Caltrans Project Veers Off the Beaten Path

The client has a reputation for being stodgy and the project is rather mundane, yet members of the world’s architectural avant-garde have lined up to design a new office building for Caltrans in downtown Los Angeles.

In a process usually reserved for much flashier projects, the design of the $140-million regional headquarters complex for the Department of Transportation is the subject of a worldwide architectural beauty contest backed by the governor and a Los Angeles billionaire. The process has resulted in the selection of three finalists--including a winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture’s highest honor--known for daring and sometimes controversial work that would never be confused with the boxy and conventional buildings that house most state agencies.

The approach has surprised many in the design profession and has raised hopes that other cautious institutions might conclude that even the most ordinary buildings can benefit from innovative design.

“It’s unexpected and completely welcome,” said Neil Denari, director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, recognized as a training ground for cutting-edge designers.

The attention being paid to the 600,000-square-foot complex at Main and 2nd streets is the result of new state building and environmental standards, along with its location in status-conscious downtown. High-profile projects, such as Disney Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, have raised expectations about the look of major public institutions.

The new Caltrans building will occupy much of the block near two city landmarks, the recently restored Los Angeles City Hall and the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, which is slated for renovation.

About 1,800 Caltrans engineers and staff will occupy the new structure, which will replace two smaller buildings located on an adjacent block.

“The governor wanted this building to be an important piece of architecture rather than just another office building,” said business tycoon Eli Broad, a billionaire who has been involved in several architectural competitions and has an interest in downtown development. “The city needs more world-class architecture. I’m hopeful that this will set up a pattern for other major public buildings.”

Broad, who was asked by state officials for advice on the project, pushed for greater emphasis on design in the selection process. He also recommended that Richard Koshalek, a local cultural and arts leader who is president of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, serve as co-chair of the selection panel with Maria Contreras-Sweet, who heads the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, which includes Caltrans.

The emphasis on innovative and environmentally sensitive design resulted in the selection of three architects not normally associated with the standard-issue government buildings. The finalists are teams that include a developer and an executive architect to carry out the designs.

* Dutch designer and Pritzker Prize winner Rem Koolhaas has earned cult-like status among architects for creating dramatic and surreal urban forms. His most recent commissions include stores for Prada and a Las Vegas outpost for the Guggenheim Museum, which signed off on a gallery clad inside and out with sheets of steel.

* Thom Mayne of Santa Monica-based Morphosis earned a reputation as an architectural outsider with work that addressed social themes and urban issues in stripped-down forms. Some of his recent projects and proposals include a Los Angeles elementary school built under a landscaped berm and a San Francisco office building without air conditioning. He is a finalist for the renovation and expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

* Spanish firm Miralles Tagliabue won the competition to build the new Scottish parliament. The fragmented forms and innovative use of materials by the firm’s founder, Enric Miralles, who died last year of a brain tumor, made him one of Europe’s leading designers.

The selection of such innovative finalists, who will present plans and models in October, demonstrated that the state was serious about its commitment to design.

“I believe that it shouldn’t be just major corporations and cultural institutions that provide a quality environment for their employees,” Koshalek said. “It should also be the state of California.”

State officials say they are less concerned with architectural style than with how well their projects meet state standards adopted last yearthat demand more environmentally friendly structures. “Design is important, but what’s more important is [the building’s] performance,” said Stephan Castellanos, the state architect.

Designers and builders who have worked on state projects said it was clear that this time state officials were looking for something different. Asad M. Khan, senior managing partner for the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Langdon Wilson, said he had to team up with Miralles Tagliabueto stay in the running.

“We kept hearing from them that they wanted something new,” Khan said. “In order to do this important commission we wanted to bring in someone with international fame.”

Veteran developer Jim Thomas of Los Angeles-based Thomas Properties Group said his firm’s selection, Koolhaas, was inspired by the interest generated in the eye-catching architecture of Gehry’s Disney Hall and the new Los Angeles cathedral by Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo.

“We wanted to get a world-class architect,” Thomas said. “That was our plan from the beginning.”

Architectural observers said the design competition for Caltrans and other public buildings might inspire more innovative designs for other buildings no matter how ordinary.

“I see [the Caltrans headquarters] as a very exciting project,” said Mayne, one of the finalists. Caltrans “deals with movement and kinetics. It can be an extremely interesting building.”