Japanese Village Plaza Receives Award
Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo has been awarded a Federal Design Achievement Award, the only one in the city of Los Angeles, one of four in California and one of 91 in the entire nation.
The award was given under authority of the Presidential Design Awards Program established by President Reagan in 1983 to “recognize significant designs generated by the federal government over the last 10 years.”
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 30, 1986 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 30, 1986 Home Edition Part 1 Page 2 Column 1 Metro Desk 2 inches; 50 words Type of Material: Correction
A March 23 headline in The Times about the latest recall of heart valves by Shiley Inc. of Irvine described the valves as “mechanical.” Actually, as the story indicated, the recall involved valves made from preserved animal heart tissue, and not mechanical valves made from metal and synthetic materials. The two types of valves are separate product lines.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 30, 1986 Home Edition Real Estate Part 8 Page 2 Column 3 Real Estate Desk 3 inches; 97 words Type of Material: Correction
In a March 23 article and illustration, the architectural firm of McClellan Cruz Gaylord & Associates was described as the designer of the award-winning Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo. Actually, the downtown project was designed and developed by David Hyun Associates. The MCG firm was a design consultant for retail areas, oversaw construction documents did some field administration. Seven other firms and agencies also shared in the Federal Design Achievement Award established in 1983 by President Reagan “to recognize significant designs generated by the federal government over the last 10 years.” The certificates were presented last month in a ceremony at the plaza.
Developed by Japanese Village Plaza Limited Partners and designed by McClellan Cruz Gaylord & Associates, Pasadena and Newport Beach, the shopping center qualifies because it was a result of urban renewal under the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
Nine certificates were presented in conjunction with the award, to the architect, developer, CRA, the Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory Committee, Little Tokyo Business Assn., David Hyun Associates AIA, Robert Alexander FAIA, Kazumi Adachi AIA and Takahashi & Takahashi.
The award citation states that the project “has helped to revitalize the once-declining Little Tokyo . . . has succeeded in designing, financing, developing and managing a large shopping center with small and inexperienced local merchants . . . has created a design of human scale . . . reflective of the ethnic culture. . . .The jury believes the Plaza can serve as a sharp contrast to current mass production of formula-composed and externally imposed ‘festival markets’ all across the land.”
Nationally, there were 31 awards in the fields of architecture, landscaping, planning and interior and urban designs; 60 other awards were presented to engineering, graphic and industrial designs.
In addition to this award, the plaza received the HUD National Honor Award for Urban Design Administration, the Japanese-American Citizens League Certificate of Recognition and an award of merit from the Pasadena Foothill chapter, American Institute of Architects.
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