Architecture students applaud venue’s fluidity
By Kathleen Mitchell
Oct. 22, 2003 9:00 p.m.
As a tour guide led a group of UCLA architecture graduate
students through the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s barren
backstage area, a sense of anticipation swirled through everyone.
As the door opened, the students marveled in silence at the florid,
sun-lit performance space.
“Inside, there are places where you can peer out, and you
get a different glimpse of the city and different angles,”
said Jennifer Park, a third-year architecture graduate student.
The viewing effect would be similar for pedestrians or people
driving by, who could see through the building’s front glass
windows and into the foyer and restaurant.
“There’s a good relation between the inside and the
outside,” said Rob Henderson, a second-year architecture
graduate student. “If you’re driving down the street at
night, and there’s a concert going on, then that light would
go out through the skylights, which would be a little sign that
there’s something going on in the auditorium.”
Outside the long-awaited concert hall is an already full-grown
garden. Rather than plant saplings, the hall’s landscape
designers asked Los Angeles residents to donate mature trees from
their own backyards. The effort infuses the phrase “community
garden” with a literal meaning that characterizes the
architecture and design inspiration of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Association’s new home.
A promising effort to integrate the general public with the
grandiose concert hall is also reflected in the architecture. Eight
skylights in the main auditorium act as a window to connect concert
patrons with the city.
Moreover, unlike other concert halls, Disney’s boasts
seating around and behind the orchestra platform so audience
members can relate more personally with the musicians. From a seat
at the rear, concertgoers can see the musicians adjust their
instruments, because they have a different perspective from those
in the front.
Grand Avenue and Second Street’s newest addition
represents progress in Gehry’s work. In 1997, he completed
the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, and while architecture
students praised its beauty, they lamented its “dead
ends,” where united surfaces often trap visitors in a
triangle.
“Dead ends are the pitfall of trying to create something
that’s not a box,” said Henderson. “As soon as
you make an angle, you have to resolve it.”
Gehry’s latest project improves upon past flaws. Though
the stainless steel exterior looks angular, visitors can easily
weave between its sheet panels, outdoor amphitheaters and gardens
on the upper level.
“It’s all fluid. The architecture doesn’t make
you say, “˜Here’s an end.’ You just walk past. The
circulation flows really well,” Park said.
With flowing, participatory architecture and services, the
concert hall presents a unique opportunity for the L.A. community,
but its success remains in the bud.
“Right now in downtown, there’s a lot of
rejuvenation, especially on Grand Avenue. In five or 10 years, we
will see how this lobby space works, how the stairs at the other
end of the garden relate to the street, if people will be able to
move easily or not,” Henderson said. “How the building
relates to the rest of the city will be very interesting to
see.”
