The Berggruen Institute, a think tank founded in 2010 by philanthropist and investor Nicolas Berggruen, recently unveiled plans for a new Los Angeles campus designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The low-density campus will be built on a site in the eastern portion of the Santa Monica Mountains and comprise meeting and study spaces, scholars’ residences, and gardens.
The campus will be built along a mountain ridge that was scraped and flattened in the 1980s to cap a landfill. The ridge will be turned into a linear park or a gardened plinth landscaped with drought-resistant plants.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
Herzog & de Meuron’s design is as much a landscape vision as an architectural project. The campus will concentrate development within previously graded areas to limit topographic changes. In addition, 415 acres of the 447-acre site will be preserved as open space. The campus will also make use of infrastructure that is already in place, such as Serpentine Road, which will connect Sepulveda Boulevard to the Institute’s main entrance. Existing public hiking trails will be maintained and improved and provide access to the Institute campus.
The new campus’s main facility will be built on the far southern end of the site’s eastern ridge. A horizontal structure, dubbed the Frame, will “hover” 12 feet above the ground and be supported by just a few building elements. A large courtyard garden will exist at the center of the main building while the main functions of studying, living, and convening are located within the Frame on one level with occasional mezzanine spaces. A collection of live-work lofts, meeting rooms, study spaces, offices, artists’ studios, media spaces, dining areas, and reception areas will all exist within the Frame.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
A sphere that sits within the courtyard and contains a 250-seat lecture hall will become the tallest structure on the Berggruen Institute campus, rising 45 feet above the roofline of the Frame. A second, smaller sphere sits atop the Frame and serves as a water storage tank. When combined with the lecture hall, the frame offers a total of 137,000 sf with 26 Scholars-in-Residence units and 14 Visiting Scholars units.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
North of the frame will exist the second main element of the campus; Scholar Village, 26,000 sf of residential use for scholars and guests. The third and final main element is located on the northern end of the eastern ridge and is dubbed the Chairman’s Residence. The Chairman’s Residence is a 26,000-sf compound that includes a library, conference room, dining and catering facilities, and staff quarters. Just north of the Chairman’s Residence is a heavily landscaped area that serves as a buffer zone between the Institute and the neighboring MountainGate community.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
Related Stories
Market Data | Jul 24, 2023
Leading economists call for 2% increase in building construction spending in 2024
Following a 19.7% surge in spending for commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings in 2023, leading construction industry economists expect spending growth to come back to earth in 2024, according to the July 2023 AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel.
Mass Timber | Jul 11, 2023
5 solutions to acoustic issues in mass timber buildings
For all its advantages, mass timber also has a less-heralded quality: its acoustic challenges. Exposed wood ceilings and floors have led to issues with excessive noise. Mass timber experts offer practical solutions to the top five acoustic issues in mass timber buildings.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 6, 2023
The responsibility of adapting historic university buildings
Shepley Bulfinch's David Whitehill, AIA, believes the adaptive reuse of historic university buildings is not a matter of sentimentality but of practicality, progress, and preservation.
University Buildings | Jun 26, 2023
Univ. of Calif. Riverside’s plant research facility enables year-round plant growth
The University of California, Riverside’s new plant research facility, a state-of-the-art greenhouse with best-in-class research and climate control technologies, recently held its grand opening. Construction of the two-story, 30,000 sf facility was completed in 2021. It then went through two years of preparation and testing.
University Buildings | Jun 26, 2023
Addition by subtraction: The value of open space on higher education campuses
Creating a meaningful academic and student life experience on university and college campuses does not always mean adding a new building. A new or resurrected campus quad, recreational fields, gardens, and other greenspaces can tie a campus together, writes Sean Rosebrugh, AIA, LEED AP, HMC Architects' Higher Education Practice Leader.
Engineers | Jun 14, 2023
The high cost of low maintenance
Walter P Moore’s Javier Balma, PhD, PE, SE, and Webb Wright, PE, identify the primary causes of engineering failures, define proactive versus reactive maintenance, recognize the reasons for deferred maintenance, and identify the financial and safety risks related to deferred maintenance.
University Buildings | Jun 14, 2023
Calif. State University’s new ‘library-plus’ building bridges upper and lower campuses
A three-story “library-plus” building at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) that ties together the upper and lower campuses was recently completed. The 100,977-sf facility, known as the Collaborative Opportunities for Research & Engagement (“CORE”) Building, is one of the busiest libraries in the CSU system. The previous library served 1.2 million visitors annually.
Higher Education | Jun 14, 2023
Designing higher education facilities without knowing the end users
A team of architects with Page offers five important factors to consider when designing spaces for multiple—and potentially changing—stakeholders.
University Buildings | Jun 9, 2023
Cornell’s new information science building will foster dynamic exchange of ideas and quiet, focused research
Construction recently began on Cornell University’s new 135,000-sf building for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers CIS). The structure will bring together the departments of Computer Science, Information Science, and Statistics and Data Science for the first time in one complex.
Student Housing | Jun 5, 2023
The power of student engagement: How on-campus student housing can increase enrollment
Studies have confirmed that students are more likely to graduate when they live on campus, particularly when the on-campus experience encourages student learning and engagement, writes Design Collaborative's Nathan Woods, AIA.