Dream teams that shape L.A.'s skyline.

LOS ANGELES was known in the past as something of an architectural desert.

While great and controversial buildings were put up in Chicago and New York and other great cities of the world, L.A. had to be satisfied with few architectural gems along with a modest collection of historical buildings, some of which met the wrecking ball.

But all that's changed. The opening of the Getty Center 10 years ago, co-designed by Pritzker Prize-award winning architect Richard Meier, ushered in a new era for Los Angeles, drawing pedigree architects from around the world who committed to designing high-end and equally high-minded buildings.

The Getty was followed by the massive, built-for-the-ages Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. A short time later there was Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by local phenom Frank Gehry, arguably the most celebrated architect in the world today. Indeed, a spate of other breathtaking architectural wonders have popped up in the last 10 years. If anything, with forthcoming projects such as the Red Building at the Pacific Design Center, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum and ultra high end condo projects such as the Century, the trend has picked up.

Suddenly L.A. is becoming known as a welcoming home for dating architects.

But these great architects don't exist in a vacuum--they must draw on the abilities of builders, engineers, landscape artists and the like. They all have not just the experience but the talent to handle the complex task of realizing masterpieces.

With all that in mind, the Business Journal has compiled a group of l0 notable architectural projects from the last decade -commercial and public buildings--that capture the essence of the city's new design spirit.

What follows are profiles of people who were key in building those notable structures. These are the go-to people when an architectural gem is to be built in Los Angeles. And there's a fair number of them.

"There is such a creative business community here that is looking to do something," said Douglas Hanson, design principal at DeStefano and Partners Ltd. "With all of the different cultures here and the ambitions of people who are willing to explore new ideas, it is pretty refreshing here as opposed to older cities."

Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, also believes the city's star is rising as an architectural center.

"The pedigree building concept is relatively new," Dishman said. "I think rock star architect is a good description."

Checkered history

Of course, great, or at least, notable architecture existed in Los Angeles long before the massive Getty Center opened in 1997. Indeed, the original Getty Villa, a replica of a Roman country estate, was something of a phenomenon when it opened in Malibu in 1974.

Ten years before that, pioneering L.A. architect Welton Becket designed the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the space-age LAX "Theme Building," the striking spider-like structure that houses a restaurant, now closed for renovation.

And in 1920s and 1930s them was the father-son architectural team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, remembered for iconic buildings such as Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles City Hall, Bullocks Wilshire and Union Station.

But those buildings, still on the scene today, failed to budge L.A.'s reputation as a place of so-so commercial architecture with a willingness to forget its past.

The 1960s was dominated by the construction of a cavalcade of International Style commercial buildings that dot main thoroughfares such as Wilshire Boulevard. Today, ironically, many of these structures are still functional office buildings; functioning less well is their reputation.

"We've gone through waves where we've gone through changing preferences and styles," said Ken Bernstein, manager of the city's Office of Historic Resources. "It is always very difficult to have the appropriate sense of perspective about the most recent past and that has been the case in every era."

More so than its commercial buildings, Los Angeles has been known for its landmark residential projects and the architects who made them possible. Luminaries such as Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright came here to design and build some of their most enduring works, many of which still stand today.

"The tradition of the emigre architect looking to Los Angeles as a source of creativity to develop new cutting edge architecture is apparent," Bernstein said. "We have a decades-long tradition of architectural innovation."

That tradition of innovation was boosted by the current movement toward pedigree or rock star architecture, which mirrored an international trend that also began in 1997 with the opening of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.

Hanson, of DeStefano and Partners, was the project architect for the Guggenheim in Bilbao. He recognizes that the museum--which was designed by Gehry and created a worldwide stir--has played a role in changing the international architecture scene.

"It changed Bilbao from a sleepy little shipbuilding town to a world destination," said Hanson, who is designing the Concerto condo towers downtown. "It was the first building I had been involved in that had that kind of impact."

Locally, there are several projects--chiefly Meier's Getty Center and Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall--that have had a similarly catalytic effect.

Though the Getty Center has a commanding presence atop a Brentwood hilltop, many of the current landmark commercial projects and those of the last century are located in or near downtown Los Angeles--a place that Hanson said is tailor-made for leading architecture because it is at the nexus of transportation services and other infrastructure.

"It has got the diversity of businesses and it is a bit of a frontier for the creative class and business people, and they are all coming together," Hanson said. "That is what L.A. needs ."

Daniel Miller Staff Reporter

Getty Center 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles

PERCHED atop a hill overlooking much of Los Angeles, the Getty Center is among the most recognized structures of modern L.A. architecture.

A sprawling compound of concrete, steel and travertine rock. the Getty Center is a world-class museum in a world-class city. But even with the scores of classic paintings and sculptures, the center gets as much attention for its monumental architecture as its art.

Greg Cosko, the 54-year-old chief executive of Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co., oversaw the contracting of nearly every aspect during the center's construction.

"Really, other than the restaurant silverware, we contracted, managed and supervised just about every physical element of the Getty Center, including the display cases, museum furniture and decorative arts galleries." he said.

Having started with the company in 1975, the $1.2 billion Getty Center project proved to be a major turning point in his career. In 1996, after a half decade of work on the project. Cosko was chosen to lead the entire company.

"The experience of the project was a significant factor in my being appointed president," he said.

A Pasadena native, Cosko now runs the company from its San Francisco headquarters, but comes back to Los Angeles every week. Cosko would not have it any other way. He joined the company out of San Francisco State University in the mid-1970s. lured by its ambitious work across California.

"What drew me to the company was its unique presence both in Los Angeles and San Francisco and its penchant for challenging and unique projects." he said.

Indeed. throughout the years Cosko's firm was involved in one big local project after another, including the Getty Villa in Malibu. Nestle's Glendale headquarters and Amgen's headquarters in Thousand Oaks.

And through these unique projects, both Cosko and his company have had a chance to prove their worth in the field.

"Construction is an entrepreneurial field with tremendous opportunity. You're judged by what you build and how well you build it, you are rewarded commensurate with your efforts and it's an industry that respects experience," he said. "There is an intangible but well-rewarded demand for ingenuity, innovation and integrity."

Among the company's current and more recent local projects: Air Force One Pavilion at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 2000 Avenue of the Stars and George Lucas School of Cinematic Arts at USC.

--Richard Clough

Covered in 1,2 million square feet of imported travertine stone, the Getty Center is a Los Angeles institution: The $112 billion project, co-designed by world renowned architect Richard Meier and completed in 1997, is a leading art museum and home to research and conservation institutes: It is well-known for its collections of European paintings; Greek and Roman antiquities, and photographs.

Developer: J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles

Architect: Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP, New York

Contractor: Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co., San Francisco

Engineer: Englekirk Partners Consulting Structural Engineers, Los Angeles

* ARCHITECT: MICHAEL PALLADINO Partner, Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP

Notable Projects: Museums in Frankfurt, Germany, Atlanta and Des Moines, Iowa 

The Getty: "It was a commission of a lifetime. The Getty program was complex and multi-faceted."

Local Favorite: Schindler House, West Hollywood.

L.A.: "The city could use more civic space designed for the public to gather and take advantage of our unique climate."

Architecture: "Through my experience in design and construction, I have recognized that architectural form emerges from a multiplicity of demands and rules that are both rational and irrational."

* SUBCONTRACTOR, GARDENS: DENNIS C. McGLADE

Principal and Managing Partner Olin Partnership Ltd.

Notable Projects: Queensway Park, Long Beach; Carneros Inn in Napa; Canary Wharf and Canada Square in London

The Getty: "Designing plantings that would not damage the adjacent art works, that would look good and have interest throughout the year--but that also have some seasonal change ... and that complement the art works and not compete with them--was a real challenge."

Local Favorite: "The Los Angeles Public Library, and the beautiful garden behind it."

L.A.: "It has occurred to me that there could be more exterior pedestrian spaces formed by buildings and graced by plantings, from which cars are mostly excluded."

Landscape Architecture: "Landscape architecture can be instrumental in healing much of the damage to the environment inflicted in the past and can be a powerful instrument in the prevention of similar environmental travesties in the future."

* DEVELOPER: JOHN P. DONOHOE Head of Engineering and Maintenance, J. Paul Getty Trust

The Getty: "The sheer size of the construction project was a challenge, as was coordinating all the work projects to ensure they were completed in such a manner that they timed with each of the contractors' needs to move on to the next level."

Engineering/Maintenance: "Having been involved in the development of the center, I have a particular sense of responsibility in ensuring that everything we do stays true to the vision and pride that went into building and maintaining the center in the first place."

* CONTRACTOR: GREG COSKO President and Chief Executive Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co.

Notable Projects: Getty Villa, Malibu; Nestle Headquarters, Glendale; Sun America Tower; 2000 Ave. of the Stars, Century City

Local Favorites: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Fox Plaza, Gas Company Tower

Bream Project: "We'd love to do another 50- to 60-story or taller Class A commercial high-rise building downtown."

L.A.: "We need more work from our L.A. architects. They have great vision; they know the city, our culture, our geography, our, climate, our government and our resources.

Walt Disney Concert Hall 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

TRAILER Martin, so nick-named because he followed in his father's footsteps in the family engineering business, originally wanted to be a nuclear physicist.

That is until he went off to Brown University in the mid-1960s and discovered, as he puts it, that "my personality didn't fit physics."

Switching majors for his sophomore year, he earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at Brown then returned to California to earn his master's degree at Calstate Long Beach in 1970 while working at his father's engineering firm.

A year later, the Sylmar earthquake, which killed 65 people in and around the San Fernando Valley on Feb. 9, 1971, helped Martin to find his engineering niche.

"Sylmar made a big impression on me," Martin said. "It really marked the beginning of modern seismic engineering. We've gone from using slide rules to sophisticated computer modeling that enables us to test all sorts of conditions a building might be subjected to."

Today, John A. Martin & Associates, which the now 61-year-old Martin took over after his father's death, is one of the nation's largest privately owned structural engineering and design firms, with a staff of more than 110 people in L.A. and more 400 nationwide, with affiliate offices in every state.

Locally, Martin and his team have become the go-to guys when a tricky construction project needs to be particularly earthquake resistant. In addition to the Disney Concert Hall, Martin also was structural engineer of record for Staples Arena and the soon-to-open Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

"I worry sometimes," said Martin, noting the number of buildings in the county that are likely to fail when the Big One finally hits the L.A. basin. "Buildings are lot like bridges--a lot of dangerous bridges out there, but no one cares until one falls into a river."

Ironically, insuring the structural integrity of Disney Hall in the event of a major quake was a relatively straight-forward job, employing standard x-shaped "brace frames" to keep the structure rigid. More challenging was making sure architect Frank Gehry's fanciful, eclectic design actually worked as a structurally sound and acoustically capable building for entertaining hundreds of people at an event.

Martin and his engineers worked more closely with the architectural team than with almost any other project he's been involved with in order to realize Gehry's dream.

"It's just angles, slopes and curves all over the place," said Martin. "It had so much going on, it was quite an effort."

--Deborah Crowe, Joel Russell

The distinctive curves of the Walt Disney Concert Hall have been likened to a ship at full sail, a flower and a "Symphony in Steel," the title of a book on the structure. Whatever the description, the unique hall has quickly become a symbol of Los Angeles. The project began in 1987 with a $50 million donation from Lillian Disney, the widow of the animation pioneer, and was completed 16 years later at a price of $274 million. The curvilinear design provides one of the best acoustical venues in the world.

Developer: Walt Disney Concert Hall Inc., Los Angeles

Architect: Gehry Partners LLP, Los Angeles

Contractor: M.A. Mortenson Co., Minneapolis

Engineer: John A. Martin Associates, Los Angeles

* ARCHITECT: FRANK GEHRY Principal, Gehry Partners LLP

Notable Projects: Euro Disneyland; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; Grand Avenue Project

Concert Hall: "It's a voyeur's paradise. Not only can you hear everything in it, you can see everybody and watch other people," Gehry said when the hall was first opened.

L.A.: "When we talk about L.A. having a downtown, it's a stretch, because L.A. is so spread out as a city," Gehry said in a newspaper interview. "Our downtown probably is a linear one--Wilshire Boulevard or Sunset Boulevard."

Architecture: I "believe in its potential to make a difference, to enlighten and to enrich the human experience, to penetrate the barriers of misunderstanding and provide a beautiful context for life's drama," Gehry said during his Pritzker Prize acceptance speech.

* ENGINEER: JOHN "TRAILER" MARTIN President, John A. Martin & Associates

Notable Projects: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Staples Arena.

Concert Hall: "This was such an unusual building that we had to work with the county very closely because it often wasn't straightforward what needed to be inspected. It could have been a mess, but the county inspectors were great about it."

Dream Project: "A super high-rise building, 100 stories or more. I've never worked on anything that tall."

L.A.: "We are extremely vulnerable. We have lot of older buildings in L.A. that are going to kill people. And it's not just the oldest buildings--a lot of 1920s buildings have held up beautifully in quakes. It's some of our 50s and 60s buildings I worry about."

Structural Engineering: "Our role to make sure the building performs the way it's supposed to under normal and unusual conditions. You can't just follow the codes blindly, you have to understand each individual building and how it works on the site."

* SUBCONTRACTOR, ORGAN BUILDER: MANUEL ROSALES President & Tonal D/rector, Rosales Pipe Organ Services Inc.

Notable Projects: Shepherd School of Music. Rice University; Claremont United Church of Christ; St. James Cathedral, Seattle.

Concert Hall: "(Gehry) said to me: 'I bet you thought you were designing this organ. No, I'm designing the organ. But you get to tell me what works.' For many months, it was a tug-of-war. We went through more than 40 designs. Then out of the blue, he came up with what we have now. It's completely new and fresh but also meets the needs of the instrument musically."

Organ Design: "He (Gehry) turned the organ inside out. He wanted to see the mechanisms and the steel structure. Then he curved the pipes. They have a very gentle arc that makes them pleasing to the eye, sort of like a bouquet of flowers. Detractors call them French fries, and we're used to that term."

* DEVELOPER: STUART KETCHUM Former President, Walt Disney Concert Ha//Inc. (defunct)

Notable Projects: Los Angeles County Music Center, Bonaventure Hotel, downtown Bank of America building.

Concert Hall: "It was a challenge to try to build the world's greatest concert hall. I'm a problem solver, and this project had as many as one could imagine."

Local Favorites: Capitol Records tower, Hollywood, and Arco Plaza, the original high-rise downtown.

L.A.: "Los Angeles needs buildings that have distinctive and unique architecture, but also perform functionally. We have a number of esoteric buildings that don't work at all. There is a delicate balance of design versus function. Disney Hall is one of the few that has that combination."

Caltrans District 7 Headquarters 100 S. Main St., Los Angeles

NOT a lot of government buildings are known for their beauty and architectural ingenuity.

Enter Thom Mayne.

The renowned architect who won the 2005 Pritzker Prize--considered the most prestigious award in the field--designed the $190-million Caltrans District 7 Headquarters with a deftness and creative zeal that instantly put the building in the upper echelon of L.A. architecture, with the likes of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Getty Center.

With sharp, jutting edges and a big, bold attitude, the building has been drawing raves from many who have seen it since it opened in 2004. "It seems like it's been quite successful," the architect said, modestly.

Across the street from City Hall, the 13-story, 1.1 million-square-foot building is itself more than just a static box; it is almost a living, breathing entity, with a Skin that moves in response to the sun. A system of perforated sheet metal that sheaths the structure moves as the sun passes overhead, allowing light in but keeping heat out.

Mayne honed his innovative design sense at USC and then at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design before founding the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1972. He has designed other high-profile buildings, such as the Science Center School in Los Angeles and the University of Toronto Graduate House. And currently under construction is the Mayne-designed Phare Tower in Paris, which will be the second-tallest structure in the city when it is completed in 2012.

But as an L.A. architect with a global sensibility, the 63-year-old looks at his craft as more than the design of a few structures, rather it is a physical manifestation of the character and culture of a city.

"Architecture has the ability to concretize who we are- our buildings represent who we are as a culture," he said. "In Los Angeles today it seems as if the architect/urban planner is really required to solve the problems we have.

And it was in this context that Mayne and the Santa Monica firm he founded in 1972, Morphosis Architects, designed the Caltrans building. With a 13-story atrium, he wanted the building to be more than just a place that people drove to for work and then drove home. He wanted it to be an open and inviting area for passers-by.

"We saw it as a continuation of the urban-friendly fabric of the city," he said.

--Richard Clough

The Caltrans District 7 Headquarters building, across the street from City Hall in the heart of downtown, is a living, breathing behemoth. With a mechanical skin that moves with the sun, it is alive in a way few, if any, other buildings are. The innovative 13-story, $190 million project, which opened in 2004, was the brainchild of architect Thorn Mayne.

Developer: Urban Partners LLC, Los Angeles

Architect: Morphosis Architects, Santa Monica

Contractor: Clark Enterprises Inc., Bethesda, Md.

Engineer: John A. Martin & Associates Inc., Los Angeles

DEVELOPER: DANIEL ROSENFIELD Principal, Urban Partners LLC

Notable Projects: Del Mar Orange Line Station, Pasadena; Wilshire Vermont Red Line Station and California Endowment Headquarters

District 7 Headquarters: "The Caltrans District 7 Headquarters was the fastest, most affordable and most innovative public building ever constructed in California. It forced together a very divergent set of skills: a world-class design practice, hardnosed contractor and fairly rigid state bureaucracy."

Local Favorites: Griffith Park Observatory

Dream Project: A quarter-mile wide parkway along the entire Los Angeles River 

L.A.: "We need an environmental master plan focusing on our priceless natural features: the beaches, mountains and river, followed by a public transportation plan to make these resources available to all our neighbors and then an increase in density at transit-served locations.

* CONTRACTOR: MARC KERSEY Vice President, Clark Construction Group--California LP

Notable Projects: The Los Angeles Convention Center; LAUSD High School #10; Flamingo Hilton Expansion, Las Vegas 

District 7 Headquarters: "This was a once in a lifetime type of project. We were given a blank piece of paper and all the responsibility and control to make it happen."

Local Favorite: "I'd say the Disney Concert Hall. We like to say it was the best job we never got."

L.A.: "I believe the city is getting what it needs, starting with AEG's huge catalyst--Staples Center and the L.A. Live Development. With the high-rise residential buildings and the new grocery store in town, downtown Los Angeles is becoming a full-time destination."

Construction: "It's a very exciting time to be building in Los Angeles and in California. Work is plentiful in a wide variety of markets."

* SUBCONTRACTOR, LIGHTING: HEATHER LIBONATI Senior Lighting Designer (former), Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design Inc.

Notable Projects: Los Angeles City Hall facade; Red Rock Resort and Casino, Love Theatre for Cirque du Soleil, both in Las Vegas

District 7 Headquarters: "The schedule was really quick for a building of that scale and complexity. And there were a series of meetings with Caltrans and others, which added another level of complexity. I think it really improved the design."

Local Favorite: "I really like the new Gehry building at Redcat (CalArts' downtown performance venue.) I like the lighting in the lounge at Redcat."

L.A.: "I feel like the lighting in downtown could be improved. I'm not a huge fan of the street lighting fixtures used in downtown. At Caltrans we were forced to use some historic fixtures that were part of the urban context."

* ARCHITECT: THOM MAYNE Principal, Morphosis Architects

Notable Projects: San Francisco Federal Building; University of Toronto Graduate House; Diamond Ranch High School, Pomona

Local Favorite: "Gosh, I'm not sure. Disney Hall is kind of interesting. But I'm going to be fairly narrow in my interests. The most interesting architects have been on a residential scale."

Dream Project: "A large metropolitan airport. It's really, really intriguing. They're being reinvented and they have highly integrated problems. It's a miniature city in a way."

Architecture: "Architecture has the ability to concretize who we are--our buildings represent who we are as a culture."

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 555W. Temple St., Los Angeles

No matter the current troubles of Cardinal Roger Mahony, to put it simply: without L.A.'s longtime archbishop there would be no Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

So it makes sense that the new home of the L.A. Archdiocese has been given nicknames that play on Mahony and the church's mammoth size and scope--from "Rog Mahar' to "Taj Mahony."

The cathedral, the anchor on the northern side of the Grand Avenue corridor that includes other architectural gems such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, was completed in 2002.

Without doubt the imposing $190 million project bears the imprint of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jose Rafael Moneo, but it was still Mahony's show. He had a final say on every decision.

"We have a three-person absolute dictatorship here," Mahony told the Business Journal before the church was completed. "Myself, Monsignor Terrance Fleming and Brother Hilariom O'Connor. Nobody does anything without our say-so. That's what keeps things in check."

Mahony, who visited the site nearly every day while it was under construction, did more than keep things in check.

After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake damaged the former home of the archdiocese, the smaller Cathedral of Saint Vibiana near Little Tokyo, the church considered repairing and restoring the structure.

But Mahony decided that the archdiocese need a far larger, grander home and never wavered from that decision despite criticism that he was spending far too much on the project. Mahony said he saw the cathedral as a project that would help create a vibrancy in the area.

"In our case, we're building a cathedral in a non-bustling situation and we are reaching out to form partnerships with business to renew and re-create what used to be a bustling downtown," he said.

The cardinal's enthusiasm was contagious among the community, which contributed over $130 million toward its construction in response to a funding drive. The money allowed the church to install expensive touches on the project.

For example, sculptor Robert Graham created the ceremonial bronze doors, which cost $3 million. Then there are 27,000 square feet of alabaster stone windows, the largest installation of its kind in the world.

Mahony, a native Angeleno who was born in Hollywood and was bishop of Stockton before becoming the archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985, also remembered his roots in commissioning construction of the building.

The massive, 12-story high building was designed to last 500 years--withstanding earthquakes along the way, including a direct hit by an 8.4 magnitude temblor. In such a catastrophe, it also would serve to shelter residents.

"This is essential if the building is to last, especially in Los Angeles," he said.

--Daniel Miller

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels opened in 2002, replacing the quake-damaged Cathedral of Saint Vibiana. Designed by Pritzker Prize-wining architect Jose Rafael Moneo, the $190 million post-modern project is controversial for its massive exterior of brownish concrete that gives it a fortress-like aesthetic. However, the expansive interior with its open altar has drawn nearly universal praise. The campus serves as the headquarters of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Developer: Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Architect: Jose Rafael Moneo Architects, Madrid

Contractor. Morley Construction Co., Santa Monica

Engineer: Nabih Youssef & Associates, Los Angeles

* EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT: EDMUND C. BUCH Vice President, Leo A. Daly Architects

Notable Projects: Sprague Hall Biomedical Laboratory, University of California, Irvine; College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Building, University of California Riverside

Cathedral: "A great owner, along with a great design and construction team made the project a success."

Local Favorite: Kathryn Gustafson's 600-foot-long bridge at the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa 

L.A.: "(The city needs) more public parks and continued development of the mass transit system."

Architecture: "Southern California is a great place to be an architect."

* CONTRACTOR: DAVID SELNA Senior Project Manager, Morley Construction Co.

Notable Projects: Renovation and seismic remodel of 9720 Wilshire Blvd.; parking structure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Cathedral: "The Cathedral was bold in its scale and proportioning, elegantly combining architectural concrete, alabaster, stone, wood and copper. The architectural concrete was very demanding from a construction standpoint. The walls are so thick the concrete had to be kept from overheating during the placement process. Achieving a consistent concrete color during 250 individual concrete wall pours required very strict quality controls."

Local Favorites: U.S. Bank Tower, Disney Concert Hall, Bradbury Building, Getty Center and Getty Villa

* ENGINEER: NABIH YOUSSEF Principal, Nabih Youssef & Associates Structural Engineers

Notable Projects: Skirball Cultural Center, Getty Villa, Apple Store at the Grove

Cathedral: "A higher goal was explicit from the outset. In this case, it was to protect the future heritage of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the next 500 years and to provide refuge for the people of Los Angeles in case of a seismic event. The building has posed the biggest and most comprehensive challenge for Nabih Youssef & Associates to date."

L.A.: "(We) see a bright future for downtown, where we are currently involved in several prominent projects."

Engineering: "In working with so many talented professionals over the years, I have learned to cultivate my own tradition of teamwork. To begin, the collaborative process is where challenges are first met and where innovation and elegant solution arises out of complex ideas and dialogues."

* DEVELOPER: CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY Archbishop, Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Cathedral: "It sinks its foundations in the very heart of the City of Los Angeles ... where it will stand and soar for many centuries as a sign of God's enduring presence in our lives and community," Mahony said during the 2002 dedication.

L.A.: "Los Angeles is a large, world-class city, but it (had) no great church, regardless of denomination. We see the cathedral as not just the Archdiocese's church but also as the community's church," Mahony said in an interview.

Church Architecture: "Throughout history, cathedral churches have always existed in a bustling downtown central area. In our case, we're building a cathedral in a non-bustling situation and we are reaching out to form partnerships with businesses to renew and recreate what used to be a bustling downtown," Mahony said in an interview.

Red Building Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood

DEVELOPER Charles Cohen has a knack for repurposing buildings. He has done it in New York City several times--turning obsolete buildings like the once vacant former Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield office building in Manhattan into Class A office projects.

Cohen, who has owned Cohen Bros. Realty Corp. since 1988, has also had success on the West Coast. In 1999 Cohen purchased the 14-acre Pacific Design Center, which had fallen on hard times in the late 1990s.

The distinctive property, which includes the Green Building and the famed "Big Blue Whale" Blue Building, had been witness to rising vacancy rates as the design industry migrated away from West Hollywood.

In 1999, Cohen repositioned the 450,000-square-foot, half-vacant Green Building by getting it rezoned for office space. He also made several upgrades to the property, making it more desirable to office tenants.

The transformation of the Pacific Design Center continues with its final phase, the Cesar Pelli-penned Red Building. In the 1970s Pelli dreamed up the design center as a three-building property, and finally that vision is being realized.

"Pelli really wanted the project and it was so meaningful to him," said Cohen, a 1974 graduate of Tufts University who got his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1977.

"It is very rare in life that you have such an opportunity to make a statement with a collection of buildings that speak to each other and serve a very creative purpose," he said.

After law school, Cohen cut his teeth in real estate in Chemical Bank's real estate division from 1977 to 1979. He also put his law degree to work in the early 1980s when he served Cohen Bros.' general counsel.

Cohen, who is married with three children and has homes in West Hollywood, New York City and Connecticut, considers himself a design-oriented developer. He is a fan of architects Eric Owen Moss, Philip Johnson, Thom Mayne and Pelli.

But as far as Los Angeles is concerned, Cohen said developers here need to take more chances with architecture.

"People work with who they know," he said. Cohen said that Mayne's Caltrans District 7 Headquarters building in downtown is a notable local building by a local architect who takes risks.

"I think it's a very neat building and very forward thinking and represents a totally different language of architecture," said Cohen. "'It personifies what is new and what is possible."

--Daniel Miller

If the Pacific Design Center's Blue Building is the "Big Blue Whale" then the Red Building, shown here in a rendering, may be dubbed the "Big Red Boat." The design is defined by a striking cut line that makes the building resemble the bow of a ship. When completed it will likely be the only red glass office building in the world. This final phase of the design center, which opened in 1975, is expected to be completed in 2010.

Developer: Cohen Bros. Realty Corp., New York City

Architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, New Haven, Conn.

Contractor: Jones & Jones, Ojai

Engineer: Englekirk Partners Consulting Structural Engineers, Los Angeles

* ARCHITECT: CESAR PELLI Principal, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Notable Projects: 777 Tower in downtown Los Angeles, expansion and renovation of the South Coast Repertory Theater, the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

* CONTRACTOR: KEVIN JONES Principal, Jones & Jones

Notable Projects: 777 Tower, Two Rodeo shopping plaza in Beverly Hills and the renovations of the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Red Building: "To achieve the design intent of Cesar Pelli and his team, we are focused on a well engineered, well coordinated structural and curtain wall system."

Local Favorite: The Getty Villa in Malibu. "It allows me to escape L.A. It is like going to Europe and going to southern Italy, like Pompeii. It would have been great to work on."

L.A.: "Boulevards, tree-lined sidewalks, setbacks, parking and rail transportation. To make it more humanized and more people friendly. We have buildings out to the property line and it is almost like being in a desert."

* ENGINEER: JOE KAPLAN President, Kaplan Gehring McCarroll Architectural Lighting Inc.

Notable Projects: The interior and exterior lighting for the Pacific Design Center's Blue Building and Green Building, public space lighting for the Roppongi Hills development in Tokyo, lighting for Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

Red Building: "The challenge of course is to give it a distinctive character and still let it fit with the two existing building. It needs to be distinctive, yet part of a composition."

Local Favorite: Los Angeles City Hall

L.A.: "It is lacking a great understanding of preserving historic buildings. There is a throw-away mentality here that troubles me."

Engineering: "It is all about balance and engaging the viewer. The Pacific Design Center is exemplary of what we do."

* DEVELOPER: CHARLES S. COHEN President and Chief Executive, Cohen Bros. Realty Corp.

Notable Projects: 623 Fifth Ave., a former New York City bank tower redeveloped into a multi-tenant office building; 622 Third Ave., the Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield headquarters in New York City redeveloped as an office tower.

Red Building: "(It) follows in attracting the critical mass we attracted with the Green Building. In a sense it completes the architectural vision as well as the community the Pacific Design Center has come to represent. It really creates the vibrant campus the architect and the original planners envisioned. I think it surpasses that original vision."

Local Favorite: Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles

L.A.: "It needs more world class architecture. As a world city it needs to broaden its horizons."

Development: "I've had a run of taking institutionally owned and operated buildings and made them accessible to other tenants and the communities in which they fit."

Rand Corp. Headquarters 1776 Main St., Santa Monica

PAUL Danna comes from a family of architects. His parents, Charles and Doris Danna, and sister, Susan, all are in the business, so it made some sense for Danna to follow suit.

But the way he tells it, a career in architecture was never a sure thing for him--far from it, in fact.

"I swore it off, said Darma, design principal at Los Angeles-based DMJM Design. "I was going to be anything but that."

Yet when Danna decided on his college plans, architecture moved to the forefront. "It was something I had to try," said Danna, 48, who received his undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Michigan. "I really did care a great deal about it and I had an aptitude for it."

After his time at the University of Michigan, in 1985 Danna got a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

After that, Danna began his professional career with a five-year stint at Skidmore Owings and Merrill LLP. It was there that Danna hooked up with a group of likeminded designers and architects with whom he would later start his own company. Danna, who is originally from St. Louis, continues to work with those associates, including Rand building co-designer Jose Palacios, at DMJM.

After his time at Skidmore, Danna left the firm and formed a local architecture firm, KMJR, with his Skidmore associates. In 1994, it was acquired by DMJM.

"A big part of my career is working with the same group of individuals for a long time," said Danna. "This group of 10 to 12 individuals was at Skidmore then KMJR then DMJM and has worked together for nearly 20 years."

Danna, who lives in Laurel Canyon with his wife and two children, emphasizes the importance of working with a team. In the late 1990s, Danna left DMJM for HOK architects. That experience, which ended amicably after a year with Danna returning to DMJM, colors Danna's perspective on architecture.

"I realized there was great value in having a relationship with a group of colleagues that were fine professionals and good friends," Danna said. "We shared a philosophy about architecture, and I realized how much that was worth as an architect after moving away."

To that end, Danna credits Palacios and the rest of the DMJM team for its work on the Rand building. The building, which replaced the old Rand headquarters next door, consists of two half-circle buildings that are joined by a central bridge.

"The thought was that interaction between staff members was crucial to doing good work," Danna said. "The idea was the continuous circulation would sponsor the issue of interaction."

--Daniel Miller

BRADLEY Cox, a transplant from Philadelphia, first entered the Southern California real estate business in the early 1980s as a commercial broker. But he wanted to do more than just fill up office towers with tenants; he wanted to be part of the towers' development.

"I love the challenge of selling a vision before the vision is realized and then to watch it come to fruition," he said.

After stints as a broker for Koll Co. and Bren Investment Properties, both in Orange County, Cox joined Cushman & Wakefield in 1997, eventually becoming senior managing director for Cushman's Southern California region.

Along the way, he developed or directed the marketing and leasing of portfolios totaling more than 10 million square feet across Southern California. But as senior managing director for Cushman, Cox found his duties taking him away from individual buildings and becoming more administrative.

So, in the spring of 2002, he jumped ship and moved over to Trammell Crow Co., then based in Dallas. He immediately became immersed in the planning for the 2000 Avenue of the Stars project, which was then in the entitlement phase.

For Cox and the rest of the development team, the 2000 Avenue of the Stars project posed several formidable challenges. First and foremost was that the building would have to be constructed atop an active seven-story parking garage serving the adjacent Century Plaza Towers, the largest underground parking garage west of the Mississippi River.

The team settled on the design of one building frame with towers on each side and open space in the middle, topped by two 70,000-square-foot floors extending the full length of the building. Cox' other big challenge was creating a lobby that would help bridge a 35-foot elevation change between Avenue of the Stars and the lobbies of the Century Plaza Towers while still preserving the view of those towers. He settled on a unique split-level design, with a staircase bridging the two levels.

Finally, the project faced stiff deadlines because of an already-signed agreement with Creative Artists Agency to take up most of the south tower as of the beginning of 2007. "This wasn't a spec building where we could fudge the deadlines on," he said.

Cox, who lives in Marina del Rey with his wife Anna, has already moved on to oversee other projects, including Branford Industrial Park, a 33-acre 334,000-square-foot multi tenant campus in Los Angeles.

--Howard Fine

* CONTRACTOR: JON BURLESON Senior Project Manager, Turner Construction Co.

Notable Projects: The Washington Redskins Stadium, building 10 at the National Institutes of Health and the ballistic missile defense building at the Pentagon.

The Headquarters: "The neat thing about Rand was it is an elliptical building with radius construction. My stadium background helped. The big challenge with Rand was all the raised floor construction, which allows cables to run underneath the floor. It is a new way of how to think about building a building."

Local Favorite: U.S. Bank Tower

Dream Project: Building an NFL stadium in Los Angeles

L.A.: "Historic buildings need to be preserved. There is a whole slew of decrepit buildings that are going down and we need to do better job of preserving them."

Construction: "1 am very into keeping my eye on newer and better technologies in our industry. But, one thing I am noticing with the younger, new hires is they lean too much on the e-mail and texting and don't build relationships."

* MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: CLARK C. BISEL Senior Vice President, Flack + Kurtz Inc.

Notable Projects: 801 S. Figueroa St. in downtown Los Angeles, the Pacific Design Center's Green Building, Walt Disney Co. headquarters in Burbank and Westwood's Armand Hammer Museum.

The Headquarters: "Rand was an interested, committed, and forward thinking client. They recognized that they had a unique culture and background--and desired a new facility to match this."

Local Favorite: 777 Tower in downtown L.A. "It's a very large building, but the detailing is excellent."

Dream Project: "A carbon neutral development. Our future depends on this, yet we do not want to talk about this in a meaningful way."

L.A.: "As a frequent visitor, I continually struggle with transportation and the amorphous nature of Los Angeles."

* DEVELOPER: MICHAEL D. RICH Executive Vice President, Rand Corp.

The Headquarters: "We believe that the project met our core objectives of inspiring creativity in our research and educational activities, promoting interaction and collaboration among our staff, demonstrating our commitment to the conservation of natural, client and institutional resources and enabling Rand to adapt effectively to change."

Local Favorite: Griffith Observatory

L.A.: "The challenge for Los Angeles developers is to think about future projects with an eye towards creating synergies with public transportation options, both existing and planned. This includes greater density and a mix of residential, retail, and commercial opportunities near transit stations and along transit routes."

Rand and Architecture: "Rand was founded 60 years ago on the proposition that rigorous and objective analysis produces better policies. That proposition is valid today and our experience shows that it also helps to produce an effective, efficient and beautiful research facility."

* ARCHITECT: PAUL DANNA Design Principal, DMJM Design

Notable Projects: General Electric Co. Asian headquarters in Shanghai and the BMC Software Inc. headquarters in Houston.

The Headquarters: "The key point to the design of the building is that it is a physical representation of Rand as an institution and was really formed by the charges that they gave us."

Local Favorite: Pierre Koenig's Case Study House 22. "It was innovative, rigorous and cool--responsive to its time. Today it's timeless, classic and still cool--the spirit of L.A."

Dream Project: "A dream project that I think would be fun and beneficial--to become like Harold (from the children's book, "Harold and the Purple Crayon") with his purple crayon for a day. But, instead of a purple crayon, I'd have an eraser and I'd play across the city, erasing what never should have been, creating new and purposeful open spaces or opportunities for others to fill in."

L.A.: "L.A. architecture is alive and well. A unified vision for L.A. is not. With a shared vision we can leverage our fiscal and creative resources against issues that today are regional and soon will be national ones: mobility, housing, open space, the environment and others."

Opened in 2005, Rand Corp.'s headquarters in Santa Monica provided the think tank with a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly office building. The 310,000-square-foot building is comprised of two half circles that with a pedestrian bridge form a rough figure eight designed to maximize interaction between employees. The structure is also one of the few green office buildings in L.A.

Developer: Rand Corp., Santa Monica

Architect: DMJM Design, Los Angeles

Contractor: Turner Construction Co., New York City

Engineer: Wong Hobach Lau International, Los Angeles

2000 Avenue of the Stars Century City

* ARCHITECT: GENE WATANABE Principal; Director of Design for Southwest region, Gensler & Associates Architects

Notable Projects: Metropolitan Water District Headquarters, Port of Long Beach Headquarters, Waters' Edge office buildings in Playa Vista

2000 Avenue of the Stars: "Once we decided on a design of two towers with bridging floors, the biggest concern was whether it would become a prominent building because it had a hole in it. Now that it's built, everyone can see it has a distinctive identity."

Local Favorite: Salk Institute, La Jolla

L.A.: "This community is now more open to high quality work than ever before."

Architecture: "Buildings shouldn't be containers just for people to work in. Buildings in Los Angeles should be designed to contribute to their surroundings and be inviting enough to be magnets for people in the neighborhood."

* CONTRACTOR: ARTHUR KOZINSKI Project Director, Hathaway Dinwiddie Co.

Notable Projects: Getty Center; California Plaza in downtown L.A.; MGM Tower and SunAmerica Building, Century City.

2000 Avenue of the Stars: "The biggest challenge was putting an 850,000-square-foot building over six- to eight-levels of underground parking. A special foundation system was needed because we were essentially putting a new building on top of an existing one."

Dream Project: "A pure entertainment venue like a new stadium would be very intriguing to work on."

L.A.: "The city needs more mixed-use designs. I'm originally from Chicago where mixed-use has been the norm for years."

Contracting: "In the past, there were some lines drawn with distinct responsibilities: the architect drew up the designs and the contractor carried them out. Now the contractor is right up in there with a greater role in completing the designs and the three-dimensional computer modeling.

* SUBCONTRACTOR: SHIDAN TALSIMI Owner, Taslimi Construction Company (Tenant improvements for Creative Artists Agency.)

Notable Projects: Univision Inc. headquarters; KCBS/KCAL high-definition broadcast studios in North Hollywood; Endeavor talent agency headquarters in Beverly Hills; renovation of Beverly Hilton Hotel.

2000 Avenue of Stars: "The extent of the open atrium space within the CAP, offices is quite unique: it extends seven floors. That posed several engineering challenges. But it's that atrium that connects all the CAP, floors to form a single community."

Local Favorite: "I really wish I could have worked on the Getty Center. I love how it's been designed."

L.A.: "I'd like to see more of the type of architecture that 2000 Avenue of the Stars represents: it's a great environment to work in and also for people to come down and enjoy the venue. I also would like to see more mixed-use neighborhoods, not just mixed-use individual projects."

* DEVELOPER: BRADLEY COX Principal, Trammel Crow Co.

Notable Projects: Westwood Gateway Project, 550 South Hope in downtown L.A.

2000 Avenue of the Stars: "It's by far the most difficult project I've ever worked on."

Local Favorite: Gas Co. Tower in downtown L.A. "The lobby design was very challenging and they had to work around a Pacific Bell switching station. Also, the slope change they had to deal with is stunning."

L.A.: "We need to build structures that integrate the community into the business life of the structure. We have too many buildings that are single-purpose and do not bring the community into them."

This $400 million office building broke new ground with its design when it was completed, replacing the landmark Schubert Theatre. The design team took the unusual approach of placing two mid-rise towers in one horizontal structure with bridging floors. That resulted in the creation of a distinctive, large hole in the middle of the building, which is anchored by Creative Artists Agency.

Developer: Trammel Crow Co., El Segundo

Architect: Gensler & Associates Architects, San Francisco

Contractor: Hathaway Dinwiddle Co., San Francisco

Engineer: John A. Martin Associates, Los Angeles

BP Grand Entrance, Broad Contemporary Art Museum Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

ROB Jernigan calls his LACMA work "one of the most challenging projects ever done" L from a technical standpoint. He also calls it the fulfillment of a dream, despite the dangers of digging next to the La Brea Tar Pits.

Jernigan, managing director and technical leader in the L.A. office of the architecture firm Gensler, worked as executive architect. That means that Renzo Piano, the Paris-based design architect, provided the overall conceptual direction, while Jernigan's office produced the blueprints and supervised construction.

"Being an executive architect is not our vision or goal, but in this case working with Renzo Piano it was a childhood fantasy come true," said Jernigan.

The collaboration worked because Jernigan shares Piano's approach to architecture--namely, to knit together the past and the future in a functional package. Piano landed the job after LACMA decided not to pursue a more costly plan by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who proposed demolishing all current LACMA structures to build a visually unified campus.

"The concept of tearing everything down and starting from new was so wrong," Jernigan said. "For the architecture, the benefactors, the history--everything."

On a deeper level, the demolition/rebuild strategy represents a master plan approach, while Jernigan believes institutions, buildings and cities should evolve organically over time. According to Jernigan, Piano's old-world perspective helped in that regard, since the Italians have a heritage of buildings where the past and present co-exist.

Before joining Gensler in 1998, Jernigan worked at L.A.-based DMJM/Keating and co-founded Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet. He currently sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Business Council and the Los Angeles Headquarters Association.

Although Jernigan calls the LACMA project "as big and powerful a statement as an architect can make," he questions how loud architects should talk. Buildings that overshadow their contents don't make sense for the public or the institutions they house. In the case of LACMA, he believes the finished product will provide a variety of lighting conditions and spatial contexts for the museum's varied collections.

"I very much believe that form should follow function, and that's a real issue for art museums," Jernigan said. "I don't think the building should be more powerful than the art or compete with the art."

--Joel Russell

* DEVELOPER: MELODY KANSCHAT President, Chief Operating Officer, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Notable Projects: "I'm home-grown at LACMA. With the exception of a tiny home remodel, all my construction experience has been at LACMA, starting in 1997."

LACMA: "We are using strong and bold colors. Red signifies movement, either across our campus or through the grand entrance. I love that we're being a little fun. It's not a stoic, gray-stone building."

Local Favorite: Los Angeles Central Library. "It's such a program-driven building. The proportions are perfect. It wonderfully bridges L.A. past with L.A. future."

Dream Project: "Top-to-bottom rehab of the LACMA East Building. If it's really a dream, then add a subway stop in the middle of that building."

* ARCHITECT: ROB JERNIGAN Technical Director, Gensler

Notable Projects: Univision Inc. headquarters, Los Angeles Convention Center Hotel

LACMA: "You're digging in a tar pit, loaded with gases. Dealing with that site and its issues, and Renzo's desire for perfection--and volatility in the construction market--that was a real challenge."

Local Favorite: Charles Eames House, Pacific Palisades; Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

L.A.: "The residential stuff from truly post-War Los Angeles is as good or better than anywhere in the country. The shortcoming has been civic and commercial architecture. Now we're going to be able to show our stuff and create a larger scale of architecture that is truly Southern California."

* CONTRACTOR: BART SHIVELY Senior Project Manager, Matt Construction

Notable Projects: USC off-campus video production center

LACMA: "Renzo Piano is known for taking simple material and taking them to their limit. You still have steel and stone and concrete in this building, but the finishes are precise, the tolerances are tight. That's his trademark but the difficult part to execute."

Local Favorite: Disney Concert Hall. "It's a very interesting building with unique architecture."

Dream Project: "Buildings aren't the dream so much as the client and design team you work with. If you have a client that's happy when you've done and a design team that helps make the client happy, that's a good project in my mind."

* SUBCONTRACTOR, STONE: MICHAEL TWISS President, Columbia Stone

Notable Projects: Portland City Hall, Oregon; Crocker Towers, Los Angeles

LACMA: "The exterior on LACMA is a travertine material, but they call it Coliseum Cut stone. Travertine is very linear with lots of veins. They cut the blocks the other way to make it look like limestone. That material has a dual finish--a bush hammer finish and a water jet finish. I'm not aware this texture and finish has been used anywhere else."

Local Favorite: Getty Center, Los Angeles Central Library

Engineering: "The project has 60,000 square feet of stone. We put it on large panels, 20 pieces of stone on a steel frame. We designed the framing system and the anchors between the stone, the framing system and the building."

The 1960s-era campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is being transformed by a new entrance plaza and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, both designed by world renowned architect Renzo Piano. The new building will house billionaire Eli Broad's collection and other art, while the glass-encased entrance plaza is intended to bring a sense of unity to the sprawling grounds. Work is expected to be completed in February. (Left to right: Rendering of Broad Museum; construction of entrance plaza.)

Developer: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris

Contractor: Matt Construction, Santa Fe Springs 

Engineer: Arup Group. London

The Century One Century Drive, Century City

IN David Wine's nearly 30 years with Related Cos. he has worked on a variety of projects in a variety of places. But none more significant than Time Warner Center in New York City.

The $1.7 billion mixed-use development at Columbus Circle off Central Park was overseen by Wine and was one of the largest projects ever built by the commercial real estate firm.

Wine, who joined Related in 1978, calls the center a "dream project," but in the same breath he considers his company's forthcoming Century condo tower in Century City--more modest in comparison--another dream.

"I've worked on a lot of fantastic projects," said Wine, vice chairman of Related.

Before beginning his work for Related, Wine worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. At Related his work has also focused on the residential market. He now oversees the company's $3.6 billion residential portfolio.

"I started at Related in my early 20s, and I helped build it," said Wine, who got his undergraduate degree in economics and urban studies from Columbia University and an M.B.A. New York University. "I really have had great personal satisfaction in building quality building after quality building."

Wine is also working on a second local project: downtown's Grand Avenue, the multibillion dollar mixed-use development that will transform the area around Walt Disney Concert Hall with new residences, retail and public spaces.

The Century, which is slated to open in late 2009, offers a unique opportunity for the New York developer. While the company does include green space and gardens in its upscale New York condo projects, the chance to develop a nearly 4-acre site in Century City has been a different experience.

While L.A. may be getting denser, it still has nothing on Manhattan.

"To have this opportunity with the Century with nearly 4 acres--even in L.A. it is unusual," said Wine. "Most buildings in L.A. don't have that luxury of space."

Wine said the company is emphasizing green space at the site, which will include two outdoor dining rooms and kitchen pavilions for parties. "We want people to feel connected in the way Angelenos are connected to the outdoors," Wine said.

Wine, who is director of New York's Public An Fund, said that he is looking for more projects in Los Angeles and other markets outside of New York.

"We think California is ready to embrace the lifestyle that a carefully executed development can bring," Wine said. "We are bringing Related to different markets around the country."

--Daniel Miller

* ARCHITECT: ROBERT A.M. STERN Founder and Senior Partner, Robert A.M. Stem Architects LLP

Notable Projects: The Chatham residential tower in New York and Walt Disney Co.'s Feature Animation Building in Burbank.

The Century: "The Century will be an oasis from the buzz of Los Angeles."

Architecture: "We enjoy the ebb and flow of fashion but we do our best to avoid getting caught up in it."

* CONTRACTOR: ANDREA ANDERSON Project Manager, Webcor Builders Inc.

Notable Projects: The W Hotel in San Diego and the Californian on Wilshire.

The Century: "The project began with the interesting challenge of demolishing the existing St. Regis hotel and removing the remaining debris and caissons from the soil. The unique exterior will feature two-color pre-cast panels and travertine stone cladding imported from Italy."

Local Favorite: U.S. Bank Tower

Contracting: "I am passionate about construction and enjoy the hands-on nature of the work. Being able to see the tangible results of my efforts is particularly gratifying."

* LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: PAMELA BURTON President, Pamela Burton & Co. Landscape Architecture

Notable Projects: Yahoo Center, Santa Monica; Cipriani Hotel, Beverly Hills; Santa Monica Public Library and Rockefeller Center, New York City.

The Century: "The Century has expansive and elaborate gardens designed to encompass a hierarchy of spaces and activities. Unusual drought tolerant materials are combined with luxurious features to create the ultimate California garden."

Local Favorite: "The Schindler House, a memorable integration of landscape and architecture in which the indoor and outdoor spaces are all linked and woven together."

L.A.: "What Los Angeles needs is a more systematic and consistent design approach to its public streets, trees, and sidewalks."

Dream Project: "To work on an art museum's outdoor spaces, from its sculpture garden to its connecting pathways to its garden rooms."

Landscape Architecture: "As landscape architects, we are in a position to transform these areas into sustainable and beautiful spaces for everyone to cherish and enjoy."

* DEVELOPER: DAVID WINE Vice Chairman, Related Cos.

Notable Projects: Time Warner Center and Chatham residential tower, both in New York.

The Century: "Our goal is to redefine the way Angelenos look at high-rise condominium living."

Local Favorite: 2000 Avenue of the Stars office building. "Look at the geometry of the building and see it juxtaposed with the Century Park East office buildings; it is really an amazing placement of shapes."

L.A.: "We all need to build buildings that are more environmentally sensitive and that are more green. I mean green in the literal sense, with green roofs and greenery and gardens."

The nostalgia and restrained elegance of the Century is meant to offer a sophisticated alternative for wealthy Angelenos ready to ditch their hillside mansions. It resembles a Park Avenue condo tower, but the lush landscaping places it miles from Manhattan. The 42-story tower, on the site of the razed St. Regis Hotel, will include 140 units, with the penthouse priced at about $25 million. It is slated to be completed in late 2009.

Developer: Related Cos., New York City

Architect: Robert A.M. Stern Architects, New York City

Contractor: Webcor Builders Inc., San Mateo, Calif.

Magnusson Klemencic Associates Inc., Seattle

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center 757 Westwood Plaza, Westwood

A 25-year veteran of complicated health care industry construction projects, Alvin Lee knew replacing a university hospital that no longer met state seismic standards would take a lot longer and cost more than many people expected.

But even Lee, 47, never foresaw that he'd still be on the job 10 years after was hired by the UCLA to oversee the project or that the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center would become the defining project of his career to date.

"It's almost kind of embarrassing how long it's taken, but despite it all I think everyone involved in this building is very happy with the way it's turned out," he said, noting that initial hopes were that the building would be finished in early 2005. "Building a hospital in California, particularly a publicly funded teaching hospital, is probably as complex a project as you can get, aside from a nuclear power plant."

Lee's job as the developer's representative on site has been to keep a myriad of moving parts--multiple architectural firms, contractors, subcontractors, regulators and interest groups--all heading in the same direction.

A native Angeleno and licensed architect by training, Lee was drawn to the project management side of construction after graduating from University of Southern California in 1982 and after working a few years at a private architectural firm.

"I liked the bigger picture aspect of it," he said. "In project management, you really are there from the very beginning and see a project through to completion, whereas an architect is generally there just through the design phase."

Prior to coming to UCLA, he worked nine years for Los Angeles County as a construction project manager, overseeing its Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey, and the trauma center at Martin Luther King Medical Center, which was first hospital facility in the state to use a base-isolation seismic design that rest buildings on massive shock absorbers. The new UCLA hospital employs a different, sophisticated design that enables the building to move both laterally and vertically without endangering its structural integrity.

While he finds a lot of satisfaction in hospital construction, one private sector commercial project he finds intriguing is the L.A. Live complex now under construction in downtown Los Angeles. "I look at architecture as not just a building on a site," Lee said. "The more people a project can impact, that's what it's all about. Architecture should be about the people who will use it."

--Deborah Crowe

* ARCHITECT: CHIEN CHUN "C.C." PEI Partner, Pei Partnership Architects

Notable Projects: Guggen-heim Pavilion at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Grand Louvre, Paris.

Medical Center: "UCLA has a real sense of being an urban campus. We had to fit a 1 million square foot elephant into a beautifully scaled campus surrounding."

Local Favorites: Walt Disney Concert Hall; former Creative Artists Agency headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard, which his father and brother designed.

L.A.: "Make this a more walkable city. People here will get in their car to go three blocks, in New York they'd walk. Ironically, L.A. is eminently walkable city in many areas, especially with the weather."

Architecture: "Architecture is not just an art; it has to be practical. You also have to remember that you're working with someone else's money. One reason people come to us is that they want a building that reflects their own personal aspirations, not what we want."

* EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT: GABRIELLE BULLOCK Managing Director, Perkins+Will Inc.

Notable Projects: Zilkha Neurogenics Institute, USC; Rampart and Harbor district stations, Los Angeles Police Department.

Medical Center: "It's a significant project not only for UCLA but the state because it's one of the largest hospital projects to conform to the new state seismic standards. On top of that, it's a beautiful building that really fits into an urban campus."

Local Favorite: "Disney Concert Hall, which has beautiful form and has given its neighborhood the "umph" that it needed." Getty Center, which like the medical center "is a building that's not overwhelming and fits into the landscape."

Architecture: "I've always gravitated toward program-driven projects that serve the greater goals of society--schools, hospitals or laboratories--as opposed to a tenant-driven project like an office building."

* CONTRACTOR: DALE GOLD Project Manager, Tutor-Saliba-Perini

Notable Projects: Los Angeles County Criminal Courts building; Davis Grant Hospital, Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield; Centinela Hospital addition, Inglewood.

Medical Center: "This hospital will set the standard for many years to come. It has taken a lot longer than anyone expected ... but it's going to be well worth the wait. It really doesn't look like a hospital in a lot of ways, more like a museum with the high-end finishes and details."

Dream Project: "My boss has told me that he wants me to go to Vegas next and build a major casino there. That might be interesting."

Contracting: "I've been involved in public sector projects nearly all of my career, and I believe in quality. In today's society a lot of pride has gone out of our work in construction. But I tell you, when you walk down the main corridor of the medical center, it's an amazing feeling. I just take a lot of pride in coordinating that effort."

* DEVELOPER: ALVIN LEE Construction Project Director, University of California, Los Angeles 

Notable Projects: Los Angeles County's Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey and the trauma center at Martin Luther King Medical Center.

Medical Center: "It's kind of weird to say, but for $900 million, this hospital is a bargain. Given the kind of inflation we've seen in construction costs, we'll never see anything like this again at this price."

Local Favorite: L.A. Live

L.A.: He wishes the streetscapes were less disjointed and more pedestrian friendly. But he's appreciative of how the Metro Gold Line is spurring revitalization of older, rundown neighborhoods along its path and has similar hopes for the Gold Line extension and the future Expo Line.

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was prompted by tougher seismic standards, but the $900 million building also is an architectural showplace of Italian travertine, aluminum and glass. Renowned New York architect I.M. Pei's original concept for the 1 million square foot complex was brought to life by his son C.C. Pei and creates the illusion of several smaller hospitals rather than one massive building. Patient towers were placed along the exterior to offer the natural light and scenic views from each room.

Developer: University of California, Los Angeles

Architect: Pei Partnership Architects, New York

Contractor: Tutor-Saliba-Perini, Sylmar

Engineer: John A. Martin & Associates, Los Angeles