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

[craigs]

Originally Posted by edale

I'm somewhat surprised to see all the love for Century City on here.

First, you should not be surprised to see forumers on SkyscraperPage.com show some love for skyscrapers. Second, most but not all forumers automatically and relentlessly loathe LA and every single thing related to or located here. Some of us see things in a more positive light--and that's okay. There are still plenty of haters and jaded cynics to keep things eternally sad and unhappy in the LA threads. Third, "urban" is defined as "in, relating to, or characteristic of a town or city." Century City fits that definition.

[scania]

Originally Posted by craigs

First, you should not be surprised to see forumers on SkyscraperPage.com show some love for skyscrapers. Second, most but not all forumers automatically and relentlessly loathe LA and every single thing related to or located here. Some of us see things in a more positive light--and that's okay. There are still plenty of haters and jaded cynics to keep things eternally sad and unhappy in the LA threads. Third, "urban" is defined as "in, relating to, or characteristic of a town or city." Century City fits that definition.

Speak the truth!!!!

[plinko]

I could easily see more mixed use coming to the Santa Monica Blvd area in Century City once the subway is open. There are 5-6 lots with either parking garages or 10-15 story postwar office towers that are prime for redevelopment.

To me Century City is a work in progress. It's certainly getting better. Some forumers talk about it like it's Irvine or Schaumburg esque. Not even close.

On another note entirely, why in the world would they paint 1900 Avenue of the Stars white? That black aluminum facade was so badass...


191015 CENTURY CITY 117 by Michael Stroh, on Flickr


191015 CENTURY CITY 125 by Michael Stroh, on Flickr


191015 CENTURY CITY 173 by Michael Stroh, on Flickr

[craigs]

Originally Posted by plinko

I could easily see more mixed use coming to the Santa Monica Blvd area in Century City once the subway is open. There are 5-6 lots with either parking garages or 10-15 story postwar office towers that are prime for redevelopment.

To me Century City is a work in progress. It's certainly getting better. Some forumers talk about it like it's Irvine or Schaumburg esque. Not even close.

Agreed. There is always room for improvement, and I expect that Century City will eventually become more pedestrian-friendly after the Metro subway station opens.

On another note entirely, why in the world would they paint 1900 Avenue of the Stars white? That black aluminum facade was so badass...

I didn't notice that change until now! What a bizarre choice. It looked better before.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by a9l8e7n

11600 W. Santa Monica Blvd in Sawtelle West Los Angeles. Intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Federal Ave. For someone who used to live in the area, I am really liking this addition.

https://twitter.com/LA_Construct/sta...46851560591546

https://la.urbanize.city/post/100-ap...evard-sawtelle

I know a girl named Amara. She's a attractive woman. Unlike this building.

[LAisthePlace]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

I know a girl named Amara. She's a attractive woman. Unlike this building.

Can confirm this building is not an attractive woman

[AskMrNoah]

Holy crap, it doesn’t even look the same. I didn’t even recognize it with the white paint job.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by edale

I'm somewhat surprised to see all the love for Century City on here. I have a soft spot for it because of the somewhat retro-futurist vibe, but it's pretty bad urbanism and sterile. I mean, the vast majority of the commercial activity in CC is in a suburban style mall, and the whole site is bordered by massive pedestrian-hostile roads. There are some great individual buildings, but overall I find Century City to be pretty lackluster as an urban place.

I've always loved Century City. I had a job interview at Gateway West (which has since been destroyed for Westfield's expansion) and spent many a day eating Pinkberry and people watching.

Architecture wise, CC has a handsome collection of buildings that are great representations of the era they were built in. I hope the retro-futuristic vibe of Century City never leaves (earthquake as I type this).

I also will always be a fan of how the Century Plaza Towers and 2000 Ave of the Stars (the building with the hole in it) mirror The Century Plaza and the Century Residences. I don't think I've ever seen something such as that anywhere.

[colemonkee]

What's great about that is that it wasn't in a specific plan for the area, and was the result of two different architectural firms (Gensler for 2000 Ave of the Stars and Pei Cobb Freed for the Century Residences) who made similar - but totally autonomous - decisions nearly 15 years apart from each other, mirroring different buildings. Proof that when you hire good architects (both firms are pretty world renowned), you generally get good results that pay attention to their surroundings.

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

I also will always be a fan of how the Century Plaza Towers and 2000 Ave of the Stars (the building with the hole in it) mirror The Century Plaza and the Century Residences. I don't think I've ever seen something such as that anywhere.

[OneRinconHill]

Are the "Twin Towers" still the tallest buildings in Century City? Kind of wild that they've never gone over 571' if so.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

I've always loved Century City. I had a job interview at Gateway West (which has since been destroyed for Westfield's expansion) and spent many a day eating Pinkberry and people watching.

Architecture wise, CC has a handsome collection of buildings that are great representations of the era they were built in. I hope the retro-futuristic vibe of Century City never leaves (earthquake as I type this).

I also will always be a fan of how the Century Plaza Towers and 2000 Ave of the Stars (the building with the hole in it) mirror The Century Plaza and the Century Residences. I don't think I've ever seen something such as that anywhere.

I also have a soft spot for Century City. As a kid in the 1970s and early 1980s, I remember when the Century City Mall was more of an ordinary mall---it used to have a Clifton's Cafeteria (which we never ate at). It was also where the first Crate&Barrel I ever went to was as a kid. In the 1990s, when we were both already in our 20s, I would have lunch there sometimes with my sister, who happened to work at Gateway West; we'd meet on her lunch breaks. In the late 1980s-early to mid-1990s, I would see movies there, back at the now-demolished AMC Century 14, which showed indie/arthouse/foreign films. I even saw Dustin Hoffman coming out of the theater one time.

I'm old enough to remember the now demolished ABC Entertainment Center, which was in front of the Twin Towers on Ave. of the Stars.



It had its own movie complex, a Cineplex Odeon... My friend and I saw "The Last Temptation of Christ" there. I remember joking with him, saying "I hope Christian protestors don't throw fake blood on us" because it was in the news that that was happening in Orange County, haha! There was also the Shubert Theatre in that complex, which would show all the latest Broadway Musicals---I saw "Les Mis" there back in 1989, and I saw "Mamma Mia" there back in 2001.

And when that complex existed, it was connected to the Century Plaza Hotel by a wide walkway that went under the street. Now that connection is broken. I do like 2000 Ave. of the Stars, though.

Edit: I just learned that that tunnel under Ave. of the Stars has reopened. I guess the last time I was in Century City, I didn't investigate.

[Zapatan]

Gotta say, this picture is so epic.

Originally Posted by craigs

[Radio5]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Gotta say, this picture is so epic.

Ya, looks like it could be a city in China or Singapore.

[llamaorama]

1900 Avenue of the Stars

That used to be a cool looking building, now it looks like one of those generic modernist boxes. Like whatever the tallest building in New Orleans is called.

Century City is interesting though. Not very well known but has some cool looking structures.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Century City is interesting though. Not very well known but has some cool looking structures.

Well, Galactic had a song about it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uUyoQ8...dXJ5IGNpdHk%3D

[SoCalKid]

All this construction in Century City has shown that Avenue of the Stars can function fine as street with 1-2 lanes in each direction. I'd love to see it skinnied down to that permanently, rather that being restored to a 3-4 lane in each direction mini highway. It would go a long way to making the area feel more walkable.

[ocman]

New update from LACMA and interview with Clark Construction. An excerpt from the interview:

So what is the final color and texture that visitors are going to see?

Peter's vision and his style is very much about raw, honest materials. The concrete itself has no additives, no cover up. There's no added color. It's a natural gray concrete color selected from many samples to be the specific tone and texture desired. And what we liked about that is you can see more of the hand of the craftsman in the work. This building is a concrete sculpture and the craftspeople are the artists. We always talk about this “hand of the craftsman.” So you'll see seams, you'll see a fastener or two, and every single line and bump was methodically drawn, detailed, coordinated by Peter’s team in Switzerland, the architecture (SOM) team here, and our concrete partner Largo Concrete. Each one of those is intentionally placed such that you can see the way things fit together.

Have the concrete details changed over time?

Peter is known for having a dynamic vision. He and his team are here at least once a quarter, if not more often, so the craftspeople, carpenters, laborers, cement finishers—they have Peter's trust. I remember a time when, reviewing our final mock-up, he was deciding between incorporating some type of black oxide color additive to this concrete mix or leaving it in its natural color. And Peter said he had originally added the colors because he was worried, but the team had proven that they were some of the best and most capable so he was no longer scared and we do not need the color. He removed the color and made it as natural and honest as it can be, seeing as much of the material as possible.

It's all part of the story, right? One of the things about concrete is that it retains moisture over time. So even all the way up to 500 years later, the moisture content of the concrete will continue to change. Over time, that does mean that the appearance will continue to change and evolve. So while what we see right away is going to be somewhat of an indication of what it will look like at the end of the day, it’s just a part of the story. There's more to go. There's more story coming.

Ugh. I was hoping it would NOT be un-dyed concrete. I wished for the beige concrete of the 2nd interation of renderings. We’ve seen an example of the splotchy discoloration of natural concrete in 6th Street bridge. Unfortunately this will drive even more criticism of it resembling a freeway overpass.

I still have hopes for the interior unless Zumthor threw up his hands and is writing this project off due to the continuous budget restraints (how is that possible with $650M?) thrown at him over what may be his most infamous and challenging project. This quote from Zumthor’s recent NYT interview gives me a lot of optimism about the project and mollifies his choice of the natural exterior. In fact, Zumthor feels it works because of it:

Zumthor describes the wing as “a concrete sculpture,” with floors, walls and ceilings of exposed concrete. There will be bronze surrounds on the window and door openings throughout the building. When I visited Haldenstein, he and his colleagues were weighing final choices for the color palette of the walls at the base of the new wing, inside the various legs. “Lively, not dark colors, to give identity to different spaces,” he said. “And then you come up into this world of concrete.”

The gallery level will include 26 so-called Core Galleries, Zumthor said, “each one with a particular color. The Pompeian red gallery, or the indigo gallery.”

Also, I still think it was a mistake to get rid of the cathedral spaces.

[Illithid Dude]

Looks as bad as everyone thought it would

[SoCalKid]

I may be in the minority here, but I prefer un-dyed concrete so long as it is of high quality and grade.

[O-tacular]

I don't mind the bare concrete. Kind of a throw back to brutalism. Pouring that roof is quite a feat!