Westwood, CA

ateliermarkvaghei (www.atelierv.com) was tasked with designing a mixed use structure which would serve as the primary anchor at the entry point to the Garment District of Downtown , Los Angeles at the corner of 9th and San Pedro.  The primary program for the building would be to house the garment manufacturers.  However, the building was tasked to be more than just a place for wholesale garment sales and manufacturing; it was to include restaurants, food court, offices, lofts and entertainment making it a destination and a hub for the community.  Utilizing an almost 61,000 sf corner irregular lot, atelier mark vaghei’s proposal was a a 4 story complex with 2 levels of subterranean parking garage.  “We conceptually thought of our proposal as a solid rock with cracks strategically placed to allow for entry and exit alignments as well as a courtyard which would house the vertical transportation”  Says Mark Vaghei, AIA , atelier mark vaghei’s founder and principal.  why a Rock? you may ask? The entire building was conceived as being inwardly oriented with the exception of upper floor offices and restaurants which would have windows toward downtown views.  This by necessity reduces window exposure at the perimeter and provided an opportunity to treat it as a solid.  “We wanted to avoid a massive blank structure on the outside, so we provided it with a perforated stainless steel veil to reduce its apparent mass and provide for porosity and lightness” says Mark Vaghei, AIA

MUSEO  MAJAKKA 

GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI

atelier V submitted an entry into the Guggenheim Helsinki International Design Competition (http://designguggenheimhelsinki.org/).  This competition had the largest number of entries in the history of international competitions.  A total of 1,715 entries were submitted from around the world.  The following is the brief as submitted in the atelier V’s entry and all the images and drawings including the actual boards:

Lighthouse as inspiration.

Given the strong maritime history of Finland, location of the museum site at the Etelasatama, the symbolic gateway to the city from the sea and the need for the museum to be the new cultural icon of Helsinki, our concept draws from the most prominent seaside structures of Finland’s history: Majakat or the Lighthouse.  These structures always taller than anything around them, highly visible both day and night, were first symbols of the civilization lying beyond their maritime border.  Guggenheim Helsinki becomes the 21^st century cultural symbol of Helsinki at Etelasatama entry point much the same way as the traditional Majakat (lighthouses). The new structure along with The Helsinki and Uspenski Cathedrals triangulate to cement the place of Helsinki amongst World Class cities.   We propose here a very horizontal contrasted by a very vertical place of gathering for families and visitors, a place to navigate through and take in the views, and view art at one’s own pace and pleasure.  The small footprint, height, and prominence of a typical light house as metaphor, and the modernist heritage in Helsinki thus become the ideal starting point for our concept for the new Guggenheim.