Profile

Creative Artists Agency

Beverly Hills, California
Completed 1989

3-story headquarters building with offices, support spaces and parking for 100 employees
 

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This headquarters was designed for one of Hollywood's most prominent literary and talent agencies at one of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles. Its design emerges from an irregular site and is based on a geometry of segmented circles with different center points and radii. Two curved wings wrap around a central atrium, crowned by a sloped conical skylight, to form an integrated whole.

The glazed north wing reflects the nearly continuous traffic of the half-million cars that pass by the building each day. The masonry south wing, by contrast, complements the form and scale of the quiet residential street onto which it fronts. Richly veined honey-colored travertine from Tivoli clads the building throughout.

To meet the owner's varied needs, the atrium was designed as an art-filled formal reception hall with a 100-seat screening room and gourmet kitchen. The atrium is also the headquarters' functional core through which everyone must pass on their way into and out of the building. Circuited by open walkways, glazed offices, high-visibility stairs, and a monumental entrance that puts interior activities on display, the atrium encourages the personal interaction that is the hallmark of CAA's operations. Illuminated at night, it transforms the building into a glowing urban lantern at the gateway to Beverly Hills.

Major Components

44,500 s/f offices on 3 floors; 3,725 s/f atrium (56' high); conference rooms (3); 100-seat screening room, gourmet kitchen; 6,000 s/f  roof terrace; 6,700 s/f concourse; underground parking for 190 cars

Awards

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Architectural Design; Construction and shop drawing supervision and review for public lobbies and circulation spaces; Selected tenant-improvement work; Design review and coordination of construction documents for balance of work performed by Executive Architect.

Executive Architect

Langdon Wilson Architects Planners, Los Angeles, CA

Structural

Leslie E. Robertson Associates, New York, NY, and
John A. Martin Associates, Los Angeles, CA   

Mechanical / Electrical

John Altieri, Norwalk, CT, and Hellman and Lober, Los Angeles, CA

Lighting

Horton-Lees, San Francisco, CA

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