Grimshaw has revealed its design for a new 16-studio production campus to be located in Downtown LA’s Arts District.

The project will transform a disused 15-acre industrial site that was recently purchased by East End Studios. According to Urbanize LA, the site will also include four office buildings totaling 292,000 square feet, another 106,000 square feet of production spaces in addition to the total 321,000 square feet of studios, and below-ground parking that will allow for 1,327 vehicles daily. In addition to Grimshaw, Studio-MLA has been attached to provide a landscaped connection to the intersection of 6th and Alameda streets, with a new open public space sited along Mill Street to the eastern side of the new “campus on top” studios. 

“By taking a vertical approach to the campus design, we free up valuable land area for larger studios and base camps while also creating better pedestrian and vehicular circulation between the soundstages and creative workplace space,” Grimshaw Partner Andrew Byrne explained. 

The project will also provide crucial infrastructure to the entertainment capital at a critical time. As FilmLA president Paul Audley explained to the LA Times recently: “We’ve seen streaming growing at an average rate of 35% a year. Even if that backs off, which some people are now predicting, we still don’t have enough stage space to deal with that.”

The site had previously been subject of a $2 billion mixed-use scheme from Herzog & de Meuron dubbed ‘6AM’ that would have included 1,736 residential units along with a similar amount of office space by the year 2035 before being called off prior to the East End sale. 

Financial details were not available at press time, but developers said they anticipate a two-year process to be commenced following the project’s approval by the city, which is expected to come by the end of 2024.