Speaking of roof gardens (we always end up with some kind of theme running through our posts) the newly opened building at the Art Center College of Design South Campus features a planted roofscape designed by Nancy Goslee Power. We made a visit a couple weeks ago and took some pictures... should've charged the battery... but oh well...
The first major exhibition to be held in The Wind Tunnel is happening right now: a region-wide exhibition of all the artists graduating the MFA programs at Art Center, CalArts, Claremont Graduate University, Otis, UCI, UCLA, UCSD and USC.
Also see the article in Metropolis about Art Center's long range campus plans... which, we are relieved to know... include work by Frank Gehry. Too bad he doesn't build much.
Architect: Daly Genik
Landscape Architect: Nancy Goslee Power & Associates
Link: Article in Metropolis
Show: Supersonic Jun 12 - Aug 21, 2004
The building is known as the Wind Tunnel because it once housed the largest testing wind tunnel on the west coast. Los Angeles architects Daly Genik have done a marvelous job weaving together this hodgepodge complex of concrete buildings. The biggest design move is the placement of three large skylight structures on the roof which allow daylight to penetrate deep into the building. The skylights are "clad in layered lightweight high-tech plastic" and are a sculptural feature of the roof top garden.
Daly Genik model of the Wind Tunnel complex
Street front openings cut into the concrete shell
The south end of the building with the main stairway accessing the rooftop
Stairway detail
The top of the stairs and the roof terrace and garden
Designed by Nancy Goslee Power and Associates, the roof has just been planted with drought tolerant and native selections. A series of decomposed granite paths weave around the skylight structures.
Rendering of the Wind Tunnel project (left) and a design proposal by Daly Genik for a student housing to be built to the south of the Wind Tunnel