The New York office of Grimshaw and LA based Gruen Associates were officially awarded the Los Angeles Union Station master plan last Thursday. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors, chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, approved a nomination that sets in motion a two year master plan creation process to generate a new vision for Union Station, in conjunction with the general revitalization and growth of downtown Los Angeles as the city and metro look to the future. More architects’ description after the break.
The approval of the team selection is the culmination of a multi‐step process that narrowed an initial list of 22 teams down to a shortlist of six before ultimately selecting the Grimshaw/Gruen team. This will be the first west coast project for Grimshaw who has been operating in the Americas out of New York since 2001. The practice, founded in London in 1980, has an extensive portfolio of master plan and rail station designs across the globe including London, Amsterdam, Melbourne and New York City.
Grimshaw’s primary partner in the endeavor, Gruen Associates, is a Los Angeles practice with over 65 years of diverse experience bringing large scale public projects to life including recent work on Metro’s Orange Line Extension bus rapid transit line and Exposition Line light rail. This will be Grimshaw and Gruen Associate’s first collaboration and will be completed with the assistance of an extensive team of specialized consultants with both local and international expertise in the disciplines required to create a meaningful, successful master plan.
Los Angeles Union Station is on the National Register of Historic Places, featured frequently in film and other media. It is the primary station for rail service in southern California offering both long distance and commuter rail service in addition to local subway, light rail and bus lines. Union Station also anticipates the potential arrival of high speed rail in the future, offering another vital link to the region’s transportation network. The station and the area surrounding it are at the nexus of multiple vibrant communities.
Prime Consultant/Project Management/Master Planning: Gruen Associates Design Leader/Master Planning/Architecture: Grimshaw Architects Location: Los Angeles, California, United States Strategic Advisors on Transportation Finance/Funding & Entitlements: Point C, LLC Transportation Planning/Traffic Engineering/Parking/Connectivity: Fehr & Peers Transit Engineering for High Speed Rail: Sener Sustainability/Building Engineering/Security: Buro Happold Urban Design: Cityworks Design Traffic Consulting: Wiltec Community Outreach: The Robert Group Historic Restoration Architect: Historic Resources Group Landscape Architecture: Mia Lehrer + Associates Infrastructure/Entitlement Assistance: Psomas Civil Engineering: VCA Engineering, Inc. Surveying: Wagner Engineering and Survey Geotechnical: Diaz Yourman & Associates CEQA/Environmental: Terry A. Hayes Associates Cost Planning: Davis Langdon Cost Estimating: MARRS Services, Inc. Fire/Life Safety: Exponent Printing: Davis Blueprint