final touches on grand’s next architectural attraction
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Construction on Downtown’s newest tourist photo op — the High School for the Visual and Performing Arts (LAUSD Central High School #9) located at 450 S. Grand Avenue — is about 95% complete, according to a recent report issued the project’s oversight committee.
All building exterior finishes have be complete, except for the performance theater’s helix tower and angular structure where final applications are underway. Interiors are wrapping up ahead of schedule, with some minor painting and utility installations left to do.
Last on the list: Landscaping and hardscape work is finished and site utilities are being tested, leading to a full completion later this year at a cost of nearly $175 million, up only a small percentage from the original contract amount set back in early 2006.
School occupancy is set for fall 2009.
-space age high school scheduled for launch this year
-central la high school #9 shows some skin
High School for the Visual and Performing Arts Rendering by Italian architecture firm Europaconcorsi.
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14 comments
It’s great. Love it!
I’m still trying to figure out what is that ugly rollercoaster looking thing in the back. Does anyone know?
Seb:
From what I understand, it’s just an architectural form - it has no purpose that I’m aware of.
The tower could be a counterpart to the Cathedral’s towers directly across the 101 as a sort of “gateway” into the city from the east. I’m just guessing.
now if they can only get the park to cap the adjacent freeway…
Nice to see projects (any project) getting complete in this day and age of credit crises. Good job LAUSD!
why is it going to sit vacant or unused for another year. The school year is approaching and you mean to tell me they cant open at least partial areas the school seeing that its 95% complete? I’m sure if they worked around the clock they could other work (the 5%) completed by Labor day just in time.
About the architecture:
Like celebrity agents say, “Better to have bad publicity than no publicity.”
About all things atop Grand Avenue:
“Wherefore art thou, Angels Flight?”
Nitpicking:
“Wherefore” means “why,” note “where.” The quote from Romeo and Juliet “wherefore art thou Romeo” means roughly “why does this guy I just fell in love you have to be Romeo from the Montague family, the bitter rival of my family, the Capulets?” So Bruce should have written “wherefore are you not finished, Angels’ Flight?”
(For future reference.)
English major…Thanks for the English lesson. I knew I was taking plenty of linguistic liberty but I thought it would squeek through somehow. It’s not nit-picking and I appreciate your contribution. (But you’re going to be a busy man on this and other blogs, I believe! Also, I do believe the customary spelling of Angels Flight, right or wrong, does not include an apostrophe. )
So where the hell is the $%@%$ funicular, anyway?
What a waste of taxpayer money. Not the building of the school, which was sorely needed, but the expensive design. The additional costs associated with building the funky features such as the tower and water slide as well as the expensive window designs is completely unencesary.
LA Unified keeps coming back and asking voters to approve more multi-billion dollar bonds and then they spend 1 or 200 million dollars on schools like this. It’s stupid.
I am sure that it is possible to build a beautiful and functional school for less then 100 million and probably less then 50.
Nitpicking:
English major, yeah “Angels Flight” does not have an apostrophe at the end. ;)
The school will be another fine example of LA architecture, and an icon like Disney Hall and Staples Center, places we are very proud of. It shows LA - and especially the parts east of La Brea- is on the map of the design world, in line with Singapore, Taipei, Hongkong and other significant cities. Bravo! PS. and it’s taller than the boring Cathedral across the freeway..
If only they could take all the interesting architecture in La and put it in the 3 city blocks it would fit in and remove all the the sprawling flat ugliness then we could get somewhere.
^Lol… all the interesting architecture in LA would take up more than three city blocks.
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