New Tag Alert!

As some of you know, randomuser and I recently moved to downtown LA from the "suburbs" / westside. With this comes plenty of excitement and learning and walking and fun stuff.

Starting now, I'm going to use the #dtla tag to post random little things about the architecture, skid row, whatever I google during my new day-to-day life here.

Enjoy!

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Last week, we needed a new drill bit so we Googled until we found a little hardware shop in Little Tokyo, about a mile walk from our apt.

On the way, we passed this crazy, industrial, modern wall of a thing (turns out, we were on the 'worst' of it's sides.)

This building is the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters

At dusk the building is transparent, textured and windowed everywhere to invite the voyeur, while at mid-day it is buttoned up against the sun, appearing to be devoid of windows entirely.

The photos online do it proper justice:

A striking quality that distinguishes Morphosis architecture is the mechanical nature of the skins, both in their aesthetics and in their function. The intelligent skin reacts to its environment in striking ways as it opens and closes depending on temperature and sunlight conditions.

Another green initiative taken by Morphosis in the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters is the skip-stop elevators which conserve energy while speeding up vertical circulation. A main motive in this circulation scheme was to increase intermediate gathering spaces for employees, and to encourage employees to take the stairs.

The design goes beyond merely providing functional spaces. It seeks in every way to engage people actively while blurring the distinction between outside and inside, so that this government bureau works as a truly public building.

So, this crazy wall of a building that was massive and imposing, turns out to be a pretty sick deal if you walk past it at night or look at it online or walk on any other block than the one we walked on.

posted 3142 days ago