Creative energy: a family of warehouses form LA's La Kretz Innovation Campus
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Back in 2011, California’s legislature shut down Los Angeles’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA). The move seemingly ended the then-promising vision for the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), a CRA-managed start-up space for green businesses in the city’s quickly emerging Arts District. But thanks to the LA Department of Water and Power, which stepped in to manage the project – and now has offices, labs and demonstration spaces here – the Incubator, now part of what’s called the La Kretz Innovation Campus, is open for business. While most of its tenants have already moved in, its official grand opening is pegged for 7 October.
The 61,000 sq ft facility, built into eight merged brick warehouses that John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects revamped and stabilised, is the physical embodiment of the innovative energy that’s pulsing through the neighborhood. While the area is generally known for art (hence the name), there’s a steady flow of entrepreneurship here. Some are touting it as the East Side equivalent of what’s been labeled 'Silicon Beach' on LA’s West Side.
Inside are flexible, open areas designed to spur communication and collaboration. The concept, explain the architects, is that of an open, entrepreneurial village, connected by narrow streets – aka walkways – all under massive bow truss ceilings, lit by copious skylights and solar tubes. Amid that are a central meeting space, maker labs and a lot of sculptural moments, delineating varied spaces and reflecting a young, maker culture. A giant green wall in the entrance lobby, manufactured by GSky Plant Systems, consists of pockets containing myriad plants; while the lobby desk is a curved, heat-formed Corian structure.
More than 30 businesses and non-profits offer solutions for solar, water, wind, battery and other energy systems as well as planning and urban life challenges. And since the building is dedicated to clean energy, it’s not surprising that it’s aiming for a LEED Platinum rating, with strategies like adaptive reuse, copious natural light, high efficiency energy and water equipment, a photovoltaic parking lot array, green walls, and bioswales to collect stormwater. Outside, John Friedman Alice Kimm worked with LA Bureau of Engineering Landscape architect Rick Fisher to complete a new one-acre park – consisting of small plazas – which will give the Arts District some sorely needed green space.
'It’s tech, sustainability, community, and culture all coming together,' says Alice Kimm. 'The place is just buzzing with interaction.'
The 61,000 sq ft facility sits in eight revamped and merged brick warehouses
Inside, areas are designed to be flexible and open plan, to encourage collaboration and communication
The concept, explain the architects, is that of an open, entrepreneurial village, connected by narrow streets or walkways
Unsurprisingly, the building is aiming for a LEED Platinum rating, working with strategies such as adaptive reuse, copious natural light, and high efficiency energy and water equipment
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects website (opens in new tab)
-
Lucas Ossendrijver continues his fashion return with Theory collection inspired by New Yorkers
Lucas Ossendrijver looks to the brand’s home city of New York for his second ‘Theory Project’ collection (released 31 March 2023) melding function and elegance in his signature style
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Bosco Sodi’s monumental new Mexico City studio is a multifunctional feat
As Bosco Sodi unveils his new Studio CMDX in Atlampa, Mexico City, we speak to the artist about how the vast Alberto Kalach-designed former warehouse is a feat in multitasking
By Juliana Piskorz • Published
-
Saltviga House is an architectural celebration of leftovers
Saltviga House by Kolman Boye Architects ingeniously uses offcuts from Dinesen planks to create a timber retreat on the south coast of Norway
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner is the Anahuacalli Museum
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner is revealed to be the renovation and expansion of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City by Taller | Mauricio Rocha
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
An off-grid cabin in Washington State opens up to a spectacular landscape
Ment Architecture’s off-grid cabin, Swift, offers volcanic views and solar-powered sylvan living from its clifftop site
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
This futuristic ski house is born of its sloped locale
A ski house with a contemporary twist, this is House at 9,000ft by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple in the Intermountain Region of Western USA
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Lasting Joy Brewery injects design sophistication to Hudson Valley farmland
Lasting Joy Brewery by Auver Architecture brings contemporary energy and sophistication to the growing Hudson Valley craft beer scene
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Khanna Schultz’s House in Michigan is an exercise in balancing contrasts
House in Michigan by Khanna Schultz was conceived to fulfil contrasting needs – and does so with poise and efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Marfa’s El Cosmico campground hotel is getting a 3D-printed revamp
El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas, is being reimagined by BIG, 3D-printing specialist Icon and hotelier Liz Lambert
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Sonoma home gets dramatic flowing studio extension
Mourning Dovecote by Schwartz and Architecture is a Sonoma home’s eye-catching studio extension for an architect
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Black Creativity in architecture celebrated in Chicago exhibition
New exhibition in Chicago is centred on honouring Black Creativity in architecture through the ages
By Audrey Henderson • Published