New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/01C | Page 80

The old car dealership’s expansive showroom
was also adaptively reused, its high ceiling spaces
intact, and renamed the Showroom Building.
Another prominent dimension to Platform is
Greenhouse. Perched on the top floor of another
building, this glass and metal volume has an out-
door component and enjoys distant views of the
Hollywood Hills. The space gets its name from the
concept of the abandoned, overgrown boxcar yard,
with Greenhouse a reinvention of this idea – another
jigsaw piece in the interpretation of the site’s history.
So as well as a thirst for design innovation and
the sense of capturing local history, what draws
together this group of buildings, some old, some
new, some small, some several storeys? The
answer lies in Platform’s surprising material palette.
“Charred wood, poured concrete, pebbled
facades, corrugated metal and corten steel make up much of the material palette,” says Abramson.
“These semi-industrial materials were chosen to
coordinate with the design narrative and for their
relatively low maintenance and cost efficiency.”
The other design glue that holds Platform
together is the sheer verve and diversity of its retail
and hospitality. Whether, slotted into repurposed
car bays, looking across to a wall-size graffiti
splash or backdropped by rusting steel, many of
LA’s trendiest names are represented here. There’s
a showroom devoted to sneakers, stylish outdoor
eateries, fine dining at Greenhouse and myriad
designer clothing brands. And of course all these
businesses are fed by Platform’s office component
as well as its steady stream of external patrons.
In a city that famously prides itself on colour
and diversity, Platform still manages to stand apart
amongst Los Angeles’ crowd of mixed-use venues.
Project:Platform, Culver City, CA
Architect:Abramson Teiger Architects; design team –
design partner, Trevor Abramson FAIA; managing partner,
Douglas Teiger, AIA; associate principal, Bjorn Schrader
Developer:Runyon Group
Construction Del Amo Construction
Civil engineer:VCA Engineers
Mechanical and electrical engineer:ARC Engineering
Quantity surveyor:Mollenhauer Group Earthworks:Feffer Geotechnical Engineering
Landscaping:Artifex10
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Story by Charles Moxham
Photography by Benny Chan and Nico Marquez
see more online: search
50129 at Trendsideas.com
Previous pages:A world of
shopping diversity, clockwise
from top left – Magasin
(repurposed ex car dealership
Showroom Building), Floral Art,
Loqui Tacos and Loqui Tacos’
outdoor dining space (Auto
Repair Shop), Kilter (Washington
Arts Building), Tappan Collective
gallery (Showroom Building).
Facing page:The variety of
building forms connect through
a semi-industrial palette that
includes board-formed concrete,
corrugated metal and corten steel.