Monday Morning Quarterback

(Monday, December 30, 2024)

It's become a holiday tradition for the Quarterback to jettison its normal format and instead celebrate local architectural achievements during the year. And for Los Angeles architecture, it’s been a surprisingly good year. The region’s best projects are as clear and practical as they are creative and striking. Perhaps tempered by the pandemic, these are humane and, dare I say it, even humble designs that respond to their surroundings, minimize environmental impact, stay (mostly) on budget and artfully incorporate landscape and even urban planning, sometimes carving out much-needed community space. They also lift our spirits and break from convention. This list includes museums, of course (the typical showcase for architects), but equally well-designed affordable housing, an arena, offices, labs, and of course a single-family residence. All are inspiring, but in different ways — evidence that despite the uncanny advances of our digital world, there is, for now, still no formula for good architecture. Let’s start with... 

Stunning Brutalist Concrete Home Rivals the Hollywood Sign. Rising steeply above a ravine in the Hollywood Hills, Nina and Andreas Grueter’s concrete home conjures a villain’s lair in a James Bond thriller (John Lautner’s Brutalist Elrod House in “Diamonds Are Forever” comes to mind) with the nearby Hollywood sign adding to its cinematic allure. For some, a narrow hillside lot might seem like an impossibly risky location to build a home, especially at the end of a dirt road. But for the globe-trotting European developers, it was an exciting challenge they were willing to take on. “Are you afraid of heights?” Andreas asks visitors as she ascended one of the home’s many staircases to the rooftop deck. The home has been featured in the “Forever Sunday” music video by Snoop Dogg. The couple was immediately interested when they saw the "for sale" sign on the empty lot while hiking in Griffith Park. “We do everything from buying the land to designing the interiors,” Andreas said of their projects. The Grueter Residence is built on an insanely steep hillside at the base of the Hollywood sign. After contacting the owner, the couple purchased the 10,500-square-foot lot for only $40,000 in 2012. But little did they know that it would take more than a decade to build a home on the challenging site. This sense of destiny is palpable in the Grueters’ connection to the land, which is shrouded in a canopy of mature sycamores. The property offers sweeping views of Beachwood Canyon, and “on a clear day, you can see Catalina,” Nina said as hikers stopped nearby to gape at the house like it was an attraction. With a desire for a contemporary, iconic building, the couple sought out Why Architecture, where architects Yo-ichiro Hakomori and Kulapat Yantrasast, known for their work on the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, were commissioned to bring the Grueters’ vision to life. The lot’s steep topography presented numerous challenges during construction, from ensuring the structure’s stability with more than 35 caissons to managing the permitting process and meeting with multiple neighborhood planning committees. Composed of four floors, the 4,455-square-foot home offers a different experience at every level. And get this: there is even a car elevator that can house two vehicles (because of the city’s parking requirements for their street). Also, there’s a sauna, an office and a walk-in wine cellar and a dramatic wading pool, which cantilevers off the living room, has specially designed windows built into its side that open to the kitchen, imbuing the room with a soft glow when the pool changes color with the sunlight.

Epic 34-Story Complex Is About to Transform L.A.'s Arts District Forever. Rising 388 feet at the edge of L.A.‘s Arts District, the 670 Mesquit project blends industrial heritage with modern living, featuring 894 residences, office spaces, a hotel, and retail hubs designed to honor the neighborhood’s creative spirit. At the edge of the Arts District, where industrial grit meets the concrete channel of the L.A. River, a humble cold storage facility is poised for an extraordinary transformation. Eight years after first floating their plans, the Gallo family and Vella Group have secured crucial approval from the City Planning Commission for what could become the neighborhood's most ambitious development yet. The 670 Mesquit project reads like an architect's dream list: four sleek towers rising as high as 34 stories, their interconnected forms designed by the celebrated Bjarke Ingels Group to echo the district's industrial heritage while pushing boldly into the future. The tallest building will stretch 388 feet into the downtown skyline, marking a dramatic shift for this historically low-rise neighborhood. The numbers tell a story of L.A.'s evolving needs. The development will house 894 residences (including 144 for very low- and extremely low-income households) alongside 676,000 square feet of office space, a 271-room hotel, a charter elementary school, and an array of street-level retail and gallery spaces. In a notable pivot reflecting changing market demands, the developers have scaled back office space by 300,000 square feet while doubling down on housing. The project's location couldn't be more strategic. Nestled between the Sixth and Seventh Street Viaducts, with the recently completed Sixth Street Bridge as its neighbor and a potential Metro station on the horizon, 670 Mesquit is positioned to become a vital connector in L.A.'s urban fabric. New decks planned above the existing freight rail line promise to finally bridge the gap between the Arts District and the river, a long-sought goal for the neighborhood.

Mullin Transportation Design Center, ArtCenter College of Design. Darin Johnstone Architects’ Mullin Transportation Design Center is a redesign of a historic wind tunnel. Until recently, students in ArtCenter’s vaunted transportation design program couldn’t examine full-size cars in class. Their home, a luminous 1976 Craig Ellwood building dominating the school’s leafy Hillside Campus, just couldn’t fit them. That’s changed now that the program has moved to the new Mullin Transportation Design Center, located inside a former 1940s supersonic wind tunnel on the school’s grittier South Campus. Darin Johnstone Architects, which has renovated close to a dozen buildings at ArtCenter, has doubled the tunnel’s usable square footage and revamped what had basically been a huge room for graduate studies and events. The 45-foot-tall space is now divided between smaller classrooms and studios, plus multistory labs, maker spaces and flex areas, topped by a floating concrete deck that maintains the building’s breathtakingly open feel. Curved white ramps and surfaces recollect the aerodynamic language of cars and their infrastructure. And the rhythmic original bow truss ceiling is a reminder that complex engineering isn’t limited to cars. The South Campus, thanks to this compelling centerpiece and some new connecting pathways, is starting to feel more like a coherent place. But we'll have to wait and see if more of architect Michael Maltzan’s master plan for the campus, calling to further unite it via bridges, housing and public space, gets realized.

Isla Intersection Housing Complex. Isla Intersections’ pedestrian walkway serves as a buffer between the shipping-container apartments and neighboring buildings on an underutilized site where the 110 and 105 freeways meet. Isla Intersections’ 54 apartments are subtly angled away from the street. Rooftop decks can be seen on the right, and a small interior courtyard delivers more breezes and light to residents. As L.A. runs out of housing options, it desperately needs new spots to build. This 54-unit supportive housing project designed by LOHA, built on a forgotten triangle sliver of land in the shadow of South L.A.’s massive 110-105 freeway interchange, is an excellent case study. Formed from a layered, village-like amalgamation of retrofitted shipping containers, Isla showcases creative ways to make challenging spaces more livable. Its nonprofit developer, Holos Communities, closed an adjacent street to create an active “paseo,” designed by local landscape architects Agency Artifact, hosting farmers markets and other events. Rooftop patios and edible gardens (irrigated by a system that reuses water from sinks, baths and washing machines) provide additional community space while reducing carbon footprint. The project’s staggered profile helps to reduce exposure to noise and air pollution while still opening subtly to the surroundings. Ground-floor retail reserved for local businesses will, when installed, help to activate the neighborhood. Housing Complex.

Intuit Dome. Steve Ballmer’s $2-billion, 17,700-seat arena upends the notion that indoor stadiums need to be sealed off from the elements. Large cuts in its elliptical roof open the building’s terraces to breezes, while also exposing the structure’s intricate diagonal steel frame. Once you get into the seating bowl, tech immerses you in the digital realm, highlighted by the "Halo Board," the 38,375-square-foot, double-sided ring with 233 million LEDs — the largest digital screen in any indoor arena in the world. It’s both exhilarating and overwhelming. Thanks to Intuit’s lively outdoor plaza, which is highlighted by the “Clipper Steps,” a playable hard-top basketball court, and an impressive roster of public art pieces, the arena has a real urban presence. The only bummer is that the surrounding traffic-clogged streetscapes are pretty miserable. Here’s hoping that Inglewood, and perhaps Ballmer and fellow billionaire Stan Kroenke (who owns SoFi Stadium next door), can chip in to make this a true urban realm. (And maybe revive the K Line northern extension, for those who hope to take Metro?)

NBCUniversal Commons. Lever Architecture’s solution for NBCUniversal includes a new Commons building that serves as a hub for the campus. Lever Architecture, based in L.A. and in Portland, Ore., was a clear underdog in a competition to update what was an unremarkable corner of NBCUniversal’s historic studio lot in the San Fernando Valley. (Other competitors included major names Bjarke Ingels Group, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and Kieran Timberlake.) But what set Lever’s scheme apart was how it elegantly transformed inward-facing offices and a cluttered street into an active, nature-filled, urban community. “The push was to develop a heart, give it a sense of campus,” said NBCUniversal chief real estate officer Edward Chuchla. The redesign of the NBCUniversal campus by Lever Architecture called for excavation of a hill beside the two glassy volumes of One Universal, opening up space and light for a central green. Lever partnered with landscape architects Field Operations and a large interiors team that included Gensler. The team employed three key moves: They replaced the ho-hum street with an intricate, tree-lined pedestrian passage, complemented by a grassy, pavilion-lined central green and interlaced planted spaces. They excavated a large hill on the corner of the site, letting them pull back One Universal, the project’s glassy, two-volumed office, opening space and light for the central green. And they created the Commons, a circular building (inspired by a zoetrope, the spinning circular contraption that first made moving pictures) shaded by an intricately latticed white metal screen, containing amenities for the entire campus and serving as its centerpiece. All of the project’s buildings merge inside and outside wherever possible, with indoor plantings, floor-to-ceiling windows and large overlooks on upper levels. The artwork inside (inspired by Universal’s films and shows) adds potent pops of energy.

Glorya Kaufman Community Center. AUX Architecture’s created the new Glorya Kaufman Community Center at the Wende Museum in Culver City. It’s a little ironic that the Wende Museum, an institution dedicated to the secret intrigues and closed networks of the Cold War, is one of the most open, community-embracing institutions in Los Angeles. Located in a converted 1949 armory with a lovely adjacent garden, it needed more space to fulfill its expanding community mission. Cue the Glorya Kaufman Community Center, a three-level, 7,500-square-foot space that AUX Architecture founder Brian Wickersham calls a Swiss army knife of a building, with flexible spaces for local performances, lectures, exhibitions, classes, art rooms, tutoring and anything else the community can dream up. The museum offers the facility to community events free of charge. The new community center at the Wende Museum uses vertical louvers, abundant windows and the landscaping to soften the heavy concrete forms. The building manages to pull in the heavy concrete language of the original structure, yet is remarkably open thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, a peeled-back facade and cantilevered outdoor stairs and balconies. It also feels soft, thanks to native greenery along its edges, terraces and underside, pulling in the same palette as the garden next door.

Resnick Sustainability Center. Scientific research has changed dramatically. Instead of sequestering themselves, researchers are looking for open, light-filled labs surrounded by welcoming common spaces to spur collaboration, often among different disciplines. This new building by Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign along the staid UCLA campus’ west edge, is an advertisement of sorts for the sustainably focused work happening inside. Outside, the Resnick Sustainability Center has a rippling, curved glass facade, shaded by a vivid, sometimes off-kilter collage of angled white aluminum fins. Inside, lofty floors connected by open stairs and equipped with public spaces on each level, make you feel like you’re in a treehouse, not a science building. The smooth movement of the facade, shaped to maximize sun shading, evokes both excitement and peace — not an easy feat. The few frontages not wrapped by the screen feel a little more empty, static. As a building that promotes sustainability research, it’s seeking the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest rating, "LEED Platinum," for its abundant natural light, passive shading, rooftop solar panels and a frame whose mass timber components both significantly warm the vibe and help reduce carbon footprint.

Vendors Expo Returns! Our world-famous "Vendors Expo" returns in 2025, on Thursday night, January 9, 2025. The Vendor Expo opens starting at 6:30 pm. We'll have 30+ of the finest vendors featuring real estate products and services you will want to utilize as a successful investor. Our Vendor Expo will be held at the Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Culver City CA. FREE Admission. Please RSVP at our website, LARealEstateInvestors.com.

“Wholesaling” When it comes to wholesaling, there is only one guy you need to learn from. His name is Daniel Tromello. Daniel has not only wholesaled hundreds of properties throughout Southern California, he has traveled the country preaching the virtues of wholesaling. Daniel will be our special guest speaker at our first general meeting of 2025. The title of Daniels’s presentation is “How to Wholesale Like a Pro.” Don’t miss Daniel’s presentation. Thursday night, January 9, 2025, 6:30 to 9:30 pm. And be sure to come early (6:30 pm) and enjoy our Vendors Expo. Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Los Angeles, 90034 (Culver City adjacent). FREE Admission. Metered and free street parking. RSVP at our website, LARealEstateInvestors.com.

Basic Training Investing Boot Camp. Saturday, January 25, 2025, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, will be our semi-annual Basic Training Boot Camp. Everything you ever wanted to know about real estate investing but were afraid to ask. Iman Cultural Center, South Hall, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Los Angeles, 90034.The cost of the Boot Camp is $149.00 per person if paid before January 18. After January 18, the prices jumps to $249.00 per person. So don’t wait to register. (Gold Members and former Boot Campers can attend for FREE, but still need to register.) Plus free parking. Please register at our website, LaRealEstateInvestors.com.

Lloyd Segal

President

Los Angeles County Real Estate Investors Association, LLC

Lloyd@LARealEstateInvestors.com

310-792-6404