The new addition to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California, which spans 40 years of design and construction, is the Red Building by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. The first phase of the three-part composition is the Blue Building was completed in 1975 by Cesar Pelli when he was Partner for Design at Gruen Associates. The Green Building and an outpost for the Museum of Contemporary was added in 1988. The Red Building is a programmatic addition to the showrooms and museum of the first two structures.
More on this project after the break.
Located on a 14-acre site, the buildings are organized around an outdoor plaza. The Red Building is the most dynamic of the composition which already includes the six-story Blue Building that houses showrooms and office space, and the nine-story Green Building which contains a film theater and conference center. The new addition alters the site, creating a more defined public outdoor space. It will house 400,000 square feet of office space and parking for 1,500 cars.
The Red Building is composed of two curved, sloping towers atop seven levels of parking. The six-story West Tower slopes inward against the Hollywood Hills to the north. The eight-story East Tower continues the gesture, curving upward and culminating in a high point to the east. A seventh-floor courtyard planted with palm trees is located between the two towers. The walls facing the Palm Court will be of the same technology as the red walls, but will be of white glass to give the courtyard a light, ethereal quality. The courtyard will offer views if Hollywood Hills to the north and the other building of the Design Center. Like the previous two Pacific Design Center buildings, the Red Building will be clad in glass. While the glass of the earlier buildings was opaque, the façade of the Red Building includes both transparent and fritted glass. To create a taut, all-glass appearance, the red glass is held in its aluminum frames with silicone.
Architects Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects Location Melrose Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard, West Hollywood, California Client Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation Area 400,000 (office), 400,000 square feet (parking)
