OMA New York has released initial details of its design for the Audrey Irmas Pavilion, a new addition to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, California. The OMA scheme, currently seeking planning approval, seeks to “forge new connections within the existing campus and create a new urban presence to engage Los Angeles.”
Having won a competition for the pavilion's design in 2015, the OMA scheme represents the firm’s first commission from a religious institution and their first cultural building in California. Designed in collaboration with Gruen Associates, the Audrey Irmas Pavilion will form the newest addition to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. The scheme will serve as a multi-purpose gathering space in what Rabbi Steve Leder regards as “the city’s most diverse neighborhood.”
The scheme will be situated beside a 1929 Byzantine-Revival sanctuary located on Wilshire Boulevard. The pavilion’s form offers an expression of respect to its surrounding buildings with the west façade sloping away from the existing temple, and the south façade leaning away from a historic school.
We wanted to focus on communicating the energy of gathering and exchange. The pavilion is an active gesture, shaped by respectful moves away from the surrounding historic buildings, reaching out onto Wilshire Boulevard to create a new presence. Within the building, a series of interconnected meeting spaces at multiple scales provide ultimate flexibility for assembly while maintaining visual connections that establish outdoor indoor porosity and moments of surprise encounters.
-Shohei Shigematsu, Partner, OMA
The scheme is comprised of three distinct gathering spaces: a main event space, a smaller multi-purpose room, and a sunken garden. The three interlocking spaces are vertically stacked to frame views, while creating a series of openings that filter light and guide visitors through the complex.
The building is expected to break ground in late 2018, with a public opening in 2020.
News via: OMA New York
OMA, MLA, and IDEO Selected to Design New Park for Downtown Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles has selected landscape architects Mia Lehrer + Associates (MLA) with partners OMA and IDEO to design a new public park at First and Broadway in downtown LA. Located across from Los Angeles City Hall, the new development, to be known as "FAB Park," will connect into the existing Grand Park, turning the area into one of the city's most important civic spaces.
