After breaking ground in late 2018 and topping out nearly one year later, the OMA/Shohei Shigematsu-designed Audrey Irmas Pavilion at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles is increasingly taking shape.
The $75 million expansion — OMA's first building in the city — will house a chapel and terrace, a grand ballroom, meeting rooms, performance spaces, and a rooftop sky garden.
Gruen Associates is the executive architect, Studio-MLA designed the sunken garden, and Arup is the structural and facade engineer on the project.
The new building is expected to open in early 2022.
Photographer Hunter Kerhart has shared a few more recent construction photos over at Urbanize LA.
12 Comments
Hmm... Interesting choice to move from a uniform panel coloration to something that appears to correspond with the angle of the window unit. Not sure this already busy façade needs that other layer of information applied to it. I prefer the neutral coloration in the renderings, definitely not quiet, but quieter...
there are score marks on each panel that are not visible from these images whose different orientations create the illusion that each is a different color... rumor has it that these were supposed to be all the same orientation to create the uniform coloration visible in the renderings, but somehow that was lost in translation or coordination to whomever fabricated the panels
that actually sounds like a nice effect then, by accident
I think I'd prefer the striations on each panel to all align regardless of the panel orientation, but I can see how this might have been a cost-savings measure. As it is, it looks like the panels are basically all the same (striations oriented along the long edge of rectangular opening) and just rotated differently. Getting all the striations to be oriented the same way (e.g. horizontally) would require a few different panels with different molds, etc. Could also make replacing broken panels or damaged panels during construction more costly too. Makes me wonder if this was a VE line item.
I think it was intentional:
I think you're right about the orientation. From what I remember my sources telling to me there weren't originally supposed to be grooves in the panels and looking at the more recent renderings like this one it looks like it was supposed to be a complementary stone to the banding on the main temple building (probably VE'd to precast panels like mentioned above).
It's a nice effect, regardless.
What's conspicuously missing from this rendering however, are the reflections from the windows from the new pavilion on the main temple that you start to see at this time of day when the sun is moving into the western portion of the sky. It's not a critique per se, just interesting to see how buildings evolve from representation to final construction. Anyway... usually these types of things can cause controversy (remember the Rafael Viñoly building that melted a car in London?? ... museum tower in Dallas and the Nasher Sculpture Center) ...but apparently from what I'm told, the temple doesn't mind the effect of the reflections either, so another happy accident I suppose. :)
I think I like it, but the interior is going to be either terrible or very cool. No middle ground with those whacky windows
OMA's building are almost always better when they are finished so I refrain from commenting on how awful they appear in concept and construction.
well their latest building in Berlin suuuuuuuuuuucks, OMA not what it used to be
It talks nicely to the surrounding city and the buildings, especially to the temple, all framed beautifully and specifically. Definitely an intelligent addition to Wilshire Blvd. Looking forward to seeing it someday.
Does anyone else remember when the temple sold a Cy Twombly painting to (partially) finance this project?
https://www.artnews.com/art-ne...
https://la.curbed.com/2015/9/16/9920672/wilshire-boulevard-temple-cy-twombly-painting-rem-koolhaas
Love it or hate it, I am happy to see OMA finally has a presence in LA.
I like the massing and the patterning with the rotating striations, just hope they can solve the edges.
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