Convention Center Board Narrows Design Selection

Two joint-venture architectural teams have been named finalists for the Los Angeles Convention Center expansion project. The Convention and Exhibition Center Authority selected Gruen Associates/I.M. Pei & Partners, and Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum/Archiplan.

This latest cut narrowed the field from seven, who had been chosen from an initial field of 17 entrants.

The convention authority will make its recommendation to the mayor and City Council, and the architectural contract is expected to be awarded by mid-July.

The estimated $350 million expansion project will add nearly 1 million square feet, including a new 375,000-square foot exhibit hall, 40 meeting rooms, and banquet, parking and support facilities. While this addition will allow Los Angeles to be competitive in drawing larger conventions, it will still not rival larger halls in Chicago, New York, Dallas and Houston.

Gruen Associates, headquartered in Los Angeles for over 40 years, has been the architect of such local projects as the Industry Hills Exhibit Conference Center and Sheraton Resort Hotel, Pacific Design Center, South Coast Plaza, California Plaza Phase I office building (designed by Arthur Erickson Architects), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (designed by Arata Izozaki).

I.M. Pei & Partners has designed the Javits Convention Center in New York City, the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, Grand Louvre in Paris, Raffles City Hotel and Convention Center complex in Singapore, and the Augusta/Richmond County Civic Center in Georgia.

Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum has designed convention centers in San Francisco, St. Louis, Anchorage and Decatur, Ill., the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and the Riyadh International Airport in Saudi Arabia.

Archiplan has master-planned development of civic centers in San Bernardino and Orange Counties and in the city of Oxnard. It has also developed designs for the Los Angeles Downtown People Mover and the Bunker Hill Pedway.