The design for Click 3X LA transforms an industrial wasteland into a dramatic setting for a digital effects and animation studio. Located at Bergamot Station, the internationally known art center, this renovation and expansion involved adding 2500 sq. ft. to an existing 6,500 sq. ft. industrial building formerly used to manufacture residential water heaters. The dense, technologically-rich program includes Inferno rooms used to create visual effects and computer animation for TV commercials and shows and large format movies. Also included are several other computer animation studios, avid rooms, CGI suites, open production space, conference rooms, executive offices and a machine room housing sophisticated visual effects computers.
The architecture confronts the user, while maintaining a spatial continuity and sensation of vastness characteristic of the industrial warehouse buildings at Bergamot Station. Bold, almost primitive, sculptural forms are intentionally large and expressive. Attention was paid to creating unbroken visual corridors that extend the entire length of the space. Simultaneously, the design creates opportunities for more intimate, internally-focused moments. This diversity of spatial experience deftly reconciles both functional needs and the firm’s desire for a dynamic, cutting-edge workplace.
Project Team
Pugh + Scarpa Architects (architect)
BT Builders, Inc. (general contractor)
Marvin Rand (photography)
Awards
AIA Los Angeles Honor Award, 2000
