Full remodel of the building public spaces - entry portico, lobby, elevators, corridors, etc. Similarly to 800 Santa Monica Boulevard, the owners approached us for a facelift of the building. This was at the rise of telecom services and most of the tenants were already telecom providers with additional ones leasing. We have always shied away from an illustrative architectural approach. As a mater of fact, we believe it is quite lame. Here we wanted to have a presence of an attractive modern skin, which will redefine the building. With a limited budget for any structural changes, we again used our envelope concept. In other words, we created a nonintrusive layer to the existing bland curtain wall with an even so boring 45 degree corner cut.
Exactly this corner division was used to accommodate a double row of stainless steel ribs and several neon runs, loosely resembling the structure of a computer chip in a purely sculptural interpretation of the building's function. Since this was the dawn of the LED lighting, we also proposed a series of LED spot lights at every other junction of the envelope concept. In other words, we created layer of light with controllable intensity and color. Similarly, the interior of the lobby was treated with travertine, wood and stainless steel, while a wavy freeform canopy provided natural space flow and room for hidden air ducts as well as sound buffering.
Once again, ahead of its time.