STATUS
IN DESIGN
CLIENT
London & Regional Properties
TYPOLOGY
Work, Residential, Retail
SIZE M2/FT2
241,546 / 2,600,000
SHARE
The Arts District in Los Angeles is experiencing a rapid renaissance, drawing creatives to the city from the fine arts to engineering. When hired to design Los Angeles Arts District (LAAD), or 670 Mesquit – a mixed-use development incorporating housing, offices, and public spaces – BIG asked: how can the Arts District be renewed by embracing rather than replacing the qualities that have spawned this unique urban culture?
Located along the Los Angeles River, the complex consists of two connected 30-story buildings organized on a grid of concrete cubes, measuring 46 ft on each side. Like a flexible framework, the project operates on two scales: the big bare bones of the buildings, and the human-scale completion by its individual inhabitants.
Downtown Los Angeles today is composed of different areas ranging from a fashion district
to a skid row, and it is the hub of the city’s Metro rapid transit system. The Arts District lies on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles. The city community planning boundaries are Alameda Street on the west which blends into Little Tokyo, First Street on the north, the Los Angeles River to the east, and Violet Street on the south.
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The Arts District and its immediate surrounding is paved with historic buildings and industrial structures. The warehouses, most of them dating back to the turn of the 20th century, were built cost efficient and highly functional with prefabricated concrete or steel elements. Most of them offer high quality, open spaces with ultimate flexibility. The raw and industrial beauty of the warehouses is typical for the neighborhood and many have been retrofitted into something new.
The warehouses and Los Angeles’s industrial past becomes inevitably important when defining the future character of the Arts District.
BIG’s research included the The Case Study House program, initiated by the editor of Arts and Architecture magazine, John Entenza. The program ran intermittently from 1945 until 1966 and holds a significant role in the emergence of American modernist architecture.
The goal of the program was to enable architects design and build low-cost modernist houses and it resulted in some of the most succesful residential designs in the period, setting the image of California modern and the tone for BIG’s design for LAAD.
SMALL SCALE COMMUNITIES
— Similar to the case study houses, the fit-out of each space will create an open
architecture that features outdoor space. The structural logic is based on a prefab stick-built strategy, independent from the superstructure that allows for complete freedom in planning. Each tenant will choose a “vacant lot” and build a custom-made home.
SUPERSTRUCTURE
— BIG proposes an ultra-flexible architecture that combines a large-scale superstructure with small-scale tenant fit-outs. The superstructure provides the required infrastructure and will be dimensioned for a full tenant fit-out of the building.
ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORK
— The building can adapt to many different needs and provide the best spatial solution for each tenant. The flexible fit-out strategy allows the building to change over time and to adapt the spaces. Future renovations can be done without a larger impact, similar to traditional warehouse-renovations adapted to today’s technological standards.
SITE
— After removing the existing buildings, the site provides 188,470 sq ft of ground space.
TWO BUILDINGS
— Mesquit street divides the site into two parts. BIG proposes a linear building along the river and a smaller, vertical tower on the opposite side facing 7th Street bridge. Both buildings stay within a maximum height of 360 ft, which corresponds to an average of 24 floors.
STEPPING TERRACES TOWARDS CITY
— Both buildings are divided into 7 segments that decrease in scale to merge with the small-scale surroundings. The stepping allows the building to open up towards the city and create views downtown and beyond.
MERGING BUILDINGS ALONG MESQUIT
— Sq ft is increased by maximizing site coverage and merging both buildings. The stepping facades limit the street frontage and create a stepping underside for the tower. The compact footprint along 7th St. includes parking in the lower levels and creates a public connection on top.
VIEW CORRIDORS
— The massing is further broken down into four separate buildings. In between them, the building opens up and creates view corridors in the east-west direction. This also allows the development to be built in separate phases over time.
INTEGRATION INTO NEIGHBORHOOD
— The flexibility and freedom of the framework becomes the unique character of the structure. By turning the interior fit-outs into the exterior finishes, the diversity and indeterminacy of the structure becomes its signature identity.
At the new LAAD the freedom of the warehouse loft meets the individual customization of the stick-built case study house. The large size of the modules allows interior spaces to be subdivided based on program types and tenant needs.
The structure is filled with secondary, lighter volumes of two to four levels, occasionally spilling out to inhabit roofs and sundecks. The coexistence of the two scales – the industrial and the human, the warehouse and the case-study house – turns the ancient dilemma between the generic and the specific inside out.
Reaching 30 stories at the highest point, the stepped complex will include 800,000 sq ft of office space and approximately 250 residential units. Two boutique hotels, retail and restaurant spaces, and a grocery or farmer’s market will also be included in the development.
“As a gateway to the Arts District and the LA river, LAAD will constitute a major step toward reclaiming and transforming the river bank into a vital new urban landscape that can be enjoyed and appreciated by residents and visitors to this vibrant part of Los Angeles.”
Andreas Buettner Ania Agnieszka Podlaszewska Aran Coakley Beat Schenk Bjarke Ingels Daniel Sundlin Douglass Alligood Hector Romero Jakob Henke Jan Leenknegt Jialin Yuan Julie Kaufman San Yoon Simon Scheller Stephanie Hui Thomas Christoffersen Tom Lasbrey Yi Lun Yang Ahmad Tabbakh Brian Zhang Davide Maggio Denys Kozak Derek Wong Gabriella Den Elzen Gus Steyer James Caruso Juan David Ramirez Lasse Kristensen Mateusz Wieckowski-Gawron Melissa Jones Michelle Duong Neha Sadruddin Nicole Passarella Ovidiu Munteanu Phawin Siripong Sanam Salek Stephanie Choi Sylvia Sijia Zhou Terrence Chew Tracy Sodder Tran Le Wells Barber Yixin Li Youngjin Yoon
COLLABORATORS
Plus Development
Gruen Associates
Mia Lehrer + Associates
tk1sc
Thornton Tomasetti
Fehr & Peers
Arup & Partners
