Jeffrey Sipprell

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June 24, 2006

Music Center - Final Design

Well now that I've had time to decompress from the all the end of term/graduation hullabaloo, I figured it was time to spend a little time presenting the final research studio project on the site. I'll use this post to present the project only and I'll follow it up with one that will be more of a wrap-up to my thoughts and ramblings on the UCLA M Arch 2 education in general.

So, for anyone who hasn't follow the project's genesis thus far, it's a very large urban project in Downtown Los Angeles - across from the Disney Concert Hall on the site of the existing Music Center. Our charge is to scrap the existing center and design a new center that will have multiple theaters of various sizes - requiring multiples foyers, lobbies, restaurants, etc. From the beginning, my scheme has revolved around a massing strategy where a large outdoor theater, located on the end facing Disney, would be connected to a large indoor theater with a shared flyloft. This would allow for mulitple types and sizes of performances that would take place inside and/or outside.

Rather than sitting on a plinth as did the previous music center, or facing a plaza as does say Lincoln Center, the building complex is sited longitudinally emphasizing the changing grade and it is embedded into the ground while its major presence is the diagonal section relationship to the ground - making a vast civic
space both at, above and below grade.. The building complex is bundled and smoothed together into a single massing that is approached from below, from the side via switchback ramps and grand stairs and from the Northeast frontally facing the cathedral and the freeway below (plan).

The contemporary baroque ambitions of the project are set up through the (de)formation of a draped surface through a carved faceted mass containing all of the theater and amenity spaces. The three main theaters and the grand hall are connected longitudnally through this continuous draped surface. As the section shows, the drape moves from outdoor theater canopy to become the indoor theater's ceiling. The drape folds over each of the facing theaters, creating an enclosed space on the right, to allow for the drape to slump and spread out over the grand hall to become its ceiling as well as an occupiable roof surface that is accessed from Grand St. The draped surface dives into the smaller indoor theater to become its acoustical ceiling before bubbling out through the mass on the side of Temple St. to form another enclosed space.

The drape is perforated to emphasize areas of tension/compression as well as areas that are occupiable. The interest here being what types of shreds and cuts can be made in a draped surface and how they are impacted by issues of irritation and weight. Although no interior perspectives were constructed, these perforations could allow for a secondary drape of light and shadow that could begin to stitch the disparate masses together that are found below.

A secondary folded language of materials was applied to the faceted volume - glass, soft surfaces, and seating moved across the facets of the main stealth black volume to emphasize the folded geometry of the rusticated mass. The drape was rendered as much lighter in color to contrast with the stealth like mass, with light pouring out of the performance mouth of the building and the perforated apertures at night.

Here are pdfs of the final drawings for those interested:

Siteplan
Building Plans
Building Section

Renderings:

Day Shot
Night Shot

Posted by jsipprell at June 24, 2006 8:37 PM