EMBEDDED MANIFOLD

Site Location: 259 W 3rd street, Los Angeles

The site is located at the border of Historic District next to Civic Center. A lot of the historic buildings in the district are from Los Angeles’ early urban development. The Bradbury Building, which sits across Third Street from the project site, is an architectural landmark of Los Angeles built in 1893. The surrounding buildings of the site are mostly commercial, with much of the retail stores located on the ground level and offices on the upper floors. 259 W 3rd Street is a very small and tight existing parking lot. Due to limited space, there is only a one viable location for the vehicular driveway from 3rd Street.

The manifold structure is made of steel pipe diagrid. The diagrid is attached to the floor slabs and held up the window mullions. The exterior structure is made of steel pipe triangular grid, which is also attached to the truss to hold up the floor slabs. The grid structures of the whole building system will create free plan for the museum. In other words, client can adjust the interior walls for exhibition space over time. The building structure is separate of the interior partitions.
I have created a few formal operations to explore different dynamic spaces and form for the possibility of designing a Center for Architecture & Urbanism Los Angeles (CALA). In order to have a comfortable and social space, the project’s programs – lobby, gallery, exhibition, library, and classroom will be well-light from openings above. Meanwhile, the vehicles and people will be able to see and explore the interior spaces of each level when passing by the third street.

*click image to enlarge details

*click image to enlarge details