Continuous streetwall, inaccesible plaza

Exposed plaza, distant retail

No distinction between front & back, public & service

Clear circulation, somewhat exposed plaza

The civic center project integrates a neigborhood council chamber with civic offices, a planning office, and retail space. The council chamber is intended to house the Greater Griffith Park Neigborhood Council, one of many neighborhood councils recently established to encourage citizen participation in city government. As this is a civic project intended to encourage community activity, a public outdoor space is also a required part of the program.

The site is framed by the by the splitting of Hollywood Blvd and Prospect Ave, and the oblique intersection this forms with Vermont Ave. The adjacent traffic island formed by this unusual intersection is also considered part of the site. The complexity of the program and this unique site condition required a thorough study of possible parti models.

My initial approach was to anchor the corner with the council chamber, and allow the retail spaces to continue a streetwall around this civic space. However, this form relegated the outdoor space to the rear of the site. In contrast, arranging the project along the back of the site and moving the public space to the front created a plaza with no feeling of enclosure, and left the retail space distant from the street. Moving the public open space to the North end of the site along Prospect Ave seemed to work better, but I was left with retail space that had no clear front and back, and no separation between service circulation and public circulation. I modified this scheme to arrive at my final parti: the bar on the North side has been pulled back so that the retail space has clear circulation and the plaza fronts the intersection.

I still felt that this scheme did not solve all the problems. The retail on the North side of the site had no street presence,and the plaza needed more enclosure. As I developed the project, it became more like a hybrid of the last two schemes. The actual retail and office space was at the rear of the site, but the facade of this building was pulled forward, "exploded," in order to front the street and enclose the plaza. The frame that connects the facade to the building also became the supports for shading structures over the public open space. Conceptually, I was interested in documenting my architectural process in the architecture itself. The design of the plaza and adjacent retail space illustrate the inherent tension between civic and commercial interests in such a mixed-use project.

Elevation on Vermont Ave		Physical Model
Axonometric view from the Southwest	Perspective view from intersection	Traffic Island

Ground Floor	First Floor	Second Floor	Siteplan