Archinect - News

LA Clippers Arena: Inglewood City Council approves environmental report

2020-07-22T18:36:00-04:00

The Clippers’ plans for a billion-dollar arena complex moved closer to reality Tuesday after Inglewood’s City Council voted unanimously to approve the environmental impact report for the project. The approval came seven months after the release of the report, which spanned thousands of pages and required nearly two years to complete [...].

Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers

According to the Los Angeles Times, concerns over gentrification brought forward by local groups opposing the 18,000-seat Clippers Arena and nearby NFL SoFi Stadium development were ruled out by the report.

AECOM is the architect of the $1.2 billion arena complex proposal for the Steve Ballmer-owned NBA team.

Michael Maltzan Architecture announces plans for new Goethe-Institut headquarters in Los Angeles

2020-06-12T17:14:00-04:00

Michael Maltzan Architects has announced it is leading the design team for a new headquarters facility for the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.

The forthcoming headquarters is slated for a site in the city's rapidly gentrifying Westlake neighborhood just outside Downtown Los Angeles, where many market-rate and affordable housing developments are currently in the works and where cultural organizations, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, have expanded their footprints in recent years.

Previously on Archinect: "Michael Maltzan's Winnipeg Art Gallery Inuit Art Center set for late 2020 opening" Image courtesy Winnipeg Art Gallery.

According to an announcement published on the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles website, "The goal is to transform the setting into an interdisciplinary venue for art exhibitions, lectures, performances, film screenings, and other cultural events."

The statement continues: "MMA's projects cross a wide range of typologies, from housing to city infrastructure...

Los Angeles adopts all-electric, embodied carbon standards for municipal buildings

2020-02-12T13:52:00-05:00

With a new Executive Directive issued by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City of Los Angeles has become the latest California municipality to make a plan to decarbonize its municipal building stock.

Under the recently unveiled Executive Directive No. 25, L.A.'s Green New Deal: Leading By Example vision, the city will, among other broad efforts aimed at bringing environmental sustainability and economic and social justice initiatives to the fore, "ensure that all new municipally-owned buildings or major renovations be designed to reach carbon neutrality by 2030," according to the memo's text.

In addition, the directive will make the city the first in the state to adopt the guidelines of the Buy Clean California Act, a measure that indexes and rates on the embodied carbon of building materials for new building projects and renovations. The move aligns "procurement decisions for steel, flat glass, and mineral wool using Sate of California-adopted Global Warming Potential limits"...

High rise fire in LA could prompt city to close a fire sprinkler loophole

2020-01-30T13:27:00-05:00

Officials in Los Angeles are reconsidering closing a legal loophole that exempts tall buildings built between 1943 and 1974 from fire sprinkler requirements after an unsprinkled high rise apartment tower on the city's Westside caught fire yesterday for the second time in recent years, injuring a a 13 of people, including a three month old baby and one man who is listed as being in serious condition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the fire took place in a 25-story tower located in the Barrington Plaza complex, which is made up of three similar towers of differing heights surrounding a landscaped superblock site. The fire engulfed the sixth and seventh floors of the tallest tower and caused smoke damage to several floors in the development. According to The Los Angeles Times tenants in the building report a variety of maintenance issues in the complex, including a constantly broken elevator. A fire took place in the same building back in 2013 that apparently led to few safety or ...

10 residential projects in Los Angeles by LA architects we liked this month

2020-01-27T19:53:00-05:00

As part of Archinect's month-long Spotlight on Los Angeles, we have selected ten of our favorite residential projects across various cities and suburbs in Los Angeles County designed by practices with offices in LA.

While the region is bustling with stunning homes and raw design talent alike (too many to be featured here), we have focused our gaze on outstanding projects uploaded to LA-based Firm profiles here on Archinect.

Looking for architectural jobs in the region? Check out these firms that are currently hiring in the city and catch up also with our latest curated job picks specifically for Los Angeles.

If you missed last month's roundup of our favorite architectural projects in Austin by Austin architects, click here to take a peek.

↑ Morgan Phoa Library and Residence in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA by SPF:architects

↑ Mariposa1038 in Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects; Photo: Paul Vu

↑ Wonderland Houses in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, CA by MUTUO...

We've interviewed them, now go work for them! 11 of the most talented architecture firms in Los Angeles are hiring

2020-01-16T12:00:00-05:00

Continuing with our regional Spotlight on Los Angeles, we've selected 9 Los Angeles firms that are currently searching for the right candidate to join their team.

During any job search, learning about your future employer and the culture of the offices they run is key. For this week's selection of curated job picks, we have also included interviews, podcasts, and studio visits with the leaders of these firms. Collectively, they discuss their respective practice's histories, studio cultures, and projects.

Opened in 2003, Gehry also designed LA Phil's iconic home on Grand Avenue, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo: Giuseppe Milo/Flickr

Gehry Partners, LLP Seeks a Job Captain/Intermediate Architect, Senior Project Architect, Revit Content Specialist, and Project Architect/Senior Job Captain
Frank Gehry established his practice in Los Angeles, California in 1962. The Gehry partnership, Gehry Partners LLP, was formed in 2002 and currently supports a staff of over 130 persons engaged in...

Demolition of William Pereira-designed buildings gets underway at LACMA

2020-01-14T13:56:00-05:00

Demolition has started to take place at the existing Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LACMA) complex, where a collection of buildings designed by William Pereira and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates are expected to give way for a new structure designed by Atelier Peter Zumthor.

According to Urbanize.la, the institution began to demolish the existing complex as the new year got under way. The existing collection of Late Modernist and Postmodern buildings will be cleared to make room for a new single-level gallery space designed by Zumthor set to span over Wilshire Boulevard to the south.

The controversial plan for the 350,000-squar...

LA-based Bunch Design tackles SoCal's ADU market with BunchADU

2020-01-08T19:13:00-05:00

LA-based design firm, Bunch Design, led by husband and wife team Bo Sundius and Hisako Ichiki, have launched BunchADU, which focuses on custom and pre-designed Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). In response to the new demand for ADUs in California, BunchADU aims to design spaces that feel large and open.

Echo Park ADU.

"The sense of expansive space, careful use of light and color, moving partitions and high ceilings, all make the spaces feel large even when most of our ADU designs are under 800 square feet. The result is that the people who live and work in these small homes never feel like they are in a small space," said Bunch co-owner Hisako Ichiki about the firm's approach.

Highland Park ADU.

The duo have experienced the impact of ADUs first hand after they built one on their own property for parents who needed care. The result is a structure that gives back to the family and works as a means of added support as the family grows. Moreover, Sundius and Ichiki have sought to streamlin...

Are you a junior/intermediate architect looking for a job in Los Angeles? Check out these 8 firms currently hiring on Archinect Jobs

2020-01-08T13:21:00-05:00

It's 2020! The new year brings new employment opportunities and the potential for a fresh start at a new firm. Whether you're seeking to gain your first work experience or looking for a new office to grow with, this week's curated job picks focus on 8 firms searching for the right entry-level and intermediate candidates to join their team.

Following Archinect's January Spotlight on Los Angeles, check out these LA-based firms and the junior/intermediate job positions they're offering.

Eric Rosen Architects seeks a Junior/Intermediate Designer
Eric Rosen Architects is a creative architecture and interior design practice in Culver City, CA providing innovative solutions to both commercial and residential projects. The idea candidate is a Junior / Intermediate Designer with a strong work ethic who is creative, self-motivated, highly organized, personable, and can communicate clearly. Candidates should have a minimum 2 years of working experience in an architectural office along with: a ...

Plans for LA Clippers arena in Inglewood move ahead

2020-01-03T14:27:00-05:00

Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved fast-tracking the billion-dollar arena complex the Clippers want to build in Inglewood, as plans for the project continue to advance. [...] The Madison Square Garden Co., which owns the Forum less than two miles away, called the arena plan “deeply flawed” and pledged to continue its fight against the project.

Designs for the proposed $1.2 billion basketball arena by AECOM were first unveiled in July last year.

"The Clippers, owned by billionaire Steve Ballmer, will install 330 electric vehicle chargers at the arena, fund 1,000 residential chargers in the surrounding area, purchase two electric buses and 10 electric vehicles for Inglewood’s municipal fleet, and plant 1,000 trees as part of its agreement with CARB," Daily Breeze reports. "The arena is expected to meet a Gold standard under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program."

Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers

If approved and completed, the 18,000-seat venue would become the new Inglewood home of the Los Angeles Clippers, just in time for the 2024-25 NBA season and coinciding with the end of the team's lease with its current home, the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

The planned arena is located near the currently under-construction Los Angeles Rams football stadium designed by HKS...

Introducing Archinect’s Spotlight on Los Angeles

2020-01-02T13:45:00-05:00

Happy New Year!

For the month of January, Archinect is shifting its spotlight series to Los Angeles, the country’s second largest city, and the urban area home to some of the nation’s leading architecture firms, advocacy groups, and educational institutions. Los Angeles is, of course, known the world over for its sunshine and auto-centric urban planning, but we hope that over the course of the next few weeks, we can help shed a new light on some of the less well-known practices, building approaches, and educational initiatives that are currently taking shape here.

The L.A. focus follows December’s Spotlight on Austin, a collection of stories that highlighted some of the Lone Star State’s unique contributions to American design and building culture. A few highlights:

SoCal-Las Vegas Virgin bullet train to begin construction next year

2019-12-19T09:00:00-05:00

While construction on the long-talked-about high-speed train between Las Vegas and Southern California is slated to begin next year, work probably won’t start in Nevada until the following year. Virgin Trains USA could break ground in the second half of 2020 on the 170-mile route between Southern Nevada and the Victor Valley area of Southern California...

The project is expected to be completed in 2023, but, according to state Department of Business Director Terry Reynolds, it cannot commence construction until the "record of decision" is received by the Federal Railroad Administration, reports Review-Journal.

Remembering the civic architecture of Paul Revere Williams

2019-12-18T18:55:00-05:00

A new episode of the Lost LA series on Los Angeles channel KCET highlights the civic architecture of noted and prolific architect Paul Revere Williams.

Williams, who built over 3,000 structures over a more than 50-year-long long career, is largely known for designing stylistically eclectic Hollywood movie star houses, but the breadth and scope of his legacy far exceeds works that simply cater to the rich and famous. Instead, Williams, who was posthumously awarded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal in 2017, worked across styles, building types, and formal approaches to arrive at one of the most diverse and visionary bodies of work of any American architect of the 20th Century.

During his time, Williams helped design key components of the Los Angeles International Airport complex, for example, as well as the Pueblo del Rio housing projects, the Founder's Church of Religious Science, and a number of public schools, churches, and commercial structures for communities...

Eric Owen Moss-designed (W)RAPPER: tower construction goes vertical

2019-12-17T13:45:00-05:00

A year after breaking ground at 5790 W. Jefferson Boulevard, the arrival of a tower crane signals that construction is ramping up at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper development. The project, located just west of Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station, is being developed by Samitaur Constructs - the local real estate investment firm behind a slew of abstract office complexes in Culver City's Hayden Tract.

The exoskeleton wrapping the 17-story tower like giant rubber bands enables the interior spaces to be column-free, some even with double-height ceilings, reports Urbanize LA.

Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com

Expected to be a key anchor building near LA's La Cienega/Jefferson Metro Station, the 180,548-square-foot (W)RAPPER tower is only a stone's throw away from other Eric Owen Moss-designed developments, like Hayden Tract, Pterodactyl Office, Gateway/Samitaur Tower, and the award-winning restaurant Vespertine in nearby Culver City.

Gabrielle Bullock named AIA’s 2020 Whitney M. Young Award recipient

2019-12-12T15:43:00-05:00

NOMAArchitect and equity and inclusion advocate Gabrielle Bullock has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The award, which has been given out since 1972, according to the AIA website, “distinguishes an architect or architectural organization that embodies social responsibility and actively addresses a relevant issue, such as affordable housing, inclusiveness, or universal access.”

An AIA announcement highlighting Bullock’s selection reads: “A consummate innovator in areas of equity and inclusion, Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA, has forged a new path for the future of the profession. Her voice as a leader has reverberated throughout her firm and the design community, leading to palpable changes and the realization that a more just and equitable profession is within reach.”

Director of Global Diversity at Perkins+Will: Work-Life Balance Isn't Just a Health Issue – It's About Talent Retention

Bullock is currently ...

Bel Air 'Chartwell' mansion sells for $150M, now the priciest home in California

2019-12-12T14:35:00-05:00

Some know it as “The Beverly Hillbillies” mansion, others as Chartwell. Now, it has a new name: California’s chart-topper. The Bel-Air residence of late media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio has sold for the highest price in California history, about $150 million. The buyer is Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and co-chairman of publishing company News Corp., The Times has confirmed.

The spacious estate at 875 Nimes Road in Bel Air, also known as "The Beverly Hillbillies" mansion from the 1960s TV show, finally changed owners for an undisclosed amount, which sources familiar with the deal told the LA Times, was around $150 million.

While the deal would easily beat the previous California record setter, the 123-room Spelling Manor which sold for $120 million in July this year, the Chartwell selling price still comes in roughly $200 million under the original $350 million asking price for which the property came up for sale in 2017—and considerably lower than the $238 million penthouse in the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 220 Central Park South luxury condo tower in New York City, the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S.

Weiss/Manfredi to lead La Brea Tar Pits overhaul in Los Angeles

2019-12-11T18:14:00-05:00

A design team led by interdisciplinary, New York City-based architecture and landscape firm Weiss/Manfredi has been selected to reinterpret the La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum building in Los Angeles.

The design team includes experiential designers Imaginary Forces, horticulturist and water conservation experts Perry and Associates Collaborative, paleobotanist Carole Gee, artist Mark Dion, and Michael Bierut of Pentagram. Locally, the team will draw on the expertise of Brenda Levin of Levin & Associates for architectural and historic preservation assistance, among others that have yet to be announced.

The Lake Pit at La Brea Tar Pits features a trio of fiberglass mammoths that will be preserved by the selected scheme. Courtesy of La Brea Tar Pits.

Upgrading and Expanding the Museum and Site

The project seeks to repurpose, upgrade, and expand the 1970s-era George C. Page Museum building, a partially submerged paleontological and educational complex designed by Los Angele...

L.A.'s 6th Street Bridge: Built by (some) women

2019-12-11T13:36:00-05:00

The 6th Street Bridge team of 170 includes 15 women — the most on any commercial project in Los Angeles and nearly double the Department of Labor’s participation goal of 6.9% female crew members.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the relatively high proportion of women construction workers helping to build the Michael Maltzan Architecture-designed 6th Street Bridge in Los Angeles. The bridge is being constructed via a joint venture between Skanska and Stacy and Witbeck. Skanska recently redesigned some of its construction site protective equipment to make the items safer for women to use

According to Bureau of Labor statistics cited in the article, the construction industry represents a rare bright spot for women with regards to pay equity, where women make 100.8% as much as men do.

Describing the number of women who are working on the project, Rosa Garcia, a carpenter on the project, told The Los Angeles Times, “There’s been jobs where there’s been 800 guys and one female — and I’ve been the only female. This is the first project that I walked on to where I couldn’t believe how many women I saw.”

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...

LA releases ambitious zero emissions transportation targets for 2028

2019-12-05T20:07:00-05:00

Last week the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and its partners released the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap 2.0 which seeks to accelerate the deployment of zero-emissions electric cars, buses and trucks, and charging stations across Los Angeles.

"Our Roadmap 2.0 charts a course toward a healthier region with a cleaner transit network," said Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti in a statement, "[it] draws up a blueprint for cities worldwide to follow, so all of us can invest in the smart policies and green energy that will strengthen our families' well-being and quality of life for generations to come," he continued.

The plan comes as an embodiment of the commitment from members the Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) to develop policies, establish pilots, and discover strategies to realist the targets in the Roadmap.

According to LACI, the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap aims to go 25 percent beyond the existing commitments tied to California state law and the Paris Climate Accor...