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

[colemonkee]

Choice of finishes ruined this one. Had the "wrappers" been clad in brushed metal panels, the stairways in fritted glass or glass with brise-soleil to combat heat gain, and the core in matte corrugated metal soffit panels or brick, you would have a very dynamic, funky composition with clear separation and purpose to the various portions and uses of the facade system.

Instead what we got is a building that looks like someone vomited concrete and glass.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Hopefully no one pretends to like this.


https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit

It reminds me of COVID.

https://www.crick.ac.uk/sites/defaul...?itok=PJcHhfdS




In all honesty, it looks like a freshman architecture student's design that was approved by the spoiled stoner son of the billionaire developer.

[Busy Bee]

Looks like a concrete furball.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

In all honesty, it looks like a freshman architecture student's design that was approved by the spoiled stoner son of the billionaire developer.

Ha! What's even funnier about this statement is that the architect, Eric Owen Moss, definitely has his benefactors, as Frederick and Laurie Samitaur-Smith have funded nearly all of his projects in the Hayden Tract area of Culver City, where most of his work lives (this project is immediately adjacent). And he has free reign more or less over design decisions. They just hand him the money.

But he's no amateur freshman, and he's relatively well-regarded in architectural circles, having won the Royal Institute of British Architecture's Jencks Award in 2011, and having been part of a group of celebrated - if not equally as controversial - architects at SCI-Arc since the late 70's that includes Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne.

His buildings are hit or miss, personally speaking, but they are always very attention grabbing, which is better than most of the schlock that goes up in LA. This one I agree is a big miss, and big because it's so prominent in the area.

[ed21x]

the design is fine, even innovative. it's the exposed concrete that makes it look like a brutalist structure without the brutalist charm. concrete is suppose to be imposing and domineering, not used for little bits of ribbon. in this case, if they would just paint the concrete white, the building will look 100x better.

[Jumprat]

I didn't see this posted yet but there are now renderings of the proposed development at 1000 La Brea from Wehoville

It would replace the CEMEX plant and be the tallest building in West Hollywood. I think it would definitely boost the prominence of Sycamore Avenue even more - hopefully, it will get through unscathed since there aren't as many wealthy homeowner NIMBYs on this edge of WeHo.

[LA21st]

Wow!

Also, what is fenced off at Sunset and Highland? Sw corner.

[Illithid Dude]

Holly hell. I'd be surprised if this thing ever gets built, but fantastic to see such an ambitious proposal for the location. The architecture isn't the best, but knowing West Hollywood that will get refined with time.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Holly hell. I'd be surprised if this thing ever gets built, but fantastic to see such an ambitious proposal for the location. The architecture isn't the best, but knowing West Hollywood that will get refined with time.

Why?

[circuitfiend]

There are office proposals of 10-15 floors surrounding the Kaiser facility, which is directly behind this proposal on Labrea, at Sycamore & Romaine, which is city of LA. The demarcation runs right thru the middle of the block Cemex is located on. This will provide a nice "peak" to the evolving cluster. Can't wait to see this happen. That whole area was neglected for way too long and it's nice to watch it come into its own.

[LA21st]

Also a 9 story hotel or so by Cemex.

I go to Santa Monica/La Brea frequently and you can see the potential of a really cool area. They just built that trendy ass gym there too.

There's already a good amount of pedestrians from all the new housing/offices nearby. If you look down on it from Runyon, it already looks like a nice density node.

The proposal makes sense to me, it's a going to be a popular area. Alot of young people around.

On a side note, Highland Ave is also looking better/improving with new housing/retail.

Hollywood could be a very interesting place in time for the Olympics. These are small improvements, but it's all adding up.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Why?

It's hard to get any high rise project built in Los Angeles, let alone one isolated from any existing high rise cluster in an area known for byzantine bureaucracy and well organized NIMBY opposition. Very rarely does a project so out of step with it's immediate surroundings ever survive the trident of economics, zoning, and politics in this city. Something will eventually get built here, but that something will most likely be a much shorter, less ambitious development. Regardless, I am still tickled to see a proposal like this emerge for this area. I obviously dream about a Los Angeles dotted with similarly sized high rises in areas that are currently defined by predominantly low rise construction. I hope that my cynicism is misplaced, and this building does get built. Only time will tell!

BTW, the nine story hotel proposal has been downscaled to seven stories. It's still a nice looking proposal, with an exceptional architect behind the design, but the downsizing is indicative of the previously described difficulties in getting a project slightly more ambitious than the prevailing norm developed.

EDIT: In fact, the aforementioned seven story hotel proposal can be seen in the above rendering as the white seven story mass to the left of the tower.

One last thought... does this area really need another large scale grocery store? There are already four within a five block radius (Trader Joes, Sprouts, Ralph, and the new one underneath the massive apartment complex further east on Santa Monica Blvd). How many grocery stores can one submarket even support?

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Also, what is fenced off at Sunset and Highland? Sw corner.

This: https://www.myharthouse.com/

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

This: https://www.myharthouse.com/

Jeez, that's a sad development.

[Tykendo]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Hopefully no one pretends to like this.


https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit

I actually do like it, but they need to have some great artists mural up the concrete.

[ChelseaFC]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Jeez, that's a sad development.

Gotta say I'm actually less offended by that than I am about the awful, awful, awful strip malls on three corners of Sunset and La Brea.

[circuitfiend]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Gotta say I'm actually less offended by that than I am about the awful, awful, awful strip malls on three corners of Sunset and La Brea.

Hear, hear. A sad state of affairs. I live 2 blocks from there and that corner is an embarrassment. It attracts unsavory elements into the neighboring residential areas. I'll be long gone, as in dead, before anything happens to improve that commercial intersection. Hope springs eternal, but I've given up, what with the recent shootings, it's only getting worse. Since I'm a homeowner, I will not be moving, so we simply have to put up with the cities' neglect of what could be a major asset.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by circuitfiend

Hear, hear. A sad state of affairs. I live 2 blocks from there and that corner is an embarrassment. It attracts unsavory elements into the neighboring residential areas. I'll be long gone, as in dead, before anything happens to improve that commercial intersection. Hope springs eternal, but I've given up, what with the recent shootings, it's only getting worse. Since I'm a homeowner, I will not be moving, so we simply have to put up with the cities' neglect of what could be a major asset.

I think once those big developments on Highland happen, it will trigger more development to La Brea. Plus, you have that new proposed tower/and other new developments on La Brea further south. Its only a matter of time.

[Blesha13]

Originally Posted by LA21st

I think once those big developments on Highland happen, it will trigger more development to La Brea. Plus, you have that new proposed tower/and other new developments on La Brea further south. Its only a matter of time.

There’s the northern Crenshaw Line proposal too. Maybe they’ll add a station at Santa Monica and La Brea instead of Santa Monica and Highland?

[hughfb3]

Originally Posted by Blesha13

There’s the northern Crenshaw Line proposal too. Maybe they’ll add a station at Santa Monica and La Brea instead of Santa Monica and Highland?

... and it is my hope that Fairfax is as far west as this thing veers out of the way.

Great find @Jumprat on 1000 La Brea. Never saw this one rendered out. I'm over there all the time and CIM has really transformed that area.

other news, was looking at the LARGE Architects website and see some different renderings for approved projects like the Palladium Towers and the Sunset+Crescent Heights development. Does anyone know if these are the updated renderings or if they are old?? I like the Palladium ovals, but there are some old renderings of other projects on their site of things that are complete but dont look like the renderings on their site, so dont know how accurate these are.