GAS TOWER
LOS ANGELES, CA
The 55-story tower is a compact, street defining form that rises up to an elliptical blue glass column, symbolizing the blue flame of the Gas Company logo. Most of the curtain wall is based on a 5-foot panel unit without corner joints to appear seamless.
The location of the site is key to the design of the base of the building. On a block facing an important public square on one end, and a Los Angeles landmark, the Central Library, on the other, the base was designed to respond to these amenities by orienting the entries toward them, and enhancing the pedestrian zones with shops, signage, and art.
Visitors to the building leave the activity of the street by taking escalators to a second floor lobby where they are greeted by a sunlit park-like setting with landscaping and water, providing a quiet transition from the public attitude of the exterior design. The steep site was used to create a series of interlocking lobbies whose monumental scale is relieved by retail spaces, canted screens, and an internal window that provides views of the park to visitors descending the escalator.
The company cafeteria and other public spaces are located on a low-level section that protrudes from the base of the tower, anchoring the building firmly on the lower scale of adjacent Pershing Square. A slot to the North was treated as "borrowed space" for the main lobby and embellished with a block-long mural by Frank Stella.
LOCATION
Los Angeles, CA
CLIENT
Maguire
SCOPE
High-Rise
SQ.FT
1,250,000
STORIES
52
SERVICE
Full Service
COST
$300,000,000
COMPLETION DATE
1991
