Archinect - News

Wilshire Grand, the tallest building in Los Angeles, lights up over the weekend

2017-06-26T15:57:00-04:00

Nearly a fifth of a mile up in the sky atop Los Angeles’ tallest building, two massive LED displays — each 42 by 60 feet — sit dormant, ready to beam messages out across the city. The screens consist of 250 million pixels, each no bigger than a pea, ready to explode with vibrant oranges, blues and greens once the sun sets and the building begins to glow.

Los Angeles's tallest building, the Wilshire Grand, finally opened it's doors this past Friday. Standing at 1,100 feet, it is the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. Beyond it's height, the tower is bringing something else new to the downtown skyline with two massive LED displays and roughly 2.5 miles of LEDS running up and down its spine.

In 2011, the LA City Council approved a plan to designate the area of Wilshire Grand and its surroundings as a sign district which would allow buildings to have LED Displays, including some for elaborate advertising. Though it had its opponents, backers claim this will bring an energy to the area akin to Times Square or Tokyo. The display screen atop will flash the logo for Korean Airlines, who owns the building, and for the InterContinental Hotel, which is a key tenant. It is also envisioned to have special displays for key events like holidays or a hypothetical Lakers Champion win. At street-level, a sign with static advertise...

L.A.'s skyline gets its crown as Wilshire Grand, tallest building west of the Mississippi, tops out at 1,100 feet

2016-09-06T13:22:00-04:00

The sail and the spire challenged the best intentions of city planners, the fire department and the architectural community, who believed that a 1974 building code requiring helicopter landing pads on all buildings higher than 75 feet should be inviolable. [...] A.C. Martin Partners, however, argued that the Wilshire Grand should change the status quo, and they took their inspiration in part from the ziggurat-inspired crown of City Hall, which their firm had designed in the 1920s.

For more on L.A.'s changing downtown:

Wilshire Grand Tower, the West Coast's tallest building, structurally tops out in LA

2016-03-10T15:36:00-05:00

Workers, architects and engineers gathered Tuesday afternoon to celebrate a milestone in the construction of Los Angeles’ most notable skyscraper at the corner of Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard. The ceremony, known as the topping out, marks completion of the building’s central core: a pillar of concrete that rises more than 892 feet from the foundation.[...] Upon completion, the Wilshire Grand will rise 1,100 feet and be the tallest building west of Chicago.

LA's Wilshire Grand previously in the Archinect news:

The daring men building LA's New Wilshire Grand tower

2015-01-07T20:31:00-05:00

The elevator doors snap shut behind Otto Solis and his fellow ironworkers. With a quick shudder, gears kick in for a rattling 90-second ascent through the concrete structure rising at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles. The men huddle in the confined space. Wearing hard hats, bandannas, kneepads and gloves, they look like gladiators ready to fight.

Downtown LA to set record for world's largest concrete pour

2014-02-14T15:31:00-05:00

The latest addition to the Los Angeles skyline — the New Wilshire Grand, the tallest structure to be built west of the Mississippi — takes a major step forward Saturday when more than 2,000 truckloads of concrete are driven through downtown for what is being billed as the world's largest continuous concrete pour. The slurry-fest begins at 5 p.m. and is expected to last nearly 20 hours.