LOS ANGELES | METRO Project Rundown 2.0 (non-downtown)

[Radio5]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Not sure how current these are.

Thanks! Pretty good design wise, considering what else is getting built. There used to be an alley between these two lots, would have been nice to keep that for public use/retail, but somehow I don't think that's happening.

[ocman]

Changes to LACMA


The new project reduces the total space of the museum from earlier drafts by another 40,000 sq ft (total: 85,000 sq ft reduction) and the large scale Chapel galleries are now gone. At $650M being spent, even with a pretty big downsizing, I’m wondering if this new project adds any value to remaking the museum anymore. (I supported the original and remade Zumthor proposal). The cuts from this third proposal are too significant, IMO.

I still can’t wrap my head around what $650 is getting spent on for a two story building. The new Apple building costs $427M with 2M sq feet. LACMA will be 307,000 sq ft. Like CAHSR, there’s got to be a lot of pork that no one can pinpoint.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by ocman

Changes to LACMA


The new project reduces the total space of the museum from earlier drafts by another 40,000 sq ft (total: 85,000 sq ft reduction) and the large scale Chapel galleries are now gone. At $650M being spent, even with a pretty big downsizing, I’m wondering if this new project adds any value to remaking the museum anymore. (I supported the original and remade Zumthor proposal). The cuts from this third proposal are too significant, IMO.

I still can’t wrap my head around what $650 is getting spent on for a two story building. The new Apple building costs $427M with 2M sq feet. LACMA will be 307,000 sq ft. Like CAHSR, there’s got to be a lot of pork that no one can pinpoint.

Ive always been against this project, though have begrudgingly become used to the idea. These downgrades however seal the deal. The square footage is simply too small. There is no upside to this project except for a vaguely interesting building. We are loosing way more than we gain. The only reason this project is being built is due to the vanity of LACMAs director, and the longer this project goes on the worst the project becomes. I think at this point, someone needs to either put this project out of its misery or LACMA needs to completely pivot and either choose a new architect or have Zumthor start from scratch.

EDIT: What if LACMA subsidized the construction of the new campus by placing commercial and housing on top? A vibrant mixed use art museum would perfectly symbolize what Los Angeles could become, unlike the current proposal which only represents what Los Angeles has already left behind.

[JerellO]

The design of LACMA is so underwhelming. It doesn’t even look world-class.. it’s just a 2 story concrete irregular shaped building.... how inspiring and groundbreaking.....

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Ive always been against this project, though have begrudgingly become used to the idea. These downgrades however seal the deal. The square footage is simply too small. There is no upside to this project except for a vaguely interesting building. We are loosing way more than we gain. The only reason this project is being built is due to the vanity of LACMAs director, and the longer this project goes on the worst the project becomes. I think at this point, someone needs to either put this project out of its misery or LACMA needs to completely pivot and either choose a new architect or have Zumthor start from scratch.

EDIT: What if LACMA subsidized the construction of the new campus by placing commercial and housing on top? A vibrant mixed use art museum would perfectly symbolize what Los Angeles could become, unlike the current proposal which only represents what Los Angeles has already left behind.

I agree with you. What's the point of this overpriced two story building at this point? It's too small and boring

[Steve8263]

Originally Posted by cargocultpants

Just passed the Museum Square Complex (directly east of tar pits) and they have a tower crane up. Looks like https://urbanize.la/post/rendering-r...partment-tower is moving forward.

Here's a cool video of the tower crane installation-


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbELakAMJCw

[Blesha13]

Speaking of crane installation, the crane is installed at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. I think they are going to expand the west side of the hospital if I remember correctly.

[Illithid Dude]

Some good office infill proposed for Sawtelle south of Olympic.



https://urbanize.la/post/eight-story...anned-sawtelle

I wish LA had about 200 more of these.

[colemonkee]

Me likey. Quite a bit.

[Busy Bee]

Oh yeah. That is one sharp design.

[LAsam]

^That's a Gensler design, btw, since they have quite a few haters out there!

[LDVArch]

Originally Posted by JerellO

The design of LACMA is so underwhelming. It doesn’t even look world-class.. it’s just a 2 story concrete irregular shaped building.... how inspiring and groundbreaking.....

People said the same thing about Isozaki's MOCA. Now that he won the Pritzker Prize, people are looking again. It was always a great building, but just subtle in the ways that it responded to the challenges of its site.

There's subtlety in the new LACMA too. Zumthor won the Pritzker years ago. It is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Architecture. Have some faith that Zumthor knows what he is doing?

There are many great building that do not scream that they are great. Take, for example, the British Art Center at Yale. From the outside, it looks like a concrete box that has metal panels where the windows would be. Or, look at the Salk Institute, another Kahn design whose brilliance is due in part to the most simple geometric gesture of revealing and hiding the solidity of a plane.

Guess who else does that? That is what Zumthor is doing on the first floor of LACMA, a gesture Zumthor makes even more mysterious by enveloping some of the planes in glass. As I said, there's a lot of subtlety in the LACMA design. It is worth a second look.

[LDVArch]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

EDIT: What if LACMA subsidized the construction of the new campus by placing commercial and housing on top? A vibrant mixed use art museum would perfectly symbolize what Los Angeles could become, unlike the current proposal which only represents what Los Angeles has already left behind.

A mixed-use art museum? Not so much LA's future as New York's past and present. Long before Nouvel's museum tower, Pelli created his own on the other side of MOMA.

MOMA didn't purposely try what you are suggesting. It is just the sort of strange thing MOMA does. Still, it has been an aberration and one that has continued to detract from the greatness of its collection.

[ocman]

Originally Posted by LDVArch

People said the same thing about Isozaki's MOCA. Now that he won the Pritzker Prize, people are looking again. It was always a great building, but just subtle in the ways that it responded to the challenges of its site.

There's subtlety in the new LACMA too. Zumthor won the Pritzker years ago. It is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Architecture. Have some faith that Zumthor knows what he is doing?

There are many great building that do not scream that they are great. Take, for example, the British Art Center at Yale. From the outside, it looks like a concrete box that has metal panels where the windows would be. Or, look at the Salk Institute, another Kahn design whose brilliance is due in part to the most simple geometric gesture of revealing and hiding the solidity of a plane.

Guess who else does that? That is what Zumthor is doing on the first floor of LACMA, a gesture Zumthor makes even more mysterious by enveloping some of the planes in glass. As I said, there's a lot of subtlety in the LACMA design. It is worth a second look.

The problems with this project have less to do with the merits of the design and more to do with the use of very precious real estate. LACMA’s collection isn’t great. A lot of things probably aren’t museum quality and can be taken off the walls, but the collection is growing rapidly along with LA’s maturing philathropy scene (Raising $550M with capital campaigns going on in other areas of the city’s cultural life is no small for even the richest cities). It’s a single-level building at close to $1,700/sq feet that with every new redesign whittles away more and more space due to cost limitations. In the end, the art has to be the number one focus over the design of the building. In this situation it seems the art needs to accomodate the building and go back into storage.

MOCA is only 32 years old and it’s in desperate need for expansion. LACMA has worse prospects. It seems Govan thinks LACMA has an endless amount of real estate. They leased the Academy building so it can’t expand over there. Heizer’s boulder takes up a lot of space. (Yes, the empty space is part of the space). The tar pits are probably seeping underground who knows where. And the organic form of Zumthor means that when we need to expand in 30 years (and that conversation will come up again if it isn’t happening right now), the incoming director and chosen architect have far less to work with, basically relegated to the fringes between buildings. And it’ll be LACMA’s fourth building because I don’t see how they could add an expansion to Zumthor’s organic form without ruining his design. The original intent was to consolidate the buildings and bring the campus together.

And having satellite locations to house the rest of the collection and split up the museum across the city shouldn’t even be considered even if it’s rumoured by LA Times.

[kolchak]

Edition Hotel Sunset Blvd today

[kolchak]

1311 NORTH Cahuenga

[Jun]

https://la.curbed.com/2019/4/16/1841...nt-tower-ashai

[colemonkee]

Great shots, kolchak! Not sure if I like the Edition Hotel. Looks like it might not age well.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Great shots, kolchak! Not sure if I like the Edition Hotel. Looks like it might not age well.

I'm initially not a big fan of the tower's setback from Sunset. I'll reserve judgement though until the low-rise portion fronting Sunset is completed.

[a9l8e7n]

W3 at Waters Edge
https://www.watersedge-playavista.com/