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Tom Wiscombe Architecture (TWA) is an internationally recognized architecture practice known for its powerful massing, alluring graphic qualities, and tectonic inventiveness. We have expertise in civic, entertainment, cultural, and housing projects, and we are known for our radical integration of ecological thinking and technology in our built work.
We approach each project as a set of lively, discrete entities that interact with the things of the surrounding world as intensely as they do with each other. Ground objects, interior volumes, circulation elements, surface figuration, and exterior massing are considered non-hierarchically and individually, as if they were independent objects within a curated collection. This avoids the routine ideology of unified, internally derivative design outcomes to produce buildings that are experientially surprising, technologically novel, and formally innovative.
Our projects include the recently completed Dark Chalet, located on Summit Powder Mountain – one of several buildings for the founder of the largest independent solar power developer in the United States. This project is 362% energy positive, using a proprietary, fully integrated solar PV array which operates as a virtual power plant. Also nearing completion is the Sunset Spectacular, located on iconic Sunset Boulevard, which combines architecture, media art, light, and sound into a new type of civic space for the 21st century. The Sunset Spectacular is fit together out of overscaled prefabricated components and represents a new take on modular construction. TWA’s Earth Protector series, a speculative project completed in 2020, takes on the housing and energy crises of Los Angeles at the scale of the urban district. Rather than the typical cycle of demolition and new construction, the project lands on top of the existing city like a giant awning over the civic realm, providing massive zones of outdoor shade below, abundant housing above, and embedded inner-city solar fields along its outer faces.
We have been honored with many AIA Design Awards, including two prestigious Honor Awards for the Sunset Spectacular (2017) and the Dark Chalet (2020). Our work is part of the permanent collection of the FRAC Centre Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA San Francisco, and MoMA New York.
Founder and Principal Tom Wiscombe, AIA, combines renowned design expertise with a deep knowledge of construction and project delivery gleaned from a thirty-year professional career. His experience includes designing and executing complex, iconic projects in Europe, including BMW World, Munich, and the Museum of Confluences in Lyon.
2404 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4B
Los Angeles, CA, US , 90057
213-674-7238
