2 posts tagged “architects”

Tom and Thom

So how’s this for cross-promotion? LA architect Thom Mayne – he of Caltrans, the fab Pomona Diamond Ranch High School and many a global landmark – recently shared his musical influences with KCRW’s own Tom Schnabel.  As you can see from Thom's big beam, he clearly got a big kick out of talking music, supporting a theory I have that the so-called “rock star architects,” of which Mayne is now one, are in fact emulating, through architecture, the real rock stars of their youth. Why do I think this? Well, last time I saw Thom he raved about Shine The Light, the movie by Martin Scorcese about the Rolling Stones tour. It was evident that Mayne worshipped Mick Jagger. Soon afterwards, I ran into Wolf Prix, a fellow “rock star architect” who, like Thom, came of age in the age of rock stars, the 1960s; and he went on about his passion for Keith Richards. And what defines the architecture like that’s produced by this club of rock star architects (also including fellow boomers Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, Herzog and de Meuron and the slightly younger Zaha Hadid)? It's flamboyant, spectacular, iconoclastic. . . in sum, the architectural equivalent of a rock concert. I’m going to talk more about this, and how the "rock star" architects differ from the more serious younger generation, on an upcoming show, but in the meantime, go check out Thom and Tom.

Seen, while driving around, this snappy complex of affordable apartments, called Tahiti Housing (in honor of the "dingbat" apartments that were on the site before), located on Centinela between Pearl and Pico.

Tahiti Housing

It's designed by Daly Genik (of Art Center's South Campus and Camino Nuevo High School), for the Community Corporation of Santa Monica. Under the direction of Joan Ling, CCSM has carved out a niche for itself building low-income housing with high design values. Ling has a talent for developing projects on challenging sites, like commercial strips, and embracing unabashedly modern architecture; other CCSM projects include Colorado Place and Broadway Housing (by Pugh + Scarpa) and 26th Street (by Kanner Architects). CCSM's projects, including the soon-to-be-completed Tahiti Housing, which consists of 2 and 3-storey blocks connected by shared courtyards and flying bridges, show that it's possible to build life-enhancing housing, even on a shoe-string. 

Exterior of CCSM Housing at 26th Street