RECENT PROJECTS
Pool House
Grand Avenue Pool House & Compound
City / South Pasadena, CA Program / 3,709 sq. ft. Client / Jamie and Anne-Elizabeth Sobieski Pool House Completed / 2009 Compoun Completed / 2011
This home is comprised of a series of white “rooms” with roofs of varying heights housing living, work and bedroom spaces. Bathrooms, storage and services are accommodated in simple, low, wood-clad “fingers” that slide back and forth between the white “rooms” defining a series of outdoor courtyards. The informal open-plan arrangement connecting living and bedroom spaces directly to the outdoor courtyards. The courtyards are the big spaces, and the house the backdrop, designed to be obscured by landscape and offering only glimpses of itself from each courtyard.
Temple Israel of Hollywood
Ci t y / H o l l y wo o d, C A Pr o g r a m / 9 4 , 5 0 0 sq. ft. mixed use masterplan and phased development development Client / T.I.O.H. Completed / Phase I completed, phase II is underway
Established in 1946, Temple Israel is located in a dense Hollywood neighborhood. Anchored by a historically significant sanctuary, the new masterplan proposes to invigorate the campus with new and remodeled buildings including a chapel in-the-round shown here.
John Adams Middle School
City / Santa Monica, CA Program / 12,000 sq. ft. new, 4,000 sq. ft. renovation, 50,000 sq. ft. landscape Client / Santa Monica-Malibua Unified School District Status / Currently in Construction Award / 2009 Westside Urban Forum Award
This upgrade project for a 900 student middle school harnesses sustainability objectives to address resources and provide a demonstrable armature for learning. The approach favors form and place-making that demonstrates environmental principles, inspires curiosity and learning, encourages community, engagement and reinforces lessons learned by highlighting nature. The three key new elements comprise: A. An entry sequence including an attendant’s office and photovoltaic shade canopy. B. Nine classrooms with outdoor breakout spaces and distinctive solar chimneys that provide summer comfort without AC. C. The green fringe—a rustic drought tolerant shady setting at the edge of the playing fields.
WCNY
Proliteracy
Masterplan
Case Supply Warehouse Adaptive Reuse: WCNY Center / Proliteracy
City / Syracuse, NY Program / Masterplan/ feasibility for a 150,000 sq. ft. mixed use development. Phase 1 public broadcasting station, education center and offices. Client / Near West Side Initiative and WCNY Completed / Projected 2012
A local community development organization, the Near Westside Initiative (NWSI), has been working to increase economic opportunity and improve neighborhood quality in an historically underserved community in Syracuse. At the Eastern edge are a number of underutilized and abandoned warehouses including the Case Supply Warehouse. The NWSI has attracted partners like WCNY and Proliteracy, an international literacy organization. Koning Eizenberg (with local architect King + King) prepared the masterplan and feasibility study. Phase 1 is progressing on a fasttrack modified design/build delivery, scheduled to begin construction in fall 2011.
WCNY as Developed
Proliteracy Interior
Pico Branch Library Site Study @ VAP
City / Santa Monica, CA Program / 7,500 sq. ft. Client / City of Santa Monica Design / In Design
The Pico Branch Library will be located within Virginia Avenue Park, in Santa Monica, CA. The new structure will activate a currently underutilized area of hardscape and serve as a backdrop to a weekly Farmer’s Market. This engagement with the site is a key principle of the library design strategy. A dynamic roof form provides shade for both library and park visitors. Clear glazing at all elevations allows views through the length of the building and out to the park. Further reinforcing the library’s role as part of the park campus, the detached community room can function independently to accommodate park and community programs. Site improvements include new concrete paving, raised planters and seat walls. Trees will be planted for additional shading at new patios. Concrete amphitheater seating projects from the south elevation of the community room and will accommodate small performances and general seating at the park. The project is targeting LEED Gold Certification.
28th Street Apartments
City / West Hollywood, CA Program / 49 units, 38,000 sq. ft. new construction and renovation Client / Clifford Beers Housing, Inc. Completed / Expected 2013
Designated as Los Angeles’ Cultural Monument #851, this YMCA building was originally designed by Architect Paul Williams in 1926. It was one of Williams’ first residential/community projects. The project will follow Secretary of Interiors Standards and Guidelines for Rehabilitation. Working with Historic Resources Group and Los Angeles Planning Department Office of Historic Resources, careful consideration is being given to the scale, materials, and features of the building renovation and addition to retain and enhance its historic character and relationship to the neighborhood. The program includes: 49 units (with kitchens and baths) of permanent, supportive housing for low-income individuals, a courtyard, and roof garden. The ground floor has office space for community groups and a restored gymnasium.
Best Western Hollywod Hills Hotel
City / Hollywood, CA Program / 44,000 sq. ft., 86 room hotel and café (no new area added) on .92 acre site Client / Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel Completed / 2011
This hotel remodel is not for purists but presents a strategy for celebrating and intensifying the vitality of messy urbanism on a budget. In this case, that means accepting a gritty location, two imperfect, mismatched buildings and a glamorized context. The design approach dissolves the line between graphics and architecture to cost effectively create a fitting identity for its unique location below the “Hollywood” sign and next to the freeway. Work included a number of strategic components from mundane maintenance and paving, to a Klieg light mural and coordinated awnings that provide shade and also conceal window AC units. Exterior painting includes a striped beach towel inspired pattern for the renewed pool court. Interior work comprises new offices with lobby and reception spaces featuring the owner’s Hollywood photo memorabilia. A new canopy along with reconfigured parking, landscaping, lighting and signage reorients the main entry away from a busy thoroughfare to a tree lined parking court and guest drop off area.
The Village
City / Santa Monica, CA Program / 160 units, 189,000 sq. ft. Client / The related Companies of CA, City of Santa Monica, Community Corporation of Santa Monica Completed / Projected 2013 Awards / 2008 Westside Urban Forum Award
Koning Eizenberg was one of three firms collaborating on the masterplan and design of The Village in Santa Monica’s Civic Center. The project includes market rate and af fordable housing, ar tists’ housing, retail, infrastruc ture, and public open space. Planning strategies addressed traffic, density, height, and open space to converge into an innovative solution revolving around a “living street.” The linear configuration organizes housing types into distinct neighborhoods, taking advantage of the irregular sloped site. The Village transforms the original Civic Center concept into a more neighborly and sustainably responsive masterplan, bridging between the grain of the adjacent residential neighborhood and the larger scale of the Civic Center buildings. The project is slated for a LEED Silver rating.
Harold Way Apartments
City / Hollywood, CA Program / 52 units, 47,284 sq. ft. Client / Hollywood Community Hous-
Economy, safety, cleanliness, and community inform the design of these af fordable housing units. Trees anchor a large courtyard, a social space that includes a laundry and
ing Corp. Completed / 2003 Awards / 2004 Residential Architect Merit Award; 2004 LABC Architectural Award; 2003 AIA Los Angeles Citation Award
barbeque pits. The zig-zagging center building, clad in wood battens with vines defines the courtyard in a casual way. Cross-ventilation precludes air conditioning, and recycled building materials include the composite wood used to face balcony balustrades.
COMPETITIONS & EXHIBITIONS
MET Home Installation
City / Los Angeles, CA Program / 500 sf +/Client / Hachette Filipacchi Media US Inc. (Metropolitan Home Magazine) Completed / 2007 Awards / 2008 I.D. Annual Design Review Award, Honorable Mention in Environments
Koning Eizenberg was 1 of 10 invited participants in 2007’s MET Home LA Showhouse Installation. In this home, like many others, the arrival sequence for those living in the house is not the front door but the overhead door and the garage. We decided the garage could provide a more theatrical and welcoming experience while screening the usual mechanical equipment and typical garage contents. We like playing with expectations and tweaking ordinary materials. The installation redressed the neglect by conflating billboard and pegboard into a backlit, laser cut, series of screens that spell out a personlized message, here “Welcome Home” and the always anticipated “You’re Late.”
components
University of Melbourne Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
City / Australia Program / 180,000 sq. ft. of architecture, building, planning and landscape Client / University of Melbourne Competition / 2009 Finalist
This competition called for a new 180,000 sq. ft. building to house architecture, building, planning and landscape architecture for approximately 1900 graduate and undergraduate students and 150 full-time staff. The competition sought to create an active and collegial research environment that brought together staff and students to exchange knowledge and engage in debate. We designed a student-centric environment that focused on a strong studio culture with a high degree of public visibility. The facility was to be equipped with the most advanced technologies to nurture strong staff-student relationships and support research endeavors. Above all, the project was designed to change as the faculty continues to develop its research. Current research focuses on several key themes, including sustainable built environments; urban futures with focus on housing, transport and communities; design, technologies, management and practice; and built environment history, theory, and social critique in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lake Elsinore Civic Center
City / Lake Elsinore, CA Program / 100,000 sq. ft. Client / City of Lake Elsinore Competition / 2007 Competition - Finalist
In 2007, the City of Lake Elsinore, California, held a competition requesting an innovative and sustainable plan for areas surrounding historic and natural resources. This plan was to provide meaningful public space for community activities while creatively contributing to the economic development of the area. Our 100,000 sq. ft. building program includes a new city hall, council chambers, a post office, a public library, business incubator space, parking, and a shoreline park that ties civic identity with the future of the lake. The proposed park connects with adjacent open spaces, restores wetlands at the lake edge, and introduces meadows and wetland perches with shaded picnic areas.
11th Annual International Architecture Venice Biennale Exhibition
“Uneternal City”
City / Venice, Italy Client / La Biennale di Venezia Completed / 2008
Thirty years after ‘Rome Interrotta’, twelve Italian architects and international design studios were asked to re-imagine the Eternal City of Rome based on new instruments for the transformation of the contemporary city. Our focus lied within the myth of Rome’s center overwhelming the legitimacy of the periphery. By unbundling the suburbs from its historic core, Rome’s encircling freeway (GRA) was re-imagined as a freed, straight-lined datum that refigured the context. Pinning Rome back together highlighted key places of interest - disinvested communities, neglected countryside, antiquities and malls. Looping these points generated a freewheeling line that begged a more compelling future than the sponsoring freeway: a 120km train ride traversing the GRA to cultivate public space and catalyze development. Fast effective public transportation would eclipse the GRA’s plodding commuter experience with the thrill of a more sustainable and public-spirited suburban dream.
Adaptive Re-Use
Century Building Pittsburgh PA
Children’s Institute Inc. Otis Booth Campus Los Angeles CA
The Standard Hotel Downtown Los Angeles CA
Planning
The Village Santa Monica CA
Urban Intervention Competition Seattle WA
Historic Farmers Market Los Angeles CA
Housing
Related Projects Hancock Lofts West Hollywood CA
Takeout House Pasadena CA
Duane Apartment New York, NY
Education
Wildwood Elementary Los Angeles CA
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA
PS1 Elementary Santa Monica CA
Culture/Civic
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA
Children’s Institute Inc. Otis Booth Campus Los Angeles CA
Commercial
Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel Hollywood CA
Thornton Tomasetti Office Los Angeles CA
Gilmore Bank Los Angeles CA
Virginia Avenue Park Santa Monica CA