Edie and Lew Wasserman Building University of California, Los Angeles, 2009 - 2013 (Under Construction)
The new six-story, 100,000SF Edie and Lew Wasserman Building is designed to meet the needs of Jules Stein Eye Institute and UCLA Medical Center’s Department of Neurosurgery and Institute of Urologic Oncology. Through a sustainable architecture, the design expands existing facilities that allows for the growth of research and clinic programs and offers planning exibility into the future.
Architect Program Role
Duration
Richard Meier & Partners Architects Eye Institute and Medical Center Conceptual Design and Presentation; Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Document; Coordination with Structural, Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Consultants; Construction Administration: Replying RFI and Checking Submittal Two Years
Gagosian Gallery Addition Beverly Hills, California, 2009 (Built)
This adaptive reuse of retail space is situated in the commercial center of Beverly Hills and expands on the Gagosian Gallery’s existing galleries and offices designed by Richard Meier & Partners in 1995. The addition embodies the qualities of space and light that distinguish the Gagosian Gallery, yet departs with its expressive reuse of an existing wood barrel vault roof. The natural wood ceiling, trusses and steel beam offer a distinctive counterpoint to the airfoil wing that scoops daylight into the existing Gagosian Gallery. The new gallery space utilizes skylights to balance daylight from the north and south sky to support a diversity of installations. The expansive daylit gallery walls can accommodate even larger works in gallery space with a quality of light that is consistent with the original Gagosian Gallery. The glazed public street façade blends seamlessly with the existing Gallery facade and provides pedestrians a glimpse into the gallery. A single 225sf glass and aluminum sliding door at the street allows oversized artwork to be unloaded directly into the gallery and allows exhibit space to open to the active Beverly Hills street. New second level offices and a private skylit viewing gallery address the growing gallery’s administrative and exhibit needs. At the roof, a sculpture terrace provides a unique outdoor setting for installations and offers views of the city and the surrounding Hollywood Hills.
Architect Program Size Role Duration
Richard Meier & Partners Architects Galleries, Offices, Roof deck and Library 5,000sf Detail Drawings, Construction Documents Three Months
Gagosian Gallery Addition Beverly Hills, California, 2009 (Built)
9900 Wilshire Beverly Hills, California, 2004-2011 (AIA Los Angeles Chapter Awards)
9900 Wilshire is home to a collection of more than two hundred luxury condominium residences comprising thirteen- and fifteen- story residential buildings, public and private gardens, water features, and a retail component. The architecture is designed to be site-specific with a timeless presence that is compatible with the neighboring Hilton hotel and sensitive to the adjacent Los Angeles Country Club. 9900 Wilshire has been designed to reflect the importance of this gateway site as well as to reflect the simultaneous international profile and “garden city” image of Beverly Hills. The two residential building are positioned at the west property line and raised above the ground to maximize access to natural light. The buildings are curvilinear and horizontal to reflect the natural forms and geometry of the country club`s landscape as well as the classic horizontal massing of the neighboring Hilton Hotel. Many of the residences are designed with double-height spaces and are “through units” with views to the country club and to Beverly Hills. The best residences in southern California take advantage of the Mediterranean climate by extending interior space to the outside through the use of courtyards, terraces, balconies, and large areas of properly shaded glass, and here opportunities were sought to minimize the distinction between indoor and outdoor space. 9900 Wilshire is designed to achieve Gold LEED certification through environmentally sensitive architecture and building systems. The buildings are ultrathin in support of a sustainable design concept to maximize daylight and natural ventilation. Each residence includes cantilevered terraces and balconies that provide shade and create depth and scale at the building elevations. In addition to the residences and gardens, 15,000 square feet of retail space at Santa Monica Boulevard will provide an important link between Beverly Hills and Century City. On this site in Beverly Hills, the design goal is to offer qualities of light and space through an architecture that captures the essence of California living.
Architect Program Size Role Duration
Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP Residential and Retail 1,000,000sf Schematic Design, Design Development, Coordination with SMEP consultants Two Years
9900 Wilshire Beverly Hills, California, 2004-2011 (AIA Los Angeles Chapter Awards)
Kasa Karma Beverly Hills, California, 2007
This extraordinary residential property is accessed by a 1,000 – foot driveway that climbs along a ridge to an elevated pad with views to the entire Los Angeles basin. The architecture and building footprint are designed to celebrate the views and mediate between the topographic geometry of the hillside and the structured garden and landscape of the at building pad. The interior planning is designed in a linear organization to allow each living space expansive views to the city, balanced with framed views to scaled private gardens.
Architect Program Role Duration
Richard Meier & Partners Architects Residential Design, Drafting, 3D and Physical Modeling Three Months
Shanghai Tower Pudong, Shanghai, 2006 (Under Construction)
The Shanghai Tower is a supertall skyscraper designed by Gensler and recently under construction in the Pudong District of Shanghai. It will be the tallest of the group of three supertalls in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Upon completion, the building will rise approximately 632 meters (2,073 ft), have 128 stories, and contain an area of 380,000 m2 (4,090,000 sq ft). It will be the tallest building in China, and the second tallest in the world, surpassed only by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Architect Program Role Duration
Gensler Skyscraper Building Geometry Concept Three Months
Atlantic Yards Brooklyn, NYC, 2005
Program Architect Role Duration
Basketball Stadium, Retail, High-rise Condominium Gehry Partners Physical Modeling, 3d modeling (Rhino) and Parametric Modeling (Digital Project) Three Months
2020 Chicago Union Station Chicago, IL, 2008 (Competition )
As the force of battling currents vie for control of single kayak pulling it this way and that, the situation for a lone rider looks bleak. Where most would panic, the experienced rider recognizes and respects the awesome power of the river but also understands that with it comes moments of refuge—catching their eddy—where one can regain composure, detail their next move and choose when and where they will travel. This peace within the chaos is same emotion riders of the newly designed Union Station will feel every time they step from their speeding train. Conceptually, the new construction of Union Station will provide riders of all walks of life their eddy. With several choices, state of the art conference center, regional farmer’s markets or just a comfortable bench to rest wary backside, each floor is interrelated as separate, yet connected eddies providing comfort and confidence to the traveler. However, just as the mighty river still provides the lone rider with the single goal of a new destination, the visitors to Union Station will also understand the complex as an interconnected hub, bringing visitors to and from the Windy City in a massive interconnected series of under and above ground currents. Resolving the existing problem that the grand hall is largely abandoned, the main concourse will be reshaped and relocated into this monumental space, visually opening the room to meet the needs of the modern day traveler. The upper floors are be filled by t green-efficient hotel. Wherever the new meets the old, massive measures of care and respect will assist in maintaining of the original union station, it’s current grandeur and historical architectural relevance. As the new façade faces out onto Canal Street, the same Setback architectural technique will welcome a new set of voyagers as they take their first step into the cold refreshing waters, mapping out where they will decide which way they want to go.
Architect Program Project Duration
Zhiwei Liao and Jason Guo Train Station, Conference and Market Design and Presentation Three Months
2020 Chicago Union Station Chicago, IL, 2008 (Competition )
Knot Making Buffalo, New York, 2005
This thesis is located at the intersection between digital design and physical fabrication in order to understand the potential and limitations of each of these modes of making, which are central to architectural production. The vehicle for exploration is the elegant proposition of the knot – a three-dimensional entity without beginning or end – which is explored at three 1:1 scales: fabric, the scale of a hand-held object, and the scale of a room. The knot is digitally drawn and manipulated using Rhino software. To control the experiment, it is determined that all physical fabrications should be cast rather than constructed. Materiality is not consistent but rather is calibrated to scale. The hand-held knot straddles the digital and physical realms with a mold made by the 3-D digital printer used for casting hydrocal. The size of the printer governs the size of the mold, requiring the knot to be fabricated using six repetitive segments. This investigation introduces the problem of the joint, which in this mode and scale of fabrication, becomes a weak point both conceptually and literally. The room-sized knot moves firmly into the physical realm. The digitally generated patterns are now used, not to govern a digital fabrication tool, but to make plywood formwork for reinforced concrete. With this scale and material, the joint is eliminated and the knot can be cast as a single entity. Here resistance is found in the type and thickness of plywood. To achieve the required double curvature, instinct would choose a thin formwork material for flexibility, but instead, empirical evidence from three iterations of formwork lead to the construction of the final form from 3/4 inch plywood - scored along digitally determined lines to achieve the required double curvature. The knot must be digitally modified to bring the curvatures within the physical limitations of the plywood.
Author Program Professor Material Duration
Zhiwei Liao Thesis Annette LeCuyer and Omar Khan Concrete, Hydrocal, ABS Plastic and Wood Six Months
Knot Making Buffalo, New York, 2005
Analogical Architecture Buffalo, New York, 2004
The idea of an analog is to be like something else in some ways but not in others. If the something else is part of a city, therefore too complex for any definitive form of analysis, the analog can make manifest and analyzable some essential characteristics, while leaving others, less important, aside. The analog is not an abstraction, though it uses abstraction as a tool. It is not a reduction or a simplification, for it remains complex in its own terms. Rather it is a shift in the angle of viewing and understanding a situation or complex set of conditions, one that gives the opportunity to see the familiar in new ways. This is extremely important when the familiar is, like a part of a city, overburdened with historical interpretations that inhibit the creation of new ones. By creating a parallel reality, the analog circumvents this historical over-determination and liberates the imagination in ways that can impact the primary reality under consideration. In today’s world of rapid changes, where history is less and less reliable as a guide to the future, intellectual freedom and inventiveness of the type enabled by the analog are increasingly important.
Professor Program Size Material Duration
Lebbeus Woods Space of Conflict 64 sf Aluminum, Steel and Acrylic Four Months