L.A. Design Center
Los Angeles, CA / Completed 2003
Urban catalyst: This project involved the transformation of two derelict warehouses in South Los Angeles (formerly called South Central) into the first phase of a new showroom district whose purpose is to serve the area’s many furniture manufacturers. The project also includes venues for cultural events. Part of a four-phase master plan, it contributes to the economic renewal of this historically overlooked neighborhood with 20,000 square feet of exterior event space and 80,000 square feet of flexible interior space.
Sensitivity to Context: To show respect for the social history of the site, the existing buildings are layered with a richly textured palette of materials and screens that seem both permanent and impermanent at the same time. By turns hiding, revealing, and filtering aspects of the original buildings and the surrounding environment, they animate what is original to the site while simultaneously creating a unique identity for this venture.
Inventive Use of Materials: Off-the-shelf materials such as concrete, polycarbonate, cement board, fabric, and ordinary lumber (as well as small amounts of stainless steel and zinc sheet metal) were selected for their low cost, ease of construction, industrial nature, and inherent beauty.
Civic Magnet: The main exterior space between the two buildings serves as the social center of the project and can be used as an ordinary parking lot, a combination “people-car” space (its most common function), or a large event space. Several large parties, including the 2005 Los Angeles Chapter AIA Gala, have encouraged many Angelenos to visit a neighborhood they have never been to before.
Showrooms: The building’s interiors were sandblasted to bring back the warmth of the existing wood and masonry structures. At the main lobby space, two bays of the second floor were removed and a stair was added to draw customers up to the Cisco Brothers Showroom.
- Credits
- Principal-in-Charge: John Friedman
Project Team: Alice Kimm, Dan Brunn
Structural Engineers: Mackintosh & Mackintosh (building); Franceschi Engineering, Inc. (gates); William Koh and Associates, Inc. (monument sign)
Electrical Engineer: Pacific Engineers Group
Landscape Architect: Orange Street Studio
Graphic Design: Garza Group Communications, Inc.
General Contractor: Brunswick Builders
Photography: Fotoworks
- Client
- Francisco and Alba Pinedo, Cisco Brothers
- Awards
- 2007 The Bruner Foundation, Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, Silver Medal
- 2006 AIA/Los Angeles, Decade Award
- 2005 AIA California Council, Merit Award
- 2004 AIA National, Institute Honor Award
- 2004 The Chicago Athenaeum, American Architecture Award
- 2004 AIA/Los Angeles, Honor Award
- 2003 Westside Urban Forum, Westside Prize
- 2002 Los Angeles Business Council, Los Angeles Architectural Awards, Award of Excellence
- Press
- 2008 1000x Architecture of the Americas (Braun)
- 2008 100 x 400 Vol. 2, (Rihan.CC)
- 2008 building Sustainable Neighborhoods (Bruner Foundations, Inc.)
- 2008 Urban Landscape Design (teNeues)
- 2008 Pure Plastic: New Materials for Today’s Architecture (Braun)
- 2007 Industrial Chic (Gribaudo Publishers)
- 2007 Plastic Design (daab)
- 2007 Steel Design (daab)
- 2006 L.A. 2000+: New Architecture in Los Angeles (The Monacelli Press)
- 2006 2000 Architects (images Publishing Group)
- 2006 October, L.A. Architect, “Decade Awards: Honor, Merit, and Citation”
- 2006 September C3
- 2006 September Disen Art
- 2006 April, Tangram Interiorismo Internacional, “Transforming Identity” by Agustin Garza
- 2005 L.A. 2000+: New Architecture in Los Angeles by John Leighton Chase (The Monacelli Press)
- 2005 and:guide - Los Angeles Architecture and Design (teNeues)
- 2005 January/February, L.A. Architect, “Design and Next LA: Honor”
- 2004 14 December, Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, “Ten for the Soul” by Frances Anderton
- 2004 Issue 3, arcCA, “2004 AIACC Awards - Merit Award”
- 2004 July, Architectural Record, “American Institute of Architects Honor Awards”
- 2004 The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture (Phaidon)
- 2003 July, Architectural Record “John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects Breathe New Life Into A Warehouse Complex for A Thriving Furniture Business” by Joseph Giovannini
- 2003 26 February, Los Angeles Times, “Design Center fulfills a promise” by Architecture Critic Nicolai Ouroussoff
- 2003 13 February, New York Times, “A Design Statement With an Open door” by Frances Anderton