LosAngelesSportsFan
June 18th, 2005, 09:13 PM
Three New towers for South Park, 40, 25, 17 Story.
South Park Surprise Continues
Questions of Whether Downtown Matters Fall Flat When the Area Is Exploding
by Sam Hall Kaplan
There is a heightening debate these days in isolated academic and editorial circles concerning the future of Downtown.
The 25-story residential "Glass Tower," proposed for the corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue, is one of the numerous high-profile projects adding heat to South Park. Rendering courtesy of Nadel Architects.
Being questioned is the rationale for Downtown in the well-documented wake of the exodus to suburbia and beyond over the last half century of industry, related business, and the mythical middle class. For a time it appeared that all the chroniclers were just waiting for the last person leaving to turn off the lights. That, of course, did not happen.
Now, these persistent commentators are questioning whether anyone should care about downtowns in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Are they worth the public and private investments in cash and concern being made or considered, such as locally in and around Staples Center and Grand Avenue?
Are these evolving downtowns in this post-industrial, information age simply creative constructs for culture and conspicuous consumption catering to the transient young and empty nesters with disposable income?
Indeed, are they "ephemeral cities"? This is the favored phrase of peripatetic local urbanist Joel Kotkin, who in his recently published history The City questions the gentrification of downtowns and champions the resurgence of small businesses, ethnic enclaves and families.
The arguments are provocative, grist for the symposium circuit, classroom colloquies, Op-Ed pages and Downtown dinner parties. It's certainly tempting to weigh in with incisive insight as I did decades ago when documenting declining cities and the emerging dominance of suburbia in a book entitled The Dream Deferred. But that is old news.
Much more interesting is what is actually happening at present in downtowns, and in particular Downtown Los Angeles.
As L.A.'s current commentators in their well-feathered perches in the San Fernando Valley, San Francisco and Seattle continue to cogitate, a critical mass of residents is emerging Downtown as various consortiums and corporations churn out proposals and plans for an array of projects.
If there is one thing constant about cities, it is that they keep changing.
Just a few weeks ago we were focused on the nascent master plans for the projected $1.8 billion Grand Avenue development, envisioning a revived streetscape and several skyscrapers. Now seemingly more interesting and urgent is the architecture and design scene a dozen or so blocks away in South Park.
Indeed, several contemplated projects east of Staples Center hint at the potential of the area becoming unconditionally urban, and an engaging anchor to Downtown, as enticing as the promise of Grand Avenue.
These, which I glimpsed recently, include the proposal for a high-rise residential scheme labeled the "Glass Tower" at the northeast corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue. As designed by Nadel Architects for the Kalantari Group, the sleek 25-story tower is distinguished by a glass curtain wall, clad to a simple skeletal frame. The effect as presented in a rendering is an eye-catching lightness that the architect Jack Bouvrie described as a "crystalline brittleness."
The tower is to be further heralded in the evenings by an illuminated helipad, in keeping with an urban tradition of glittering skylines. When you've got it, flaunt it, is a lesson Nadel seems to have embraced when retained recently in Las Vegas.
Distinctively modern glass towers also mark a mixed-use complex of 700 units of housing set on a two-story podium of 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurants with a Times Square flair proposed for the critical block bounded by Figueroa, Flower, 11th and 12th streets. The site across from Staples Center is being assembled by a consortium of the Lennar Corporation labeled the "Venture."
The masterly design by the firm of Johnson Fain Partners calls for three towers of 40, 25 and 17 stories, hovering over a promenade fashioned by the skillful Studio 111. The promenade slices the block diagonally and is edged by an array of stores and eateries, anchored by a large neighborhood grocery and a small park.
We are talking here of a design-conscious appeal to foot traffic from both the sports and entertainment venues across the street to the west and from the on-site and adjacent residents to the east. In short, a healthy mix that promises a very urban scene that should animate South Park, and not just on nights the Lakers, Clippers or Kings are playing. Look for an explosion of symbiotic night clubs.
The Johnson and Fain scheme was selected by Lennar in an invited competition that also involved attentive submissions by McLarand Vasquez Emisek; Van Tilburg, Banvard, Soderbergh, and the Jerde Partnership; and Gruen Associates.
No one involved in the ambitious development would comment on the record concerning the particulars of the venture, pending the sale of the land and the signing of appropriate contracts.
However, the competition itself was said to have been intense, and produced some notable designs, indicating an urbanity among the firms that augurs well for South Park, Downtown and the city.
Kaplan is the author of L.A. Lost and Found. He is the former design critic for the Los Angeles Times and a former Emmy Award-winning reporter for FOX 11.
page 5, 6/20/2005
South Park Surprise Continues
Questions of Whether Downtown Matters Fall Flat When the Area Is Exploding
by Sam Hall Kaplan
There is a heightening debate these days in isolated academic and editorial circles concerning the future of Downtown.
The 25-story residential "Glass Tower," proposed for the corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue, is one of the numerous high-profile projects adding heat to South Park. Rendering courtesy of Nadel Architects.
Being questioned is the rationale for Downtown in the well-documented wake of the exodus to suburbia and beyond over the last half century of industry, related business, and the mythical middle class. For a time it appeared that all the chroniclers were just waiting for the last person leaving to turn off the lights. That, of course, did not happen.
Now, these persistent commentators are questioning whether anyone should care about downtowns in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Are they worth the public and private investments in cash and concern being made or considered, such as locally in and around Staples Center and Grand Avenue?
Are these evolving downtowns in this post-industrial, information age simply creative constructs for culture and conspicuous consumption catering to the transient young and empty nesters with disposable income?
Indeed, are they "ephemeral cities"? This is the favored phrase of peripatetic local urbanist Joel Kotkin, who in his recently published history The City questions the gentrification of downtowns and champions the resurgence of small businesses, ethnic enclaves and families.
The arguments are provocative, grist for the symposium circuit, classroom colloquies, Op-Ed pages and Downtown dinner parties. It's certainly tempting to weigh in with incisive insight as I did decades ago when documenting declining cities and the emerging dominance of suburbia in a book entitled The Dream Deferred. But that is old news.
Much more interesting is what is actually happening at present in downtowns, and in particular Downtown Los Angeles.
As L.A.'s current commentators in their well-feathered perches in the San Fernando Valley, San Francisco and Seattle continue to cogitate, a critical mass of residents is emerging Downtown as various consortiums and corporations churn out proposals and plans for an array of projects.
If there is one thing constant about cities, it is that they keep changing.
Just a few weeks ago we were focused on the nascent master plans for the projected $1.8 billion Grand Avenue development, envisioning a revived streetscape and several skyscrapers. Now seemingly more interesting and urgent is the architecture and design scene a dozen or so blocks away in South Park.
Indeed, several contemplated projects east of Staples Center hint at the potential of the area becoming unconditionally urban, and an engaging anchor to Downtown, as enticing as the promise of Grand Avenue.
These, which I glimpsed recently, include the proposal for a high-rise residential scheme labeled the "Glass Tower" at the northeast corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue. As designed by Nadel Architects for the Kalantari Group, the sleek 25-story tower is distinguished by a glass curtain wall, clad to a simple skeletal frame. The effect as presented in a rendering is an eye-catching lightness that the architect Jack Bouvrie described as a "crystalline brittleness."
The tower is to be further heralded in the evenings by an illuminated helipad, in keeping with an urban tradition of glittering skylines. When you've got it, flaunt it, is a lesson Nadel seems to have embraced when retained recently in Las Vegas.
Distinctively modern glass towers also mark a mixed-use complex of 700 units of housing set on a two-story podium of 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurants with a Times Square flair proposed for the critical block bounded by Figueroa, Flower, 11th and 12th streets. The site across from Staples Center is being assembled by a consortium of the Lennar Corporation labeled the "Venture."
The masterly design by the firm of Johnson Fain Partners calls for three towers of 40, 25 and 17 stories, hovering over a promenade fashioned by the skillful Studio 111. The promenade slices the block diagonally and is edged by an array of stores and eateries, anchored by a large neighborhood grocery and a small park.
We are talking here of a design-conscious appeal to foot traffic from both the sports and entertainment venues across the street to the west and from the on-site and adjacent residents to the east. In short, a healthy mix that promises a very urban scene that should animate South Park, and not just on nights the Lakers, Clippers or Kings are playing. Look for an explosion of symbiotic night clubs.
The Johnson and Fain scheme was selected by Lennar in an invited competition that also involved attentive submissions by McLarand Vasquez Emisek; Van Tilburg, Banvard, Soderbergh, and the Jerde Partnership; and Gruen Associates.
No one involved in the ambitious development would comment on the record concerning the particulars of the venture, pending the sale of the land and the signing of appropriate contracts.
However, the competition itself was said to have been intense, and produced some notable designs, indicating an urbanity among the firms that augurs well for South Park, Downtown and the city.
Kaplan is the author of L.A. Lost and Found. He is the former design critic for the Los Angeles Times and a former Emmy Award-winning reporter for FOX 11.
page 5, 6/20/2005