Los Angeles: The Latest Architecture and News

A few weeks ago we had the chance to visit L.O.H.A. and interview Lorcan O’Herlihy in Los Angeles.

The glass tower by Eric Owen Moss Architects is encouraging the re-development of South Central Los Angeles with this project. The building has been in planning since the nineties but was stalled for some years until it was re-designed in 2006 as a single tower.

A rail line installed nearby spurred the redesign. The structure is part of the redevelopment of South Central LA, an area plagued with poverty and violence for many years. The project was originally conceived of with a structural strategy, consisting of curvilinear ribbons wrapping two main volumes.

The new design remains very similar with the same ribbon theme, but as a single volume. as the area’s only high-rise, office tenants will enjoy wide, open views of the city. a train stop sits directly outside the building, but car parking was also a main concern for the architects. The aforementioned ribbon scheme provides the building’s structure, making each floor completely open. The ribbons are made from steel tubes filled with concrete. Each floor was the same flexible plan but comes in three distinct heights of 13, 16 and 24 feet, to offer further flexibility.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break.

Los Angeles is often portrayed as the example of the car-friendly city. The traditional image of the town is an endless pattern of single family dwellings, interconnected by traffic-clogged freeways, where transit is undeveloped and the air is choked with smog.

However, Los Angeles is changing. The city’s Transport Authority has planned in the last years a series of measures aiming to improve quality of life through improving transit and walking and providing alternative to car commuting.

What’s Your HistoricLA? Do you know a special story about a local building or the neighborhood you live in? Come join like-minded amateur historians and Los Angeles aficionados for the public kickoff of SurveyLA, Los Angeles’ first-ever citywide survey of its historic resources. A full day of activities will include opportunities to share your knowledge on L.A.‘s hidden gems, screenings of the SurveyLA video, and a panel discussion moderated by Larry Mantle, host of KPCC’s Air Talk.

Postopolis! is an architecture blogging event that started in 2007, hosted by the Storefront for Art and Architecture, as a collaborative event by Inhabitat, Subtopia, City of Sound and BLDGBLOG.