Profile

Los Angeles Convention Center Expansion

Los Angeles, California
Completed 1993

Lead Designer: James Ingo Freed

State-of-the-art expansion of the current Los Angeles Convention Center
 

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This expansion facility, doubling the size of the existing Los Angeles Convention Center, repositioned Los Angeles among the top ten contenders in the highly competitive exposition and trade show industry.

The major design challenge was the positioning of the new exhibition hall on the same level, but across the street from, the existing hall on a piano-shaped parcel of land bisected by a major boulevard and edged by disparate urban conditions. The solution grew directly from the site. Physical connection was achieved by spanning a two-story meeting room bridge over Pico Boulevard with two glazed entrance pavilions strategically located for maximum access and visibility. All are major organizing elements in an architecture of movement wherein walkways, stairs, escalators and outdoor views are carefully choreographed to ensure fluid circulation.

The beacon-like pavilions and a long curved exterior wall respond to the high-speed freeways that encircle the building on one side. On the other side, a dynamic relationship is achieved with the surrounding community by means of a pedestrian-scaled environment with glazed public spaces and a five-acre plaza — the largest landscaped public space downtown.

The goal was not merely to satisfy modern commercial imperatives, but equally to enrich the city by the creation of a major public building with major public spaces where people, for business or pleasure, like to gather.

Major Components

350,000 s/f Exhibit Hall (940' x 460'); 615'-long bridge with 36,000 s/f Concourse, 26,500 s/f Concourse Hall and 100,000 s/f meeting rooms (59) including 3,900 s/f theater-style room (300 seats); 150'-high South Lobby (16,600 s/f); 130'-high West Lobby (9,230 s/f); 34 loading docks; 1,165,000 s/f enclosed parking for 3,650 cars including 162,000 s/f lower level parking/future exhibition hall; commissioned art (Alexis Smith terrazzo pavement, Matt Mullican granite panels, Pat Ward Williams sculpture); 5-acre plaza

Awards

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners services

Master Planning; Architectural Services; Interior Design; coordination with executive architect on construction documents and construction administration

Executive Architect

Gruen Associates, Los Angeles, CA

Structural

John A. Martin & Associates, Los Angeles, CA and
Martin & Huang, International, Los Angeles, CA

Mechanical / Electrical

Syska & Hennessy, New York, NY; William J. Yang & Associates Los Angeles, CA; Carlos Rodriguez, Los Angeles, CA

Life Safety / Fire Protection

Engineering Associates, Los Angeles, CA

Lighting

Fisher Marantz Renfro Stone, New York, NY

Landscape

Sasaki, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

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