OMA New York have released an update on their Audrey Irmas Pavilion taking shape in Los Angeles, California. The scheme, designed for the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, is OMA’s first cultural building in California, and the first religious institution building in the firm’s portfolio.
Having been selected for the scheme’s design in 2015, OMA have progressed construction of the scheme through the COVID-19 pandemic. “The making of the Audrey Irmas Pavilion sustained forward momentum through the COVID-19 Pandemic, a period in which the act of human interaction was questioned and contemplated,” explains Shohei Shigematsu, the OMA Partner in charge of the project. “Its completion comes at a time where we hope to come together again, and this building can be a platform to reinstate the importance of gathering, exchange, and communal spirit.”
The 55,000-square-foot pavilion sits adjacent to the center’s domed temple, seeking to form a “civic anchor” for the religious community which blends contemporary forms with a respect for historic traditions. The design for the pavilion began as a simple box, which was then shaped and adapted in response to its urban context. On the west side, the pavilion slopes away from the existing temple to frame a new courtyard between the buildings. The pavilion also leans south, away from a historic school, further activating an existing courtyard with increased natural light. Meanwhile, along Wilshire Boulevard itself, the building leans outwards to establish a strong urban presence.
Internally, the pavilion consists of three distinct gathering spaces expressed as voids puncturing through the building: a large main event space, a medium-sized chapel and terrace, and a small-scale sunken garden. The three spaces interlock and stack on top of one another to establish vantage points across each space, while a series of openings filter light through the pavilion, and frame views of the surrounding buildings.
“We assembled a constellation of spaces, distinct in form, scale, and aura,” Shigematsu explains. “An extruded vault enveloped in wood establishes a multi-functional, central gathering space and connective spine; a trapezoidal void draws tones from the Temple dome and frames its arched, stained-glass windows; and a circular sunken garden provides an oasis and passage to a roof terrace overlooking LA. Three interconnected voids make the solid form of the Pavilion strategically yet surprisingly porous, engaging the campus and the city. The Pavilion will support both old and new activities, values, and traditions to foster a renewed energy for gathering.”
The ground floor of the pavilion features a vaulted, column-free main event space that echoes the dome of the historic building, while on the second level, a trapezoidal chapel and terrace face west, framing the arched stained-glass windows of the temple. At the building's summit, a third void contains a sunken garden that connects smaller meeting rooms on the third floor to a rooftop event space with views across Los Angeles.
Externally, the pavilion’s façade draws from the geometries of the temple’s domed interior. A single hexagon unit with a rectangular window is rotated across the façade to create a distinct pattern, formed of 1,230 GFRC panels. The tonality and materiality of the panels also vary to echo the worn texture of the existing temple, with further alterations created depending on the time of day or orientation of each individual panel.
The building is expected to open in January 2022. News of the scheme comes one week after OMA revealed their design for a new office building in Amsterdam with a woven brick facade. The firm has also recently unveiled their smallest ever project: a new Amex Centurion card in collaboration with American Express.
Last month saw a series of construction milestones for OMA, with their steel-frame Albright-Knox museum expansion topping out in Buffalo, New York, and the AMO-designed flagship store for Virgil Abloh’s Off-White opening in Paris.
10 Comments
One of the NY office's more intriguing works. They've been doing way too many multifamilies and stacked trussed box kitsch recently.
How is this a “religious” building, other than the client is a Jewish congregation? Is it in some way reflective of the values of the religion? Is there any symbolism whatsoever? How is this building formally different than, say, a concert hall or a museum?
Details and materiality on this one turned out rather surprisingly nice actually. Don't live in LA, not commenting on the program/context etc., but from a construction point of view looks like OMA/Gruen pulled a quality job above US standards here.
It would be nice to be able to do a project like this that does not seem to have any usable space and as the designer mentions, is a ":constellation" of stuff thrown together, cuz that's what it looks like. That's probably also the reason no sections or plans have been shown here, as they would reveal how wasteful and pointless this is.
here is something...via @orhan's link
The glorious security fence and the main entrance gate. A sure way to fuck up a potentially good public space and in an urban context.
With all of the anti-Semitism, to be expected, no?
Sure, but you can go up to the entrance door of the main temple. The building could be designed differently with security and isolation in mind like the American embassies. This one is definitely an afterthought because the building is configured to have public access to that in-between space which is a major component of the design and the peel back. I am sure this was played against the OMA's wishes but it really compromised the concept of the building. They paid millions for the building, they could easily come up with a live 24/7 security budget. So what the city gets? A sheet metal fence. Nevertheless, "I think" the fence is to block homeless encampments in the area. It is, however, an interesting building, to say the least.
Mimi Zeiger wrote a really good article on it in AN. https://www.archpaper.com/2021...
i don't know it's a bit too restrained for my taste
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