Events: AltBuild Is Coming

Explore the future of sustainable design at the tenth annual AltBuild conference next week in Santa Monica. Image courtesy Alt Build.

It has been 10 years since the first Alternative Building Materials & Design Conference. Since then, it has gotten bigger and better, growing to become the largest and most-respected green design and building expo in Southern California. Next week, AltBuild, presented by the City of Santa Monica, returns to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for two days of exhibits—featuring innovative new products and trends, including multiple SoCal debuts—and thought-provoking programming, with speakers and panelist drawn from across industries. 

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The Hackable Building: From Corporate to Cool for Tech Tenants

At Latitude 34 in Los Angeles, Gensler is re-conceiving office space for a new type of client. Jack Skelley tells us how. Rendering courtesy Gensler.

By Jack Skelley

While the commercial real estate market remains in the doldrums, with high vacancies and low rents, one submarket is on fire: Tech. Companies such as Google and YouTube are expanding into Southern California, for example, and gobbling up all the “cool” buildings. You know, old bow-truss warehouses turned into creative space that feels authentic, textured, scaled to the individual, and not “corporate” like most traditional office buildings.

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Big Night: FORM Magazine Hosts "Work Ethic" Event

FORM Magazine recently hosted "Work Ethic," an event featuring some of the biggest names in architecture and real estate. Image via FORM Magazine.From time to time, FORM Magazine hosts compelling events that bring together architects, designers, developers, real estate professionals and more. Recently, FORM produced another great event—this time a thought-provoking evening held at the Cuningham Group in Culver City. Guests were treated to a panel discussion by architectural and real estate industry titans: John Marx of Form4 Architecture, Michael White of Gensler, Arty Maharajh of Transwestern and Jonathan Watts of Cuningham Group Architecture.

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42nd Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards

Ports O' Call Complex (Photo Courtesy of the Los Angeles Business Council)The Los Angeles Business Council recently hosted the 42^nd Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards to honor Los Angeles-based projects ranging from Best Museum to Best Affordable Housing. The awards congratulated innovative design to 33 separate projects from the previous year. In addition, 2012 marked the first year to present the “Julius Shulman Emerging Talent Award” to design students attending one of eight Los Angeles institutions. This year’s winners belonged to a team from USC for their design to revitalize the Ports O’ Call Complex at Port of Los Angeles.

Star Apartments (Photo Courtesy of the Los Angeles Business Council)Star Apartments won the “Under Construction” category for its impressive combination of LEED Platinum certification, mixed-use development, and 102 units of affordable housing. Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc. designed the structure in partnership with Skid Row Housing Trust and Westport Construction, Inc.

The business council awarded the Grand Prize to LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion, Ray’s Restaurant, and Stark Bar. The project is part of LACMA’s Transformation Phase II, which incorporates the original building’s central plaza and creates a “town square” atmosphere within the complex. Renzo Piano Building Workshop collaborated with Gensler to design the stunning travertine space with trademark red, decorative punctuation.

Morley Builders Awarded Best Hospitality Project for the Shore Hotel in Santa Monica

The Los Angeles Business Journal recently awarded the 2012 Commercial Real Estate Award for Best Hospitality Project to the beachfront Shore Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica.

The two, four-story buildings of the Shore Hotel feature high-end exterior finishes, such as stainless steel panels, Trespa Meteon façade cladding, and point-supported glass walls. The hotel is expected to achieve LEED Gold after surpassing LEED Silver requirements. San Francisco-based architecture firm Gensler designed the California Modern building, while Santa Monica-based Morley Builders built the hotel while salvaging or recycling 90 percent of construction waste. The building opened to the public in October of 2011.

Morley Builders accepted the award at a ceremony in Santa Monica on February 29.