The project was commissioned as a full remodel of the building public spaces - entry portico, lobby, elevators, corridors, restrooms and garage access | valet parking area. The owner's program was a quick turnaround with a relatively modest budget, but targeting a high visual impact. It includes a sculptural building signage and custom metal ceiling light fixture, building directory, elevator cab design, corridor signage and details.
The building signage was designed to be an actual stainless steel sculpture and was so approved by the Santa Monica Design Review Board at first hearing in 1996. The art piece happens to bear the building address with numbers beyond sizing permitted by SMMC. The art piece still stands on the cornet of 5th and Santa Monica 25 years later, as s kinetic still life - due to its hyperbolic paraboloid structure it changes shape from every angle and has a rather dynamic presence. The inverted light fixture counterbalances the composition without intrusion and provides ample light over the portico, being one of the first LEDs used in the area. While some of the late-to-post-modern touches in detailing were a sign of the time, this was our first attempt to create an artwork-induced pedestrian flow pattern along with handling the 2D to 3D transitional space elements - and it worked well in fact, later to be enhanced in larger projects here and in the EU.