Construction Heating Up in Downtown Los Angeles: DS+R and Arquitectonica To Hit Benchmarks
Broad Museum construction as of January 4, 2013. (Courtesy Broad Foundation)
Next Tuesday, January 8, The Broad in Downtown Los Angeles (not that Broad Museum), Eli Broad’s new contemporary art museum with an arresting net-like “veil” facade by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will top out at the corner of Grand Avenue and Second Street. The project is set to open next year and will contain 120,000-square-feet over three-levels, including 50,000 square feet of gallery space on two floors, a lecture hall for up to 200 people, a public lobby with display space and a museum shop.
See CRA Sprint
..But maybe not for long.
We learn from our friends at Curbed LA that LA’s CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) is scrambling to put away funds for about a billion dollars in projects before being potentially done away with later this year. You see, earlier this month California Governor Jerry Brown proposed— among $12.5 billion in budget cuts— “phasing out” funding for all of the state’s redevelopment agencies, a move that, according to Brown, “will return billions in property tax revenues to schools, cities and counties and help pay for public safety, education and other services.”
According to Curbed, the CRA just “quickly put together a draft agreement with the city that socks away $938 million for future projects.” That includes money for The Broad‘s new parking garage, for a new office tower on Vine Street in Hollywood. No matter what you think of redevelopment agencies, the move will hurt architects and builders. So stay tuned next week for AN‘s comprehensive article on just how much it will hurt. Sounds fun, right?
Comment: Architecture Is Not Enough at Grand Avenue
Map of LA's Grand Avenue; the new museum is colored red.
When Diller Scofidio + Renfro were solicited last June by Eli Broad to sketch an idea for his new archive and museum, the architects were forced to ask: “What do you build next to Disney Hall?” Answer: Something else. Where Frank Gehry’s work is smooth and impenetrable, the Broad Art Foundation is porous and accessible. The stainless steel concert hall reflects the city’s skyline; blinding sunlight bounces off its capering shell. The Broad’s concrete veil, by contrast, is a less aggressive spectacle. At three-feet thick, and punched through with large angular openings, the new museum looks as if it is cloaked in an ice cube tray twisted by a powerful algorithm. As, certainly, it has been, to pleasing effect. Read More
Video> Fly Through the New Broad Museum
Public lobby at The Broad (Diller Scofidio + Renfro)
Yesterday, Sam Lubell detailed The Broad Foundation’s much-anticipated LA museum complete with all the renderings. Now, we have a video fly-through of the new Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed space and isn’t it something! You can really start to appreciate the porous nature of The Broad‘s structural concrete “veil” and the views inside and out it will offer. You also gain a sense of its street presence sitting alongside Frank Gehry’s Disney Hall, which appears rather large in comparison. What do you think?
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