— Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles
BuenzCordwellSolomon
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles
Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) is an architecture, interior design, and planning firm with a thoughtful design vision and a dynamic national imprint. Since 1931, SCB has made a lasting visual impact on skylines, campuses, and neighborhoods nationwide. From offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Seattle we offer our expertise to clients across the country, helping them achieve their goals, serve their constituents, and create unique built environments. Our approach is to ask questions, listen, and develop the best design solution for each individual project. We are future-oriented, continually challenging ourselves to design to a higher standard, innovate at every level, and give our clients more as we achieve design excellence.
Design for a world.changing
Times SquareMirror
Between the two structures, an extensive paseo connects First and Second streets and is activated by new ground floor retail spaces on each side, providing an expansive pedestrian focused public amenity. The paseo links the complex of civic center buildings to the north of the site with the Broadway Historic Theater District to the south, along with a new metro station across 2nd Street marking its southern end.
The new building’s podium relates in height to the setbacks of the original newspaper building, with the structural columns at the ground floor, amenity levels, and crown expressed in a similar manner to the historic Art Deco structure.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles6
Times Mirror Square is a two tower, 1,127-unit residential development in downtown Los Angeles.
Sharing the same city block as the historic Kaufman Building, the former headquarters of the LA Times, the development looks to its neighbor as inspiration for its distinctive architectural character.
The façade treatment of the 37- and 53-story towers draws its inspiration from the historic processes of newspaper production. The balconies are conceived as a series of paper rolls travelling around the façade and feeding in and out of the structure, like newsprint moving through a printing press. Screening elements at both the parking garage and the crown reference linotype machines and printing plates for their design; applying the hierarchy and layout of the printed page as a proportional reference to organize the building.
Downtown Los Angeles Size 1.1 Million SF / 37 and 53 Stories / 1,127 Apartments
Type Residential Location
Client Onni Group
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles8
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles10
Marina Shores
Nestled between the Alamitos Bay Marina and Los Cerritos Wetlands, Marina Shores is a two-building residential development that brings 588 apartments to Long Beach. Collaborating with the landscape architect, the team developed an integrated design approach and concept for the project inspired by the area's ecology and its constant, changing nature in response to the tides. Open and brighter spaces represent the more uniform and reflective nature of high tide, while denser, patterned, and verdant spaces are inspired by the forms and vegetation exposed during low tide. A thoughtful and purposeful play between these two notions is evident throughout the design of the project.
The architectural expression for the two buildings continues the tidal concept in form and materiality. A textured standing seam metal base assumes a dynamic and geometric expression, lifting to expose retail spaces and lobbies, and recessing into residential entries and balconies. It is accented by warm, wood planked ceilings and vertical fiber cement panels. A 1,000-car parking garage is concealed within the base. Above, a more uniform and horizontal expression emerges, reflecting the language of the boats in the marina, clad in white plaster and topped with a louvered trellis to shade residential terraces.
Type Residential Location Long Beach Size 264,000 SF / 5 Stories / 588 Apartments Client Onni Group
The two buildings assume a three-pronged massing, mirroring each other over a new public paseo which links the Pacific Coast Highway to the marina. A series of elevated courtyards transition between private, dense, and lushly landscaped internal spaces for small group gatherings, to larger, open outdoor spaces along the marina. Indoor amenities including a club house and fitness center are located at the terminus of each residential prong, connecting to the outdoor amenity deck, which includes a pool and sundeck. A boardwalk meanders through the expansive outdoor space, bridging the two buildings to create one shared residential amenity experience for residents. A grand stair at the southwest corner connects the boardwalk to the street level retail and the adjacent shopping mall.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles12
Type Office Location Hollywood Size 240,000 SF / 14 Stories Client Onni Group
1708-1732 North Cahuenga Boulevard is a new Class A speculative office building in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District. The 14-story building’s approximately 30,000-square-foot floor plates with a central core are envisioned for commercial media and tech-focused tenants. At the ground level, 4,500 square feet of retail enjoys a prominent location at the corner of Cahuenga and Hollywood Boulevard, while five floors of below grade parking provide 547 spaces. The new building bridges the scale between larger commercial structures a block to the east and its smaller historic neighbors, especially the adjacent terra-cotta-clad Security Trust & Savings Building (1920). The bold geometry of the new building complements its historic neighbor by taking massing and material cues from the finely detailed structure; a large tenant terrace on the 7th floor continues and enhances the cornice line of the Security Trust & Savings Building, while the dignified but restrained façade of neutral colored glass, ceramic frit, and matching gray metal is softened by eased corners as a nod to the radiused arches of its neighbor.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles14 Hollywood + Cahuenga
An open panel roof sign evokes the glamor and drama of the surrounding district and embeds the new building within its context. The non-streetfacing side of the sign features a large viewing screen, creating an outdoor theater for tenants within a larger landscaped outdoor amenity deck. The outdoor space is coupled with 4,500 square feet of interior tenant amenities.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles16
Spanning an entire city block and encompassing a new metro station, 222 W. 2nd Street is a 700,000-square-foot transit-oriented development in the heart of Los Angeles’ historic theater district.
SF / 56 Stories / 700 Apartments Client Onni Group
Type Residential Location Downtown
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles18
222 W. 2nd Street
The design for the project demonstrates a thoughtful relationship to its context, responding to the existing character of the theater district. The scale and rhythmic expression of the base along Broadway offers a modern interpretation of the surrounding district’s masonry and punched-window historic facades. The existing paseo through the site is enhanced with 10,000 square feet of retail along with extensive landscape and streetscape improvements. At the corner of 2nd and Broadway, the building lifts, gesturing to the new metro station beneath.
Size
Rising elegantly above, the glass tower reaches 570 feet to an illuminated, angular crown, adding dynamism to the evolving LA skyline. The 56-story project includes 700 apartments, ranging from studios to two-bedroom units. The massing of the tower is split into three distinct volumes separated by the building's amenity spaces: a large pool deck with cabanas and grilling stations on the 11th floor, a landscaped terrace with views to downtown and the Hills on the 39th floor, and a rooftop sky park. Los Angeles 700,000
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles20
SF / 17 Stories Client Onni Group
Type Office Location Hollywood Size
Located near Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, this 514,000-square-foot, 17-story office tower is designed to meet the demand of incoming tech companies for more office space in the area.
The concrete tower was designed to support single-use media-tech clientele and features 30,000 square-foot floorplates with high ceiling heights. The top floor includes a large outdoor terrace that faces the Hollywood Hills, plus a generous tenant lounge, gaming lounge, bar, and small conference facility. For the building envelope, the design team created a custom-made curtain wall with inset paneling and a unique frit. At ground level, the curtain wall lifts to highlight the building’s main entrance, exposing the structure beneath and celebrating the large span of the columns and unique bracing. 514,000
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles22 1360 Vine
Key to the project is the preservation of six historic bungalows located on the site. SCB was challenged to develop not only a design that incorporated the bungalows as part of the site, but also a plan for how to preserve the bungalows during the construction of the tower’s underground parking garage. Each bungalow will be removed from the site during construction and reintroduced within a new 40,000-square-foot tenant park.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles24
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles26
Partners
SCB conducted various shading and daylighting studies to ensure that both the amenity roof deck and Zocalo Public Square would receive optimal sunlight throughout the day. As a result, the tower is situated on the northeast corner of the site and is oriented to the east/west, simultaneously providing residents with sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills, downtown Los Angeles, and the Pacific Ocean. As the first residential high-rise in the area, ARQ at Cumulus will be a visual a landmark for the neighborhood, serving retail, a metro station, and a residential community. The tower integrates subtle feature lighting with distinct white banded patterns on the façade that will be noticeable day or night, reinforcing its iconic contribution to the neighborhood identity. The tower’s high-performance glass façade and elements such as its greywater reuse system, native vegetation, and energy-efficient systems throughout the building contribute to its goal of LEED Gold certification.
Client
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Type Residential Location Culver City Size 580,000 SF / 30 Stories Apartments Carmel
ARQ at Cumulus
ARQ at Cumulus is a 580,000-square-foot, 30-story luxury apartment building that is part of a larger 1,200 unit mixed-use development in the Culver City area of Los Angeles. Located at the Expo Line Jefferson/La Cienega Station, the new transit-oriented development is positioned between downtown and Santa Monica. The tower’s apartment units range from studios to two-bedrooms, with the top floor consisting of eight penthouse units. The ground floor includes the residential entry lobby and 11,000 square feet of retail space. Residents will have access to the adjacent Zocalo Public Square, an urban plaza and park lined with retail spaces. The building’s sixth and 30th floors host a range of indoor and outdoor amenities including a lap pool, hot tubs, lounge space, fire pits, a fitness center, and a co-working lounge.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles28
Client Carmel Partners
1050 La Cienega is a 546,000-square-foot, 28-story, mixed-use development that utilizes Transit Oriented Community (TOC) incentives to provide solutions to the housing shortage in Los Angeles by bringing high-rise living and retail to a low-density neighborhood along several established mass transit Locatedcorridors.intheLa
Cienega Corridor between Wilshire and Pico boulevards, SCB’s design of 1050 La Cienega is a contemporary nod to the neighborhood’s mission style homes and the Spanish Colonial Revival of the nearby Academy Library. Arches of varying size wrap the façade at ground level and frame upper-level views. Venetian plaster and metal panels invite a visual call and response to the Academy Library’s contrasting white stucco and dark mullions. The material of the arches also acts as wayfinding, delineating the main entrance and the garage for 1050 La Cienega on the ground level while providing a patio perimeter for the 7,500 square feet of retail space; nearby, stepped terraces hide the on-site parking structure. An activated public plaza weaves the project into the urban fabric, while the overall curved and organic massing of the residential tower solidifies its relationship to the La Cienega Corridor. The 28-story residential tower offers 290 units and a 5,000-square-foot sky deck on the roof, featuring a pool and panorama views of the area. A 40,500 square foot amenity deck features interior amenities such as a fitness center, resident lounges and an exhibition kitchen, while outdoor amenities include a pool, shaded patio areas, and green pedestrian paths. 1050 La Cienega offers the amenities and views of modern high-rise living alongside the single-family homes and history of La Cienega Corridor.
Type Mixed-Use: Residential and Commercial Location West Los Angeles Size 546,000 SF / 28 Stories / 290 Apartments
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles30 1050 La Cienega
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles32
Type Mixed-Use: Office and Retail Location Miracle Mile Size 3.1 Million SF / 35 and 41 Stories Client Onni Group
The addition of two subtly-sculpted towers with chamfered edges creates a bold new composition and identity for this highly visible site. The 35- and 41-story towers are shaped and positioned to create a dynamic visual expression from various perspectives within the surrounding neighborhood, in some cases masking each other and presenting as one tower, and at others standing distinctively apart. A series of vertical and horizontal fins that vary in density and depth mitigate solar radiation by shading the glass towers. The office floorplates are approximately 35,000 square feet, with bridges linking the two towers at several locations, allowing for larger combined floors. A series of elevated terraces offer over 60,000 square feet of private, tenant-specific outdoor space. The project includes eight levels of parking, with the top three levels designed to convert to additional office space alongside the future extension of the Purple Line beneath Wilshire Boulevard. A shared tenant amenity floor with a large outdoor terrace is provided atop the parking levels on the 8th floor of the eastern tower. At its base, the design reimagines the site's street level experience for both the public and commercial tenants. A public park, plus landscaped plazas with outdoor seating and open space will surround the 115,000+ square feet of new retail space, which includes a grocery store, expanded fitness center, and a host of food and beverage offerings.
The redevelopment of Wilshire Courtyard transforms an underutilized site into a new, two-tower, mixed-use destination on Los Angeles’ highly desirable Miracle Mile. In addition to the partial demolition and renovation of the existing office buildings, the project proposes the addition of 2.1 million square feet to the site, including flexible office space, street level retail, and an additional 2,115 parking spaces.
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles34 Wilshire Courtyard
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles36
Atelier Atelier is a 372,000-square-foot, 33-story apartment tower located in Los Angeles’ Downtown District on a previously underutilized site. This amenity-rich, mixed-use project was designed to enhance this formerly blighted area with a sense of street-level vitality by housing two new restaurants plus additional retail. The building’s design establishes it as an anchor for this emerging residential district, offering public space, proximity to transit, and walkability to the nearby Staples Center and the LA Arts District.
Type
SF / 33 Stories / 363 Apartments Client Carmel Partners
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles38
The tower contains two amenity decks, located on the fifth and 33rd floors, that provide interactive community spaces. The 33rd floor rooftop deck solarium and lounge presents panoramic views of downtown LA, the Pacific Ocean, and the surrounding mountains. The LEED-certified structure includes bike accommodations, a robust storm water management system, and incorporates recycled building materials. Residential Location Downtown Los Angeles Size 372,000
Recent Work: Greater Los Angeles40
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