LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[ladowntowner]

^ So from the same architect San Fransisco got the wonderful Transamerica Pyramid while Los Angeles got the formerly awful Transamerica building. Bah!!! Typical. Not to completely blame the architect since I'm sure building codes in L.A. had a lot to do with limiting creativity, hence the flat roof vs. the pyramid for example, but the choice of color and facade texture would've likely been under his discretion. Apparently, the "floating floor" at the top was his attempt at making a code dictated boxy structure unique and "Space-Aged™" , but it always looked tacky to me. Just my anti-Googie bias manifesting itself...

[LongBeachUrbanist]

^ William Pereira (the architect of both TA buildings) is, IMHO, responsible for some of ugliest buildings in California. As a former UC Irvine student, I spent way too much of my time in Mr. Pereira's concrete-turd structures.

IOW, from my perspective, the Pyramid was the exception for Pereira, not the rule.

[ladowntowner]

^ I cannot disagree with anything you've said above, LBU. I'm just lamenting the fact that L.A. was unable to nab that exception rather than San Fransisco, and in it's place received a dog that had to be "reinvented" to make it contemporarily palatable.

Classically good, tasteful design withstands the test of time - IOW it is ageless and cannot, nor needs not be improved upon. Cartoonish Googie architecture started with coffee shops and fast food joints and should have remained in that temporary, disposable realm, IMHO. Geez, does this make me a snob of sorts? Yikes!

[ladowntowner]

On another note, would I be roughly correct in assuming that the Ritz Carlton/Marriott tower is at about the halfway mark in height? Seeing as the floor plates are ~40% smaller from here on out the rest should fly up even faster than the first 50%.

It's one of my first weekdays at home in some time (vacation) and they've been really noisy at the site all morning! Oh, and I'm sure to the great relief of some posters here, it looks as if they've somehow managed to clean some of the glass on the lower floors facing Olympic!!! Hallelujah!!! Glory be thy name!!!

[DowntownCharlieBrown]

Originally Posted by ladowntowner

^ I cannot disagree with anything you've said above, LBU. I'm just lamenting the fact that L.A. was unable to nab that exception rather than San Fransisco, and in it's place received a dog that had to be "reinvented" to make it contemporarily palatable.

While you and some others really didn't like the architecture of the original building, I think most people like it now because it cleaned up so well. The building really became dingy over the years and a good cleaning was long overdue.

At least if they would have left the top floor as originally designed, we would have retained a piece of LA architecture history. Remember, this was once the tallest building in LA.

What could have been:

colemonkee (original image has been altered)

Geez, does this make me a snob of sorts?

Too early to call.

[colemonkee]

^ I like that so much better. It really accentuates the flying buttresses, and gets rid of the solid glass walls on the north and south sides that look a little awkward with the current configuration. Nice work, DTCB.

[RuFFy]

Colemonkey: That's exactly the building I was talking about. I wouldn't have known the same guy was responsible for both buildings..

As far as the "AT&T" I would have liked for them to have fixed the crown as DCB did above. I'm not too excited about the blue glass but I guess I can see why they used it. I'm reserving final judgment for the Ritz glass because I'm also not too sure about it, but we'll see.

[colemonkee]

I'm torn on the Ritz Glass right now as well. It's growing on me as they clean the bottom floors, but I'd rather the glass be a bit more transparent, especially in the sections with the alternating fenestration and color. If they let it be more transparent, it would look more like a horizontal version of Ian Simpson's Holloway Circus in Birmingham, UK.

Right now that section looks like all spandrel glass to me. And I've never been too fond of spandrel glass.

A glass of beer on the other hand...

[ladowntowner]

^ That is a nice photoshop job, DTCB! As colemonkee said, it does appear less awkward and cobbled that way. You have some valid points, too. The building was dingy, but I think a fairly cruddy color scheme was chosen for it originally and the current appearance is not simply the result of a cleaning, but rather a recladding and/or refinishing of some sort using different materials and/or colors.

IMHO, your photoshop job wonderfully illustrates how bad the original colors/materials were, which went a long way in making the building look even worse and just how much those changes alone - without significantly altering the basic structure of the crown - would've improved the building.

And also as colemonkee said earlier, the new iteration gives the owners an extra floor of premium space to lease out, making the tower more economically viable. Actually, two floors, since I bet the restaurant (Windows) wasn't bringing in nearly what these two floors of penthouse office suites will.

Do any of us really want the return of this, history or no?

[ladowntowner]

Am I the only one who's not feeling the finish being applied to Concerto on the lower floors (so far)? I don't care for the silver reflective glass and even less for the dark gray or black perforated "cracked-ice" panels bordering each floor:



Maybe it's too early to say for sure, but it looks kinda hideous as far as I'm concerned. Apologies on the image quality as it was snapped with my cell phone earlier today.

[Quixote]

^ I like it... a lot. It's a nice departure from the all-too-common glass box we're seeing so much of these days.

[dktshb]

I'm liking it a lot and thinking the finished prodcut will add variety and yet compliment the other towers in the vicinity.

[Kingofthehill]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=156028

[DJM19]

I was kinda hoping the glass would be clearer

[hughfb3]

^^What's interesting is the panels that surround the windows have many small holes. Im wondering if they are the substitute for opening windows, maybe they allow a screened breeze without letting "The Elements" in?!?

[Wright Concept]

Originally Posted by ladowntowner

^ I cannot disagree with anything you've said above, LBU. I'm just lamenting the fact that L.A. was unable to nab that exception rather than San Fransisco, and in it's place received a dog that had to be "reinvented" to make it contemporarily palatable.

Classically good, tasteful design withstands the test of time - IOW it is ageless and cannot, nor needs not be improved upon. !

Go to 6th/Grand to find another Perrira building that is a good urban design for the skyscraper.

[ladowntowner]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

^ I like it... a lot. It's a nice departure from the all-too-common glass box we're seeing so much of these days.

What's ironic about this is that, so far, it appears to be shaping up as much more of a plain glass box than, say, 717 Olympic (which turned out surprisingly nice - beyond my expectations for a stucco-finished tower). Concerto just has these odd, perforated, contrasting cracked-ice like bands on each floor. It looks more like an office building at this point than a residential tower. I will reserve further judgment until more work is completed.

Originally Posted by DJM19

I was kinda hoping the glass would be clearer

Glass that is more transparent does have a certain appeal, especially in a residential building, but glass with higher reflectivity will reduce energy costs, mainly in the form of cooling, which I imagine can be considerable with this type of building when it uses transparent glass. Think greenhouse.

Originally Posted by hughfb3

^^What's interesting is the panels that surround the windows have many small holes. Im wondering if they are the substitute for opening windows, maybe they allow a screened breeze without letting "The Elements" in?!?

I was speculating the exact same thing myself.

Originally Posted by Wright Concept

Go to 6th/Grand to find another Perrira building that is a good urban design for the skyscraper.

I forgot that this one was also a Pereira building! Yes, it is true that it is much better than the original iteration of the Transamerica Building, but it's still not a Transamerica Pyramid. Nonetheless, it is decent - especially when you consider much of the body of this guy's work.

[ladowntowner]

Whaddya think about this one? Personally, I think it looks a lot less awkward with the crown set back and flush with the first flying buttress on the north and south sides of the building and makes them really stand out. Only thing, slightly less square footage to lease...


Modified (Original by colemonkee)

[DTLA]

^So i noticed 2 things about this building when i was by there today, first of all it looked like there was still scaffolding on the east side of the building, even though it may have just been the angle i was looking at it from, and secondly that it does an amazing job of matching with the library tower from the south angle and matching with Evo from the west because the shade of gray used is very similar

[yeah215]

I think the real answer is to reglaze the windows so they are the same color as the crown. It would lighten the entire building up, the crown would match, and the building would look fit in a lot better with the others around it. Just my thought. I'm it's very expense though, especially if they would need to replace the glass.