Children's Museum of Los Angeles Announces Short List of Architects for Its Two New Facilities.

Business/Lifestyle Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2000

Seven Local Architects Under Consideration

for Design of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Sites

The board of trustees of the Children's Museum of Los Angeles announced today the selection of a short list of seven architects to be considered for the design of the Museum's new facilities--one in downtown Los Angeles, the other in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The list was selected from nearly 60 applicants responding to a request for qualifications (RFQ) issued in July 2000. The RFQ process, review, and selection of the short list of architects was guided by Architecture LA, a new organization made up of leaders of arts institutions concerned with architecture and urban design in Los Angeles.

The following firms, in alphabetical order, have been selected for further consideration:

Angelil/Graham/Pfenninger/Scholl

Chu + Gooding Architects

Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates

Jones, Partners: Architecture

Morphosis 

Eric Owen Moss Architects

Randall Stout Architects

Douglas R. Ring, chairman of the board of trustees of the Children's Museum of Los Angeles, comments, "We were gratified and thrilled by the number of architectural firms expressing interest and by the caliber of submissions. Children's museums are always at the cutting edge of museums in America. This group is among the best and brightest Los Angeles has to offer, including many young architects who are the products of local colleges and universities. Our two very different sites offer extraordinary creative opportunities for the one or two architects ultimately selected. We are grateful for the help of Architecture LA in launching and coordinating this process."

For the past 21 years the Children's Museum has been housed in a 17,000-square-foot facility in downtown Los Angeles, which has become inadequate for serving the 250,000 children who visit it each year. With no room for expansion, the Museum began planning several years ago to build a new, world-class facility. In May 2000, the City of Los Angeles awarded the Museum 50-year leases on two sites on which it will build two campuses for the new Children's Museum of Los Angeles. The downtown campus is next to the Geffen Contemporary Museum and the Japanese American National Museum in an area called Art Park. The Valley campus is located in the Hansen Dam Recreational Area in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Given the scope of this project, the museum closed its facility at 310 North Main Street on August 27, 2000 to focus its resources on developing expanded mobile community outreach programs, and to work on the design and construction of the two new campuses. The budget for the design and construction of each of the campuses excluding exhibition design, is between $12 and $16 million.

The Children's Museum plans to construct an "urban museum" at the Art Park site. The exact size of this museum has yet to be determined, but is expected to be in excess of 60,000 square feet. The Museum will focus on the urban experience, as well as on the performing arts, graphic arts, film, and television. The Art Park site will include the administrative staff for both campuses.

A major focus of the Hansen Dam site will be the natural environment. The 60,000-square-foot building will have an indoor-outdoor feeling and visitors will be able to move easily between the environments. The building itself will serve as an exhibit of sustainable architecture, encouraging visitors to understand new ways to construct and maintain buildings. The site will also take advantage of the surrounding landscape by including a garden of flora and fauna native to the northeast Valley environment.

Based on further interviews with the candidates on the short list, Architecture LA will recommend two architects for each campus to the Children's Museum's 24-member board of trustees. The board will make the final selection from these recommendations of one architect for each site, or one architect for both sites, during the fall of 2000. The design phase of the project will begin shortly thereafter.

The Children's Museum of Los Angeles, a leader in the field since 1979, provides the families and schools of five Southern California counties with a unique blend of hands-on exhibits and programs that enable children to learn by experiencing the world around them. The museum is a play-centered arts environment that encourages children to think creatively, make choices, and explore possibilities.

Architecture LA is an alliance of professionals affiliated with local arts and educational institutions working voluntarily to encourage excellence in Los Angeles civic and cultural architecture. For press inquiries about Architecture LA, contact Jean Miao, associate communications specialist at the J. Paul Getty Trust, at 310/440-6617.

What is Architecture LA?

Architecture LA was established in 1999 under the chairmanship of Ira E. Yellin, a community activist with a long involvement in the city's architectural heritage. It is an alliance of professionals affiliated with local arts and educational institutions working voluntarily to encourage excellence in Los Angeles civic and cultural architecture.

The members of Architecture LA are: Richard Koshalek, president, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena; Sylvia Lavin, chair, Department of Architecture and Urban Design, University of California, Los Angeles; Steven D. Lavine, president, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia; Stephen D. Rountree, executive vice president and chief operating officer, the J. Paul Getty Trust; Robert Sain, director, LACMALab, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Jeremy Strick, director, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Robert H. Timme, dean, School of Architecture, University of Southern California. Robert Hale from the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects serves as an advisor to group. The J. Paul Getty Trust is serving as home base for the group, assisting with the administrative process of this important architectural initiative.

Numerous public and semipublic architectural opportunities will exist over the next several years in the Los Angeles region, particularly downtown and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Architecture LA is available to provide advice and assistance in architect selection to organizations and governmental agencies planning new architectural projects.

Architecture LA is committed to creating a more open, transparent selection process for architectural projects. It seeks to ensure that high-caliber submissions from talented architects are received and that the innovative work of an expanding pool of younger architects, many of whom are products of Los Angeles colleges and universities, is considered. It hopes to serve as a model for cities in the U.S. to encourage thoughtful and compelling civic and cultural architecture.

Architecture LA was invited in October 1999 to serve as an advisory panel to assist the Children's Museum of Los Angeles' board of trustees in selecting one or more architects for the Museum's two new locations. One of these is in the Art Park area of downtown Los Angeles, immediately next door to the Museum of Contemporary Art's Geffen Contemporary and on the same street as the newly constructed Japanese American National Museum. The other location is at Hansen Dam, located in northeast Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, a site rich with opportunities for environmental education.

In June 2000, Architecture LA issued a request for qualifications to a list of 4,500 architects and architectural firms. During August 2000, the panel reviewed the submittals and recommended to the Children's Museum a short list of seven architects who will now be considered further for the design of one or both facilities. From the short list, Architecture LA will recommend two architects for each campus to the Children's Museum's 24-member board of trustees. The board will be responsible for the final selection of one architect for each site, or one architect for both sites, during the fall of 2000, from Architecture LA-recommended names.

In addition to assisting the Children's Museum, Architecture LA seeks to take on additional advisory roles with other important civic projects.

For more information on Architecture LA contact: 310/440-7007.