HI RES LOW RISE

IAC Facade Redesign, 2011

Los Angeles, CA

This proposal involves the design of a perforated metal screen facade that is dense enough to conceal the presence of the bay windows on the existing building, but that is transparent enough to allow for viewing out of the windows. The perforated facade is aimed at creating an active and flowing effect, like a curtain, on the facade- one that appears in motions, as if to almost blow subtly in the wind. The scheme recognizes the need to both mark the entry and to give character to the restaurant area on the ground floor. The majority of the building (including the south, east, and west facades) is a simple volume made of a perforated metal screen that is set off the building just beyond the face of the existing windows. At the north face along Sunset Boulevard, the central portion of the facade includes an undulating surface that is attached to a dynamic set of structural tubes. Those tubes extend beyond the bottom of the screen, converging into a canopy system at the entry and extending to carry the restaurant canopy.