Architectural styles and approaches often mix freely on Los Angeles’ sun-drenched boulevards, which are lined both with icons such as Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, and curiosities including the Chinese Theatre and Chateau Marmont. A case in point is Museum Row on Wilshire Boulevard: just past La Brea Tar Pits’ life-sized models of mammoths come the psychedelic wavy steel ribbons of KPF’s Petersen Automotive Museum, and the slanted skylights of Renzo Piano’s Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
The latest addition to this urban hodgepodge is a gigantic concrete sphere, also by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, now taking shape next to LACMA – a structure in progess that has scooped the Wallpaper* Design Award for Best Building Site. Set to open in late 2019, under the directorship of Kerry Brougher, the impressive volume – a state-of-the-art movie theatre – is part of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Here, you can sit with 999 other people to share the pleasure of the film
Piano and his team, with executive architect Gensler, are also renovating an adjacent streamline Moderne building, formerly a May Company department store. Highlights of the Saban Building, as it will be known, include temporary galleries, set to open with a retrospective of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki; the Rolex Gallery, charting the evolution of filmmaking post second World War; and the Hurd Gallery, a 34ft-high project space that will initially host an interactive installation by TeamLab.
RELATED STORY
‘The two buildings of the museum flirt,’ says Piano. Glass bridges will connect the renovated historical structure to the new sphere, inside which a 1,000-seat theatre will show nitrate, 16mm, 35mm and 70mm films and laser projections. The total 300,000 sq ft complex, which will also feature a more intimate 288-seat theatre, a restaurant, a boutique and an education studio, is destined to be a hub for all manner of film-related activities.
Large glass panels will embrace the sphere’s upper portion, and Piano’s idea to light this ‘lens’ at night will conjure a giant eyeball looking skywards. The reason for the form, he says, is the film-going audience: ‘In here, you sit with 999 other people, sharing the pleasure of the film and each other’s presence. The enormous screen in front is slightly curved. If you simply extend that, you end up with an orb.’
Strategic slices into the orb create one of Piano’s signature piazzas and, above, an open terrace that allows views of the Hollywood Hills. it’s just the place to reflect on movie magic and this new pleasure dome’s resonance within the LA landscape. §
As originally featured in the February 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*239)
See more from the Wallpaper* Design Awards here
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Renzo Piano Building Workshop website
-
Wallpaper* Gift Guides: What beauty editor Mary Cleary has on her wishlistWallpaper* contributing beauty editor Mary Cleary shares the items she is hoping to unwrap this holiday season – from transporting fragrances to a must-have skincare device
-
A Dutch visitor centre echoes the ‘rising and turning’ of the Wadden SeaThe second instalment in Dorte Mandrup’s Wadden Sea trilogy, this visitor centre and scientific hub draws inspiration from the endless cycle of the tide
-
Hyundai is the latest car company to get into robotics: meet the Mobile Eccentric DroidThe MobED is a new product from Hyundai’s Robotics LAB, pitched at last-mile delivery and industrial applications
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthFrom wineries-turned-music studios to fire-resistant holiday homes, these are the properties that have most impressed the Wallpaper* editors this month
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume
-
This ethereal Miami residence sprouted out of a wild, jungle-like gardenA Miami couple tapped local firm Brillhart Architecture to design them a house that merged Florida vernacular, Paul Rudolph and 'too many plants to count’
-
Tour Cano House, a Los Angeles home like no other, full of colour and quirkCano House is a case study for tranquil city living, cantilevering cleverly over a steep site in LA’s Mount Washington and fusing California modernism with contemporary flair
