Marcel Breuer's binuclear Geller I house on Long Island in January of 2022.

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LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse South project has topped out in Los Angeles

2024-04-22T17:46:00-04:00

LAX's new Midfield Satellite Concourse South (or MSC South) recently topped out as the project's construction progresses in nine segments toward its 2025 completion date. The offsite construction will eventually yield eight new gates and a total of 150,000 square feet of space following a first-of-its-kind integrated design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA).

Buro Happold, structural engineer, sustainability consultant, lighting and acoustical designer on the project, in partnership with architects Woods Bagot and RAW International, says: "Each segment was designed with an independent lateral system consisting of buckling restrained braced frames in the east-west direction and Simspon Yield Link moment frames in the north-south direction to allow for access to gates along the terminal length. Additional analysis was then undertaken to determine the lifting points of each segment ...

SCI-Arc's immersive 2024 Spring Show exhibition to feature a colorful assortment of new student work

2024-04-18T12:58:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School, is hosting its annual Spring Show exhibition later this month that will feature the work of undergraduate and graduate students from all school programs. The show takes place on its LA Arts District campus, beginning with the opening reception at 6 PM on Saturday, April 27th.

The annual exhibition is meant to highlight students' work and the diversity of SCI-Arc’s course offerings via four immersive monochromatic rooms, each with different textures covering its surfaces. The curator of this year’s Spring Show, postgraduate Fiction and Entertainment program faculty Alexey Marfin, tells Archinect: "The spaces operate on two scales: The bold statement seen from afar, but also the fine material detail seen on closer inspection."

"The exhibition will be centered around an experience...

Gordon Kipping's mass timber installation 'Maison de Cartes' is now open at SCI-Arc

2024-04-17T13:02:00-04:00

SCI-Arc opened a new exhibition last Friday, curated by Class of 1995 M.Arch graduate Gordon Kipping, that documents the development of mass timber within contemporary architecture.

Inspired by Le Corbusier’s 1914–15 Dom-Ino House prototype, Maison de Cartes presents examples both in the form of physical models and via a special augmented reality (AR) application to deliver a narrative about timber's ability and potential to meet the challenge of climate change in different typological contexts worldwide.

Image credit Joshua White Photography, courtesy of SCI-Arc

The exhibition culminates years of research into engineering and sustainable construction methods and Kipping's belief that timber architecture can play a role in alleviating the impinging housing crisis in Los Angeles and abroad.

Image credit Joshua White Photography, courtesy of SCI-Arc

SCI-Arc says: "It's a testament to his conviction that architects should pay more attention to such societal issues, exploring tangible w...

LACMA shares custom-built glass facade details in new spring construction update

2024-04-16T13:39:00-04:00

New updates have been shared recently by the Los Angeles Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), charting progress on the $750 million new David Geffen Galleries from Peter Zumthor that is expected to finish construction by the end of this year.

According to the museum's most recent April 5th update, interior walls and exterior glazing are being installed on the site’s western side, facing north to Wilshire Boulevard. Work on the building’s MEPs is now underway, and the concrete pour for the roof decks has been completed to the east side of the site. Formwork, rebar installation, and concrete pours for the roof decks are also advancing on the Spaulding Lot.

This follows the March 8th update that detailed the removal of the site’s prominent tower crane. LACMA has yet to release a public opening date. (A recent look inside the project with its contractor Clark Construction can be found here.)

Image courtesy LACMA

Also of interest are the 243 individual custom-made glass facade components...

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...

Frank Gehry's Colburn Center expansion breaks ground in LA

2024-04-10T17:06:00-04:00

Work on Frank Gehry’s new Colburn School expansion has commenced in downtown Los Angeles toward its eventual completion after Q1 2027. His firm Gehry Partners celebrated the groundbreaking with school officials last Friday, April 5th, in sight of his previous Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand designs at the intersection of Hill and 2nd Streets.

Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA are leading the interior fit-outs for the extension, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet of new spaces for performance and rehearsals. A 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios will be added through the construction, along with a new public garden that serves as a gateway to the rest of downtown. Costs for the project are reported to be $335 million.

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Gehry said in a previous statement: “I hope that it will be well-used and well-loved by the students of the Colburn School ...

Ray Kappe's Keeler House lists for $12 million in Los Angeles

2024-04-05T18:23:00-04:00

Late SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe’s Keeler House design has hit the market in Pacific Palisades, California, for $12 million.

The split-level, 4,142-square-foot Post and Beam design was built over four and a half years using Kappe’s nearby personal residence as its model. A rich palette of redwood, teak, Douglas fir, concrete, and glass feature carefully throughout the home, which sits on a 7-acre hillside lot and is replete with a two-car garage, four bedrooms, three baths, a storeroom, and separate guest quarters.

Kappe designed the home in 1991 for a local jazz musician. Its interior layout is centered around its open-plan living/entertainment area that is cantilevered to extend over the hillside. A pleasing layered effect composes the interior, with glass inlay floor and ceiling blocks included to further incorporate the presence of natural light deeper into the structure via a vaulted skylight. Six concrete towers work to elevate the home above the tree line, allowing for a floati...

11 featured senior-level architect and designer jobs in Los Angeles

2024-04-04T13:13:00-04:00

This week's edition of our curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs features eight employers in the Los Angeles area offering senior-level architecture, design, and project management positions.

For helpful guidance on how to get that next job, make sure to check out Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series and our Archinect Tips collection.

First Americans Museum by Johnson Fain.

Johnson Fain seeks a Senior Project Designer, a Senior Interior Designer, and a Senior Technical Architect for Construction Administration

Senior Project Designer details: "Johnson Fain is seeking a self-motivated, highly-skilled Senior Designer to work collaboratively with our design and technical team on a variety of project types. The ideal candidate will be a dynamic team-player and must possess a strong work ethic, strong client interface, leadership and communication skills with experience in largescale, complex, multi-use urban projects."

Senior Interior Designer details: "Join Johnson Fain’s team as...

Gordon Kipping to present Maison de Cartes in the SCI-Arc Gallery

2024-04-02T14:59:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

This month, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is set to unveil Maison de Cartes, an exhibition by Gordon Kipping that delves into the innovative use of timber in contemporary architecture. Inspired by the principles of Maison Dom-ino by Le Corbusier, Kipping reimagines construction for the modern era, with a particular emphasis on combatting climate change.

Kipping champions the use of mass timber as a sustainable alternative to the carbon-heavy materials of steel and concrete, which are major contributors to global CO2 emissions. "Building in steel and concrete...is a huge contributor to CO2 emissions," Kipping highlights, underlining the environmental benefits of using wood, a material that not only captures carbon dioxide but is also renewable.

A unique aspect of the Maison de Cartes exhibition is its blend of the physical and digital realms through an augmented reality (AR) application....

LAX Automated People Mover construction won't be completed until 2025

2024-04-01T11:45:00-04:00

KTLA is reporting that construction setbacks on the long-awaited Automated People Mover transit system at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) have delayed the project until at least the end of 2025.

According to the local outlet’s analysis of a new Fitch Ratings report, “The Automated People Mover system is 96% complete but increasing construction delays and a ‘strained relationship’ between the contractor and Los Angeles World Airports, which owns and operates LAX, have kept it from being completed.”

The news comes after five years of construction on the $5.5 billion transportation component of the airport’s larger $14.5 billion first phase of upgrades. Completion was originally expected last year. Once it is finished, the 1.2-million-square-foot station will connect the rest of the 2.25-mile-long tract to Terminals 3, 4, and 5 and form the bookend of a system that will serve approximately 30 million people a year.

Related on Archinect: Final LAX Automated People Mover statio...

The Broad taps Diller Scofidio + Renfro again for major expansion

2024-03-27T18:33:00-04:00

Big news for architecture and art fans alike coming out of Los Angeles today, where The Broad just announced plans for a major expansion project to the tune of $100 million.

The reveal of the new proposal, which will reportedly increase the available gallery space by 70%, comes nearly ten years after the existing building opened to much fanfare on Downtown LA's Grand Avenue arts and culture corridor in 2015 to allow free public access to the vast art collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad.

For the design of the expansion, the museum has commissioned the original architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) again, whose initial renderings hint at a continuation of their "veil and vault" concept.

"The exterior of the expansion echoes the surface appearance of the vault — as if this core had been exposed and 'unveiled' — symbolically expressing The Broad’s commitment to access while playfully inverting the visual vocabulary of the current building," the architects describe...

Sam Lubell on what's new at Lautner's Sheats-Goldstein House

2024-03-27T17:04:00-04:00

Goldstein and his team of architects, builders, engineers and landscape designers have been working on the Lautner house addition since 2003, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Goldstein’s property, which he has been tinkering with for more than 50 years. [...] “The purpose of all of this was to make the inside feel like it was outside,” said Goldstein, who describes a very collaborative working relationship with Lautner until the architect’s death, at 83, in 1994.

Sam Lubell examines half a century of renovations of and recent additions to James Goldstein's compound surrounding the famed John Lautner-designed Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles.

Big kudos to the Times for referencing Lautner’s 1960 (now-demolished) Concannon House with a link to our 2012 feature story "Lautner's Concannon Residence, from Dust to Dust" by Archinect senior contributing writer Orhan Ayyüce.

LA City Council places Dodger Stadium Gondola project on hold pending further reviews

2024-03-25T11:48:00-04:00

The contested plan to build an aerial gondola tram line from downtown LA to Dodger Stadium has been placed on hold after city council members voted last week to halt the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART) for the time being.

Local outlet ABC 7 was first to report on the council’s decision to pause the approvals process “until further studies can be conducted on its potential impacts.”

Opponents of the project had lobbied against its invasiveness and potential for displacement in communities that have been historically marginalized through gentrification. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the measure, said: “We owe the public a real analysis of the issues and evidence-based solutions around Dodger Stadium.” The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will now hire a special consultant to conduct the assessments.

(An unrelated assembly bill, meanwhile, is being advanced that would compensate displaced families who fell victim to the construction of Dodger Stadiu...

Foster + Partners replaces MAD on Hollywood office tower design

2024-03-20T18:59:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has been revealed as the architects of a replacement design that will take the place of the previous MAD Architects-produced The Star scheme at 6061 W Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

The newly proposed $1 billion "vertical creative office" is meant as an office for tenants in Hollywood's creative content industries.

Renderings for the replacement design showcase a high-rise structure with 360-degree views provided by its cylindrical form and punctured by a diagonal schism that contains biophilic elements and gathering spaces ribboning around the building's volume in three bands. A rooftop restaurant culminates the design at its uppermost floor.

Rendering courtesy Foster + Partners

The new proposal demarcates considerably from the original $500 million MAD design, which called for 22 stories of vertical gardens to be contained by a glass canopy. The rest of the program includes a ground-level LED video screen, an "arched paseo of restaurants," community gathering sp...

Oceanwide Plaza: Graffiti 'vandalism' or the greatest tag 'takeover' of all time?

2024-03-09T08:00:00-05:00

The New York Times has entered the debate surrounding LA's troubled Oceanwide Plaza development this week after social media and the outside press tied its celebrity status to the neglect of downtowns, housing rights issues, and their relationship to developer capitalism.

The Times piece follows news of the city’s recent order on Oceanwide to install a security fence to prevent against interlopers' vandalism and the 'public nuisance' the highly publicized graffiti artwork has turned the unfinished project into.

'Vandalism' is a charged term to apply in this case, but it has affected other sites near Downtown Los Angeles, like the copper wire-stripped Sixth Street Viaduct, in the midst of its delayed economic rebound. The street art community is here portrayed alongside BASE jumpers as a lawless quandary that considers their “takeover” a bar-raising move geared mainly at promotion and exposure. A smarter take is that taggers have the broader consensus of society so well-figured tha...

Olson Kundig completes West Hollywood homes designed for ‘craft and material expression’

2024-03-05T11:09:00-05:00

Olson Kundig has completed a series of custom single-family homes in West Hollywood. Collectively named ‘The Houses at 8899 Beverly’ the eight homes seek to be “harmoniously linked yet individual” with architectural forms “combining natural materials such as wood, steel, glass, concrete, and stone.”

Concrete House. Image credit: Nils Timm

“These eight distinct contemporary homes are woven into the fabric of their vibrant West Hollywood neighborhood at the base of the Hollywood Hills,” said Kevin M. Kudo-King, co-Design Principal at Olson Kundig. “While each one has its own identity – just as the eclectic neighboring houses do – collectively, they are about craft and material expression.”

Bronze House. Image credit: Nils Timm

The homes form the final part of the wider 8899 Beverly developement which opened in 2022. The project centers on the Los Angeles International Design Center, a mid-century modernist build...

LA’s Wilmington Waterfront Promenade opens after Sasaki landscape overhaul

2024-02-29T12:24:00-05:00

The Wilmington Waterfront Promenade in Los Angeles has opened to the public following an extensive public landscape project by Sasaki Associates. The park seeks to improve public waterfront access near the Port of Los Angeles and expands on the 30-acre Wilmington Waterfront Park that Sasaki completed in 2011.

Image credit: Barrett Doherty

The new promenade, designed by Sasaki and Studio-MLA, is described by the team as “the first opportunity for the community to reconnect with the waterfront.” Among the spaces designed as part of the promenade is ‘The Landing,’ which sits at the highest point of the park, doubling as a spot for a future bridge. Meanwhile, the ‘Upland Walkways’ consists of a series of meandering paths landscaped with coastal planting.

Image credit: Barrett Doherty

‘The Bluff’ consists of a large, flexible open lawn intended to host community events, while the ‘Tidal Steps’ is described as a “dynamic water's ...

America's first 3D printed fire-resistant ADU concept is under construction in Southern California

2024-02-29T11:57:00-05:00

A new 3D printed ADU prototype made of concrete and other fire-resistant materials is under construction as part of a demonstration taking place this month in Walnut, California.

The first-of-its-kind project was born of a collaboration between the fire departments of both Walnut and Los Angeles. A local couple volunteered to give the host the design for general contractor Builtech Construction Group in the interests of applying lessons valuable for disaster prevention at a time when an influx of peri-urbanization has left the state more susceptible to fire-damaged structures than ever before.

Image courtesy RIC Technology

The unit is both non-combustible and fire-resistant and is being constructed using contractor RIC Technology’s robotic 3D printer.

Construction takes only 20 days from the start of the printing process to finish after the foundation has been laid. It yields a total of 1,200 square feet of space with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The design works by eliminating any...

Dodger Stadium gondola plan gains LA Metro Board approval

2024-02-24T08:00:00-05:00

The LA Metro Board of Directors has given their final go-ahead for a controversial gondola project in Los Angeles that would offer an alternative transportation route from downtown Union Station to Dodger Stadium to baseball fans by the start of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The board voted unanimously in favor of the final version of the plan’s Environmental Impact Report on Thursday.

As was pointed out by LAist, the proposal still needs approvals from Los Angeles City Council, Caltrans, and California State Parks to begin construction. The Metro’s decision came with a steep set of 31 conditions, which include a fund for affordable housing plus marketing opportunities and other concessions directed to small business owners in Elysian Park and Chinatown.

The proposal is marketed as being able to transport a total of 5,000 people per hour on a 7-minute ride with three stations along a 1.2-mile path. The Dodgers say this will reduce traffic by 3,000 cars for each of their 81 home games pe...

Frank Gehry's transformative Colburn School expansion will break ground in April

2024-02-20T19:14:00-05:00

An official groundbreaking date for Gehry Partners' $335 million Colburn School campus expansion has been set in downtown Los Angeles nearly six years after the project, now dubbed the Colburn Center, was announced in unison with collaborators Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA.

Site preparations and other preliminary construction will begin soon on the project, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet worth of new performance, rehearsal, and education spaces, including a 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios. A special groundbreaking ceremony will take place on April 5th. The Colburn School says they expect construction to reach “substantial completion” by the end of Q1 2027.

View from Hill Street West towards the dance school entrance, dance studios, and public garden. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP

View East from Olive Street towards the entrance to the concert hall. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, L...

Five modern Santa Monica projects by KoningEizenberg: Your Next Employer?

2024-02-20T11:17:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to New York City-based Murdock Solon Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Santa Monica this week to explore the work of KoningEizenberg.

The firm describes its design process as “collaborative and structured to help individuals, organizations, and cities realize their goals,” with an underlying interest in “inclusive and sustainable neighborhoods and rethinking housing, community, and educational settings.” The firm’s resulting portfolio, which spans residential, educational, cultural, and commercial schemes, has received over 200 awards for design, sustainability, and historic preservation.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Communications Coordinator to join their Santa Monica studio. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five contemporary projects in Santa Monica by KoningEizenberg that exemplify the studio’s ...

KoningEizenberg shares photos of 249-unit The Park housing project in Santa Monica

2024-02-14T15:32:00-05:00

KoningEizenberg has shared images of a new multifamily project at 500 Broadway in Santa Monica called The Park following its completion in April of 2022.

The development was realized at 299,000 square feet and includes a total of 249 market-rate units.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

KoningEizenberg says its design broke with several norms endemic to the local typology by creating a series of open public spaces at the street level that work to activate a connection to public transit using cross-grained massing.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

A one-acre rooftop garden completes the program with additional space for tenants while reducing urban heat island effects on the development. Retail spaces are included at the street level as well.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

Sarah Sze, an artist whose work is heavily influenced by architecture, provided a fitting final touch to the project with the addition of her sculpture Split Stone from 2019.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

The Park complim...

LA City Council orders graffiti removal on infamous unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers

2024-02-12T13:33:00-05:00

City Council Members in Los Angeles have issued a mandate to owners of the graffiti-tagged Oceanview Plaza development in Downtown to remove the artwork weeks after its unfinished exterior became a national news item and the latest flash point in a debate over the citywide housing crisis that has lingered for a number of years.

By a vote of 14-0, Council Members approved Kevin de León’s motion calling for the city to foot the bill for cleaning up the stalled $1 billion towers if China-based developer Oceanwide fails to meet their February 17th deadline for removal. (CoStar first reported on the motion this weekend h/t Bizow.com.)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chop ‘em Down Films (@chopemdownfilms)

The internet sensation was covered in tags last month by artists apparently inspired by an early December operation in downtown Miami and able to bypass the security detail on site, which has been embroiled in a payment dispute with developers since last ye...

RIOS and Foster + Partners-led One Beverly Hills breaks ground in Los Angeles

2024-02-11T11:10:00-05:00

The RIOS and Foster + Partners-led One Beverly Hills development in Los Angeles has broken ground on a 50-month construction phase that will result in one of the country’s most expensive residential developments upon its opening in 2028.

The 17.5-acre development will connect the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria with two 28- and 31-story condo towers and an 8.5-acre botanical garden designed by RIOS. It had been plagued by criticism over its lack of an affordable housing component. The program allows for up to 255 residential units, 78 hotel suites, and approximately 30,000 square feet of commercial space, along with subterranean parking for up to 1,900 vehicles.

Image: Foster & Partners

Beset by biophilia-lined terraces featuring over 200 unique species of native plants are the focal point and connective tissue of the design, demonstrating that “drought-quality planting doesn’t mean cactus,” according to RIOS’ founder Mark Rios.

“I am really interested in pursuing what a botanic...

Paul Revere Williams-designed Blind Children's Center is getting remodeled for a new century of service in Los Angeles

2024-02-06T15:02:00-05:00

A renovation of the historic Paul Revere Williams-designed Blind Children’s Center (BCC) is underway in Los Angeles. The 80-year-old structure that preceded Williams’s seminal St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and other hospital designs in Southern California by twenty years is now being remodeled and modernized to match the expanded needs of the BCC community for a new century.

Williams had been living in his now landmarked first residence in Jefferson Park at the time of his commissioning for the project. His design gave the nonprofit its first permanent home during a period of rampant discrimination, thus serving as a built testament to inclusivity.

The facility in July 2022. Image courtesy of the Blind Children's Center (BCC)

Now, with support from the Ahmanson, W. M. Keck and Rose Hills Foundations, the BCC’s b...

Take an inside look at the form-making process for LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries

2024-02-06T12:15:00-05:00

LACMA’s Unframed blog recently profiled the work of contractor Clark Construction to build the concrete structure for the Peter Zumthor-designed $750 million new David Geffen Galleries extension. The concrete will be left untreated to match its architect’s long-established aesthetic and elevate the "hand of the craftsman."

Work will now commence on the installation of the 347,500-square-foot gallery’s interior walls, plus its exterior facade glazing, MEP systems, and roof-level horizontal decks.

"The building has no columns!," Chris Bell, the project executive for Clark Construction, shared with Unframed. "Instead, there are seven 30-foot-tall park-level pavilions that support the entire exhibition space. That's three football fields long with supporting cantilevers that hold people, glass, artwork — cantilevers that are 60 feet long. Being able to achieve and balance the structural and architectural requirements, it's a feat unto itself."

The update comes after LACMA celebrated t...

ShubinDonaldson rebrands as Donaldson + Partners following Russell Shubin departure

2024-02-01T15:31:00-05:00

Southern California architecture studio ShubinDonaldson has been renamed Donaldson + Partners following the departure of Founding Partner Russell Shubin. The firm, based in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, was founded in 1991 by Shubin alongside Robin Donaldson, who remains as a Founding Partner, Design Director, and Head of Studio, alongside Partner and Managing Director Mark Hershman.

“As Donaldson + Partners, we remain committed to delivering the same extraordinary architecture we have been privileged to create as ShubinDonaldson,” the firm said in an update on its website. “We wish Russell Shubin all the best as he departs for new endeavors and thank him for his contribution to the success of ShubinDonaldson.”

Related on Archinect: Explore Shubin Donaldson’s completed restoration of Richard Neutra’s Mariners Medical Arts building in Orange County. Image © Benny Chan Fotoworks

“It’s relatively easy to start a partnership, but it’s a lot harder to end or alter a partnership many yea...