THE CHALLENGE
/ A GOVERNMENT BUILDING
300 NORTH LOS ANGELES STREET
LOS ANGELES
PLANNING MODEL
In the 1960s, urban planners and architects
applied their modernist vision to the burgeoning metropolis of Los Angeles (near right).
To ribbonlike freeways whisking Angelenos
to work they added climate-controlled office
blocks, such as the eight-story federal building known as 300 North Los Angeles (above
and far right). The materials, mostly glass
and concrete, have failed the test of time and
cannot meet contemporary energy standards.
The General Services Administration owns
hundreds of these kinds of buildings. The
winners of the eighth-annual Next Generation
Design Competition applied a broad new vision
of sustainability to try to bring 300 North
Los Angeles to a net-zero energy standard.
BEFORE
Color photos, courtesy Andrew Bywater; black-and-
white photos, Skyscraper Page Forum
