Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, released in 1982, imagined a version of downtown Los Angeles in the year 2019 as a neo-noir fantasy: an old steam-punkish version of L.A. repurposed to meet its grim high-tech needs.
The Bradbury building, built in 1893, and a National Historic Landmark, was a key player in the cult classic film, serving as both an important character’s apartment and used in the filming of a pivotal scene.
In the eighties, amidst the decay of downtown, it was hard to imagine a Los Angeles of the future like the one that is shaping up now. Today, there is room for the beautiful old buildings like the Bradbury to stay but instead of acting as a background for a dystopian society, they serve as part of an exciting revitalization: a downtown of beautiful historic preservation and cutting-edge design. A center of art and innovation.
This past week, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the lifting of an outdated ruling requiring city buildings to have, according to Emily Alpert Reyes for the Los Angeles Times, “flat-topped” structures.
Up until now, all tall buildings were required to have flat tops so that a helicopter could land on them in case of an emergency-not as necessary with today’s technology.
Mayor Garcetti, along with his supporters, want a downtown L.A. skyline that will be able to compete with the increasingly futuristic skylines of New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Although as of yet, no plans have surfaced for a building of Burj Khalifa proportions, there are three exciting new developments coming up that are creating the downtown L.A. of the future.
Wilshire Grand
Wilshire Grand makes its “grand entrance” in 2017. Per the project’s website, it will be “an upscale world-class hotel” and at 73 stories, will be the tallest structure west of the Mississippi. It will literally change the skyline. With its domed top, it will be the first building to take advantage of lifting the “only flat-tops” ruling.
United States Courthouse-Los Angeles
Already well under construction is the new United States Courthouse- Los Angeles, a Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP (SOM) designed building which the design firm touts on it’s website as an “innovative structural engineering concept that allows cubic volume to ‘float’ over a stone base.” It will encompass 625,000 square feet of space and will be LEED Platinum certified. At ten stories, the drama lies not with its height, but in an elegant geometry of design seeming to defy gravity.
Broad Museum
The vision of philanthropist and art collectors, Eli and Edythe Broad, The Broad Museum will surely become an L.A. hub. When it opens in 2015, it will be free to all visitors. Located on Grand Ave., near MOCA and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Diller, Scofidio + Renfro building will be a contemporary stunner with a distinguishing “veil and vault” concept. The “vault” of the building is enveloped by a mesh, the “veil” will allow natural light in and will even allow visitors to see art from the outside.
These three progressive designs speak to a Los Angeles very different from the one depicted in Blade Runner. Old buildings, teeming with new residents and restaurants bring life, while new structures, shaped by a positive future, bring light to a downtown Los Angeles that day by day, people want to move to.
