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in search of noteworthy concrete buildings/structures in so-california

hi,
i am searching for fairly recent buildings that utilizes concrete as the main material in so-cal area (something i can go visit with my car and take pictures) to include in a survey/commentary type of article i am working on for an international publication that advocates and emphasizes the use of this material.
i, so far, thought of freeway/bridge structures, tilt up buildings, los angeles river, usual suspects like flw, llyod wright, j. lautner et al, and some older buildings that have precast concrete panel facades.
it could be a fragment, public art, and any other building type.
if you know of such structure/building or working on one , please let me know either by e mail or by posting here so other readers can also know about them.
thanks, i appreciated.

 
Apr 26, 07 3:10 pm
emaze

Neutra beach houses in Ja Jolla?

Apr 26, 07 3:34 pm  · 
 · 
emaze

(not recent...)

Apr 26, 07 3:34 pm  · 
 · 
Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

Not exactly current, but I've always liked Schindler's Lovell Beach House.

Apr 26, 07 3:39 pm  · 
 · 
Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

(great minds think alike)

Apr 26, 07 3:43 pm  · 
 · 

actually at this point i'd like to lift time constraints on the request. please post buildings and not think of the time it was built. also it could include some projects not build yet or were rejected after it was designed. thanks again.

Apr 26, 07 3:44 pm  · 
 · 
emaze

right, i ment Schindler

R.M. Schindler
(1887-1953)

Pueblo Ribera Courts
230-48 Gravilla, La Jolla, CA (1923-1930)

Apr 26, 07 3:51 pm  · 
 · 
A Center for Ants?

moneo's los angeles cathedral, kahn's salk institute...

Apr 26, 07 4:12 pm  · 
 · 
mdler
Apr 26, 07 4:14 pm  · 
 · 

mdler,
when are you guys scheduled to finish the remodel?

Apr 26, 07 4:24 pm  · 
 · 
R.A. Rudolph

ucsd library

Apr 26, 07 5:12 pm  · 
 · 
strlt_typ

sci-arc building

Apr 26, 07 5:16 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

orhan,

????



crazy client always changing his mind...we should talk, though, if you are interrested in the project

Apr 26, 07 5:58 pm  · 
 · 

wow, thanks r.a. rudolph.
that building is amazing.
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/services/info/struct.html

Apr 26, 07 6:06 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

if you make it up to SF...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paffard_Keatinge-Clay




also, the Pasadena Presbyterian Church -

Apr 26, 07 6:38 pm  · 
 · 
R.A. Rudolph

yes probably influenced me in some not so subtle way to become an architect - i took classes at ucsd in high school and i loved hanging out in that library, though it's not so great on the inside (furnishings). it's a lot better in person too and right near the salk, worth checking out.

lots of cool semi-brutal buildings (& art) at ucsd, including a tim hawkinson sculpture somewhere that I haven't seen yet:

http://aal.ucsd.edu/pub/archpath.html

the same architect did the addition to the LA Times building downtown, which I also love (bronze metal office block inserted into concrete bldg)

Apr 26, 07 6:56 pm  · 
 · 
myriam

Neutra's Lovell (Health) House. My personal obsession.

Apr 26, 07 7:05 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Orhan,

At the northeast corner of Pico and Beverly Drive there's a very cool 7-story office building of what looks to be poored-in-place, though parts of it may be precast... I can't tell. Anyway, it was clearly designed by somebody enamored of Corbu at Chandigarh. Expressionistic stair tower, upward-sweeping roof parapet, brise-soleil, all the components are there, but configured for a mid-rise office tower. Well worth a look, and some of its more delicate proportions demonstrate that not all big concrete buildings are necessarily brutalist.

Enjoy!

Apr 26, 07 7:20 pm  · 
 · 
mdlerweed

tumbles

that looks nice...

Apr 26, 07 7:32 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

i'm there...

concrete + nudity + cantilievered steel stairs....

Apr 26, 07 7:44 pm  · 
 · 

great suggestions. this is turning into a nice reference thread on california concrete building guide or something. thanks.

citizen, i know that building. it does always remind me corbu or louis sert too.
there is also a nice precast concrete screenn building on the south west side of mc arthur park on wilshire blvd. it is across the street from old otis parsons gallery building. anybody remember the name of that building? i can't. i also saw an ad here when archinect members were looking for office mate in that building last year. great building, great office..

there is this concrete tilt up house around venice canals by david hertz who was my classmate at sci arc. david has became quite an expert on concrete over the years. besides i found it not well resolved it's relationship to street etc., and it is little too design/detail happy for my taste, nevertheless i think it is noteworthy for its use of tilt up technic for a building that size. even though it is a little force fed.
http://www.syndesisinc.com/index-syndesis.html

thumble, that esalen tub.. an american zumthor? ;.) very nice..

Apr 26, 07 7:55 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

Orhan

look at Carl Maston....

do you need some names of concrete guys in LA that you can talk to???

I have another project under construction (just poured the walls and slab last week...kickass board formed)

Apr 26, 07 7:58 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

By the way, if the conversation is expanded to include older buildings, how about those amazing tower-slab storage buildings from the 1930s? Some of them are astonishing, reminiscent of Sant' Elia during the 1910s. Especially: Highland Avenue just south of Santa Monica Blvd, and Virgil Avenue (I think), just south of Beverly Blvd.

Apr 26, 07 8:12 pm  · 
 · 

sure..
and this is something i was an essential part of.
a detached addition to a fog house

Apr 26, 07 8:16 pm  · 
 · 
Say No to Student Loans

The Getty Villa in Malibu has some of the best concrete/formwork I've seen.

Apr 26, 07 9:38 pm  · 
 · 

true. The Getty Villa

Apr 26, 07 9:57 pm  · 
 · 
Alan Loomis

Saladang Song at 383 S Fair Oaks in Pasadena by Tolkin Architecture - games with tilt-up techniques. Good food, too.

I think the MacArthur Park building you refer to is called something descriptive like "The American Concrete Building".

Come visit our offices at the Glendale Muncipal Services Building (although, weirdly enough, the concrete pilotis are a fireproofing material - the structure is actually steel, which you can now see since the foundations are exposed for the installation of base isolators).

Apr 27, 07 1:50 am  · 
 · 

thanks alan.
the Saladang Song restaurant looks really good. nice use of tilt up which is usually doomed as warehause space.
Glendale Muncipal Services Building is really a gem.
there is a building overlooking lafayette park, few blocks west of mc arthur park, has a lifted up base like the glendala muni building where i use to take my lunch brakes when i had an office in historical granada building.
thanks for the american concrete building, also.

these are the unsung heroes of los angeles modernism that often gets overlooked. there are a lot of great buildings like that.

Apr 27, 07 11:56 am  · 
 · 




"At the northeast corner of Pico and Beverly Drive there's a very cool 7-story office building of what looks to be poored-in-place, though parts of it may be precast... I can't tell. Anyway, it was clearly designed by somebody enamored of Corbu at Chandigarh. Expressionistic stair tower, upward-sweeping roof parapet, brise-soleil, all the components are there, but configured for a mid-rise office tower. Well worth a look, and some of its more delicate proportions demonstrate that not all big concrete buildings are necessarily brutalist."
by citizen

Apr 29, 07 12:48 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Thanks for the nice illustrations, Ohran... also, for not pointing out my spelling error: "poored-in-place" is more fiscal policy than building material.

Apr 29, 07 7:03 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

I had lunch at Saladang Song yesterday

Apr 29, 07 11:35 pm  · 
 · 

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