Archinect - News

UCLA buys into Westside Pavilion conversion space formerly reserved for Google campus

2023-12-29T12:15:00-05:00

UCLA has purchased the former Westside Pavilion shopping mall near its campus, reports The Real Deal. The 580,000-square-foot office known as One Westside was formerly been leased to Google for a 14-year term, but was left vacant as the company’s staff reductions began in January of this year ended the deal.

The Gensler project was partially completed in 2022 at a cost of $475 million. The other 240,000-square-foot half of the mall has been redone by a developer called GPI and includes a mixed-use residential component enacted at what used to be the mall’s parking lot. Google had invested in a spate of other office conversions highlighted by the $280 million Thompson Center project in Chicago, earning it praise as one of corporate America’s leading proponents of adaptive reuse strategies.

According to The Real Deal: “UCLA has not said what it wants to do with the three-story indoor mall, wh...

Five unique workspace projects by ShubinDonaldson: Your Next Employer?

2023-05-22T13:28:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Culver City-based Johnson Favaro, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in California this week to explore the work of ShubinDonaldson.

Led by partners Russell Shubin, Robin Donaldson, and Mark Hershman, the firm comprises 40 staff spread across offices in Culver City, Santa Barbara, and Orange County. Describing their approach as being “informed by modernism, craft, and a culture of experimentation,” the firm’s portfolio spans mixed-use, workplace, retail, multifamily, and custom residential typologies.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring a Project Coordinator for commercial projects to join its Culver City office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five workplaces by ShubinDonaldson that demonstrate their design approach.

3101 West Coast Highway

Located at Mariner’s Mile in Newport Beach, CA, ShubinDonaldson’s project a...

Five culturally integrative California libraries by Johnson Favaro: Your Next Employer?

2023-05-15T15:31:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Beijing-based OPEN Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to California this week, where we explore the work of Johnson Favaro.

Established in 1988, and based in Culver City, the planning and design firm has amassed a portfolio anchored by schools, libraries, community centers, and other cultural and civic typologies. Reflecting on their commitment to educational and cultural schemes, the firm believes that “high quality and inspiring architecture in support of the social infrastructure of which these institutions are a part is crucial in the advancement of our democracy and civil society.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring a Design Associate to join its Culver City office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five completed libraries by Johnson Favaro that demonstrates their design approach.

Manhattan Beach L...

Oliver Wainwright reviews Eric Owen Moss' "menacing" (W)RAPPER office tower

2023-03-20T14:28:00-04:00

The result is a menacing thing, cranking up Moss’s cyberpunk tendencies to new high-octane levels. If ever Hollywood needs a villainous headquarters for a dystopian petrol-guzzling empire, this will be first in line – with a carbon footprint to match.

The Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright spies the limits of LA-brand deconstructivism on a visit to Eric Owen Moss’ (W)RAPPER project in Culver City's Hayden Tract, an “eccentric” assembly of low-rise office buildings the critic says he has helped turn into a warped “exhibition of architectural experimentation.”

Image courtesy Google Street View (February 2023)

Moss brags about the rubberband-like steel exoskeleton that wraps the glass in the city’s second-tallest building enabling a column-free interior while enhancing the imposed verticality and is supposedly inspired by William Butler Yeats and Gustave Courbet, among many other crisscrossing intellectual references. Wainwright, unfazed, drops the dime on its poor sustainability bonafide (to which Moss returns “Is that the only measure of architecture now?”) before critiquing the greatly obstructed views and questioning the promise of so-called “creative office” designs.

Related on Archinect: Eric Owen Moss-designed (W)RAPPER tower has t...

Meet curiosity-driven LA studio EYRC: Your Next Employer?

2022-11-30T11:03:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to New York City-based Marvel, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Los Angeles this week, where we meet Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney (EYRC) Architects.

Since its founding in 1979, the firm has grown from its LA residential roots to encompass institutional, creative workplaces, and civic works projects in addition to high-end residential. Last month, for example, we reported on EYRC's repurposing of a former LA Times print facility into flexible office spaces, while the firm's major LA Arts District tower also came a step closer to fruition earlier in November.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions across their California offices. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more about life at an architecture studio, we spoke with the EYRC team for a behind-the-scenes look at the firm.

EYRC Architects studio. Photo credit: EYRC Architects

How did EYRC get started?

...

Gensler’s Culver Crossings Apple campus proposal goes under the planning microscope in Culver City

2022-11-09T16:05:00-05:00

Apple, currently the world's most valuable company based on market capitalization, faces a key test in its bid to construct a new office campus in Southern California, when the project goes before the Culver City Planning Commission this week for consideration.

Gensler’s plans for the new 536,000-square-foot campus were first revealed last October and will reportedly entail office spaces, production suites, and a 1,200-spot parking structure spread across three subterranean levels beneath the 4.5-acre site at Venice and National Boulevards. The project will be constructed in two phases culminating in Q4 of 2024 and 2025, respectively. An environmental study from the city mentioned Apple’s intention to assign 2,400 employees to the site by the time the project opens in 2026.

Gensler has also previously completed designs for TikTok’s new headquarters in Culver City, the speculative C3 office development, and the transformation of the historic Culver Studios for Amazon. The firm’s late founder was considered instrumental in developing some of the initial brick-and-mortar retail strategy for Apple after meeting Steve Jobs at a design conference in the early 1990s.

20 featured architecture and design jobs on LA's Westside

2022-07-15T11:45:00-04:00

If you are looking for new architectural career opportunities in the greater Los Angeles area and would like to be near Southern California's magnificent beaches, check out our latest weekly picks of featured positions from Archinect Jobs. This highlight includes a selection of exciting openings in the coastal neighborhoods of Venice, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, and El Segundo as well as LA's bustling 405-adjacent hubs of Culver City, Inglewood, and West Los Angeles.

Need to look up specific job titles from the architectural profession? Simply consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. To improve your portfolio, resume, interviewing skills, and increase your overall chances of getting that next job, follow our Archinect Tips series.

Eric Owen Moss Architects seeks a Designer and an Architect/Job Captain in Culver City
"Eric Owen Moss Architects is seeking talented architects/designers for its international architecture practice based in Culver City, CA. The position requires a...

Eric Owen Moss-designed (W)RAPPER tower has topped out

2021-10-12T17:07:00-04:00

New images released by Urbanize LA reveal that the Eric Owen Moss Architects-designed (W)RAPPER office tower has topped out.

The 17-story, 183,000-square-foot high-rise stands out with its free-form steel exoskeleton that wraps the structure allowing for column-free interiors. The freshly topped-out building in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, which was originally approved in 1999, stands 230 feet tall. It is reportedly set to be completed in June 2022.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urbanize LA (@urbanizela)

New installation by Sichong Xie opening at the Wende Museum's East German guardhouse

2021-09-08T16:47:00-04:00

The Wende Museum in Culver City, California has announced that a new installation by Los Angeles-based contemporary artist Sichong Xie will open in the museum’s former East German guardhouse this Sunday, September 12.

The guardhouse, which once monitored and controlled access to the state-run East German news agency, Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst, now hosts rotating installations by contemporary artists.

As stated by the museum, Xie’s installation, Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, “features objects and arrangements emblematic of memory and temporality: bamboo scaffolding, embroidery on industrial mesh, and a set of laser-engraved drawings that will fade from continual exposure to light, through which the artist reimagines architectural drawings created by her grandfather in the late 1950s and early 1960s.”

According to the project description, none of her grandfather’s building plans were realized after being exiled to a labor camp by Chinese authorities following the...

Eric Owen Moss Architects wins the 2020 AIA Twenty-Five Year Award with Conjunctive Points – The New City

2020-09-08T13:59:00-04:00

Conjunctive Points – The New City, a decades-spanning urban revival plan designed by Eric Owen Moss Architects, has been recognized with the AIA Twenty-five Year Award.

The initiative began in 1986 with selective transformations of former industrial sites and warehouses in the Hayden Tract, a district at the border of Los Angeles and Culver City, ultimately leading to a rejuvenation of the area with a new sense of identity.

Photo: Tom Bonner.

According to the jury verdict, the Eric Owen Moss-designing project "set contemporary standards for adaptive re-use, launched the concept of creative office space, and positioned architecture as a method to uncover new social and civic opportunities."

Photo: Eric Owen Moss Architects.

Contributing to the success of Conjunctive Points – The New City were the land developers Frederick and Laurie Samitaur Smith who had acquired a number of buildings along the tract and, over the course of three decades, worked closely with Moss.

Photo: Tom Bonner.

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Eric Owen Moss-designed (W)RAPPER tower: construction update

2020-06-18T16:35:00-04:00

Six months since we last checked in, the curving steel skeleton of the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper office tower is starting to take shape next to Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station in Baldwin Hills.

Designed by Eric Owen Moss Architects, the 17-story (W)RAPPER office tower in Los Angeles generated a stir of reactions among Archinect readers when construction started going vertical in December 2019.

The free-form steel exoskeleton, which appears to be wrapping the structure and enables column-free interiors, is currently going up at the site, according to new construction photos published by Urbanize LA.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urbanize.LA (@urbanize.la) on Jun 18, 2020 at 9:21am PDT

Gensler designs new TikTok offices in Culver City

2020-01-28T18:55:00-05:00

TikTok, the wildly popular video sharing app, has announced its move to a brand new 120,000-square-foot HQ in Culver City. Designed in collaboration with Gensler, the new office expands five stories and embraces TikTok's vibrant personality. Through color selection, an open floor plan that disperses a dynamic program, the design seeks to inspire creativity.

TikTok Culver City. © TikTok

"The new TikTok LA office is the result of two creative companies out to build a space that was inclusive, collaborative, and fun," said Chris Mitchell, Design Director at Gensler in a statement. "We hope the space gives TikTok's employees a home to be proud of and a place to inspire more of the entertaining content the app is known for."

Eric Owen Moss-designed (W)RAPPER: tower construction goes vertical

2019-12-17T13:45:00-05:00

A year after breaking ground at 5790 W. Jefferson Boulevard, the arrival of a tower crane signals that construction is ramping up at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper development. The project, located just west of Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station, is being developed by Samitaur Constructs - the local real estate investment firm behind a slew of abstract office complexes in Culver City's Hayden Tract.

The exoskeleton wrapping the 17-story tower like giant rubber bands enables the interior spaces to be column-free, some even with double-height ceilings, reports Urbanize LA.

Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com

Expected to be a key anchor building near LA's La Cienega/Jefferson Metro Station, the 180,548-square-foot (W)RAPPER tower is only a stone's throw away from other Eric Owen Moss-designed developments, like Hayden Tract, Pterodactyl Office, Gateway/Samitaur Tower, and the award-winning restaurant Vespertine in nearby Culver City.

Eric Owen Moss-designed Vespertine wins the 2019 Atmosphere of the Year Award

2019-03-01T15:31:00-05:00

The World Restaurant Awards reviews restaurants all over the world and considers not only food taste and quality but also recognizes the restaurant as a culture. Created by IMG, the awards celebrate establishments in 12 "Big Plate" categories and 6 "Small Plate" categories. This year it has been announced that the Culver City-based restaurant, Vespertine has received the Atmosphere of the Year Award.

Image courtesy of Vespertine

Dining area; Image courtesy of Eric Owen Moss Architects

Nestled within Culver City's Hayden Tract, the restaurant was the vision of Chef Jordan Kahn who collaborated with famed architect Eric Owen Moss. Together, the two helped reimagine and explore new experiences to dining. By blending food, art, music, architecture, and sculpture the restaurant has received public recognition and fame among the Los Angeles food scene.

Vespertine Dish; Image by Anne Fishbein

Orach, caramelized lobster and quince; Image by Anne Fishbein

At first glance, the restaurant's twi...

FreelandBuck completes Second House, a knotty little home in Culver City

2019-01-15T18:50:00-05:00

In a dense patch of Culver City lies Second House, the newest home built by the Los Angeles and New York-based architecture office of FreelandBuck, run by David Freeland and Brennan Buck. Given the fact that the home is on a small lot without the affordance of views to the nearly Baldwin Hills, the house was designed to turn inward as a means of encouraging dynamic tensions between interior spaces and small courtyards. Taking a moment to read the two floor plans (below) illustrates the complexity achieved within such a small footprint.

Second House Floor Plans. Courtesy of FreelandBuck

Distinctions between interior and exterior spaces are intentionally blurry, but are made a little bit more legible by the choice of materials. Tightveined grey limestone is used on exterior flooring, for instance, while white stained knotty pine is used for interior spaces. The weaving of the two makes exploring the home much more dynamic than one might expect from a two-bedroom home.

Second House,...

The team at Laney LA blends form, function, and fun with this residential home

2018-11-05T14:43:00-05:00

Nestled in Culver City, California lies the sleek residential creation of Laney LA. Its black wood exterior provides an alluring contrast to the surrounding greenery and white interior. The two story residential home's contrasting interior and exterior colors adds to its Nordic style theme.

The structure's exterior features a dark wood facade that surrounds a minimalistic geometric form. Designed to highlight the client's needs, the team focused on creating a space that emphasized clean lines and modern open space interiors. The gable style roof and vaulted ceiling creates a loft like effect that emphasizes the volume of the room.

The master bedroom features an oversized reading nook with a large window overlooking the property. Another major highlight of the home is the angled, outdoor chimney that also acts as a climbing wall for the client to enjoy. The uniqueness of the home is accentuated...

Eric Owen Moss wins top Austrian honor

2016-07-07T13:17:00-04:00

Very few people have a neutral reaction to Eric Owen Moss: in his conversation and his work, he can be abrasive, challenging, enlightening, and inspirational. For its part, Austria awarded him with its Decoration of Honor for Science and Art on June 21st, celebrating five decades of practice that have produced the Hayden Tract and the Albuquerque Rail Yards Master Plan, among other works.

Culver City's Hayden Tract, which has gradually filled out with Moss' buildings since he was initially commissioned to work on the project in 1991, is arguably one of the most compact yet engrossing architectural walking tours in Los Angeles. Formerly a strip of overlooked industrial warehouses, this part of the city has in the past few decades emerged as a low-slung cultural nexus, rewarding those who take the time to note the unusual and painstakingly rendered structural details. There's a raft of cactuses suspended mid-air, the Cold War afterimage of Stealth, the glass bisected Slash and Backsla...

With opening of Expo Line to Santa Monica, L.A.'s dream of a "subway to the sea" finally comes true (again)

2016-05-20T20:32:00-04:00

The $1.5-billion second leg of the Expo Line, which opened Friday from Culver City to Santa Monica, adds seven light-rail stations and more than six miles of track to the growing Los Angeles County transit network. [...] In the immediate context of L.A.'s attempts to turn its public-transit network from national punch line to something that increasingly resembles a mature system, 13 new Metro stations in less than three months qualifies as a pretty dramatic upgrade.

The aggressively expanding LA Metro system in recent Archinect news stories:

Get Lectured: Cal Poly LA Metro '16

2016-03-08T12:47:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016

Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Next up, The Los Angeles Metropolitan Program in Architecture and Urban Design — an off-campus multidisciplinary program of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — kicks off their 2016 Lecture Series today.

Free and open to the public. Lecture, reception, and discussion: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Mar 8
Eric Höweler & Meejin Yoon / Höweler + Yoon
at Helms Bakery District

Mar 10
Antoine Picon / Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
at A+D Museum

Apr 7
Michael Folonis / Michael Folonis Architects
at Helms Bakery District

Apr 21
Kevin Daly / Kevin Daly Architec...

SPF:a’s Wallis Annenberg Center recognized at California Preservation Design Awards

2014-10-09T18:49:00-04:00

Since the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts by Studio Pali Fekete Architects (SPF:a) broke ground in 2010, the new arts building continues to gain recognition, most recently at the 31st California Preservation Design Awards. Situated in the heart of sunny Beverly Hills, California, the Wallis Annenberg Center complex also includes the restored and renovated historic 1934 Beverly Hills Post Office building.

More photos and project details on Bustler.

Morphosis' new Culver City offices

2012-10-16T20:48:00-04:00

The fairly rectangular structure, located just a few feet from the new light rail Expo Line’s elevated tracks in Culver City, gets most of its energy from photovoltaics—a 2,800 sq ft array sitting on top of a shaded parking canopy outside. But what makes it all work are the energy savings: It significantly reduces loads through several low-tech, high-tech, and even revolutionary techniques, most of which were developed with engineers at Buro Happold, whose LA offices are just down the street.

Frank Gehry is working for free as architect of new Jazz Bakery

2012-02-01T00:35:00-05:00

Ruth Price, president and artistic director of the Jazz Bakery since it debuted in 1992, said Tuesday that she didn’t know Gehry, or even ask for his help, before he called about six months ago to volunteer his services. “He said, 'I’m doing this for two people: Sydney Pollack, and my wife, Berta.’ ” Film director Pollack, a close friend of the architect, died in 2008..."