Architect Frank Gehry has unveiled a revised design for 8150 Sunset - a proposed mixed-use housing complex near the eastern terminus of the Sunset Strip.
The project [...] calls for the construction of two mid-rise structures containing 203 residential units - a portion of which would be set aside as workforce and affordable housing - above 57,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
Gehry's ongoing 8150 Sunset project in Los Angeles first appeared on Archinect in March 2015 with initial renderings following in August that year.
Urbanize Los Angeles reports that the revised design was the result of conditions of approval imposed by LA's City Council in 2016.
For comparison, here's the initially proposed design published in 2015:
5 Comments
The new design looks very VE'd. Fatter, squared off buildings and an lower priced cladding system.
It looks like they asked FOG to cut all of the architecture and joy out. It's not like there is a context to offend with the previous version.
The change requirements led to reduced yield so the budget dropped and this is where it landed? Or does LA really want to make sure there are more square buildings (cuz there aren't enough of them yet)?
Actually there's plenty of context. Not all is architectural, or uniform, or contiguous, or pedigreed, or extant. But that part of the city (cities, actually) is very rich historically, culturally, socially, and (sometimes) architecturally. Just the site itself has a rich background.
from the article there was something there for sure, FOG claims to be responding to it even. What does this version do I wonder that the previous one did not? The basic arrangement if not the exact massing is unchanged, the historic building that was going to be torn down is still going to be torn down. So how is this working better for the context? Its a weird one, on the face of it.
Don't mistake my comment noting a complex site and surrounding context as any defense of Frank's project, Will. I was just pointing out that there's a lot to this particular place that may not make it into aerial photos and renderings, that's all.
Part of the just the physical context here (this block and those around it) is the jumble of forms and activities at a very visible location: end of the Sunset Strip, boundary between LA and West Hollywood, foot of the Hollywood hills, location at two major circulation arteries, hodgepodge of building types, wide range of land uses. Indeed, the seemingly deliberate lack of any architectural continuity is a characteristic. In that way, he could claim that this project fits right in. And that could be a valid claim, maybe. But the scale of this thing is huge, and that's definitely a break.
The dumbing down/ VE'ing of the recent version noted above makes it less interesting, I agree.
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