SUNSET ARTS COLLECTIVE

Instructed by Neil Denari JUN. 2022 / M.Arch I 2nd-year studio, spring term, UCLA AUD

Located on Sunset Boulevard, LA’s most vibrant roadway, the project inherits the brutalist language of its previous building while creating contrast through various materials. The existing bank building is a one-floor hybrid building with an iconic concrete spandrel flying between the ground floor and roof-top parking deck.

The project vacuums the interior ground floor and opens it to the sky. Meanwhile, the concrete spandrel is replaced by a concrete mass serving for the new program. To accommodate the new arts collective’s program, the project adds additional building mass on top of the existing one and divides it into 2 L-shape pavilions interlocking with each other, one serves arts creators and staff, and the other opens to the public for temporal exhibitions and conferences. The points where the 2 intersect are the fire stairs and elevators. The glass elevator gives public access from the sculpture garden on the ground floor to the exhibition spaces above. On the other hand, the staff and material supply enter the building through the service elevator at the parking deck. The cafe, serving both private and public populations, connects the 2 pavilions by a roof terrace.

The facade of the new building, along with its structural system, attempts to create illusion and contrast for its visitors. The exterior facade is constituted by precast concrete panels, which give a sense of opaqueness and heaviness. However, the building is highly transparent and light on the side facing the courtyard. The visitors would not know the essence of the building until they go through the deep threshold and see the glossy glazing and red-tint steel frames. The building is monolithic and mute during the day, while the alternation of translucent concrete panels and traditional precast concrete panels give voice to it in the bustling night on Sunset Boulevard. The unparallel light stripes, illuminated by the interior lights penetrating the translucent concrete, defamiliarize the straight edges and act as spotlights that highlight the building in the meantime.