The Webster

Los Angeles, California, USA

  • Status
    2020
  • Area
    1,022 m² / 11,000 ft²
  • Category
    Commercial
  • Design Architect
    Adjaye Associates
  • Architect of Record
    Neumann/Smith Architecture
  • Client
    Taubman Company / The Webster
  • User
    The Webster
  • General Contractors
    Jacobsen Swinerton Joint Venture
  • Mechanical/Plumbing Engineer
    E & S Construction Engineers
  • Structural Engineer
    Ludwig Structural
    (Engineer of Record)
  • Electrical Engineer
    Swanson Rink
  • Concrete Consultant
    Reg Hough Associates
  • Civil Engineer
    Mollenhauer Group
  • Landscape Architect
    Grissim Metz Andriese Associates
  • Awards
    - Best Retail Store, ICSC Global Design & Development Gold Medal Award, 2021
    - Best Commercial Retail / Mixed Use Space, Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award, 2020
    - Best Large Retail Interior, Dezeen Awards, 2020
    - Best Large Retail Interior of the Year, Dezeen Public Vote, 2020
    - Art: Interior & Exterior Lighting, Muse Design Award, 2020
    - Designer / Custom Lighting, Muse Design Award, 2020
    - Best Commercial Architecture, Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards, 2020
    - Commercial/Mixed-Use, AIA|LA Design Award, 2020

Technical Info +

In the past five years I’ve started to work with a lot of saturated red and pink hues, which extends back to the early color experiments I did at the beginning of my career. Pink felt like fashion, but I wanted to make something that was tough and gentle at the same time. - David Adjaye

The Webster’s latest flagship store in Los Angeles is a 11,000 square feet ground-up retail development adjacent to the historic Los Angeles Beverly Center. Juxtaposed beneath the monolithic eight story structure, The Webster elegantly asserts itself as a sculptural and experiential counterpoint to the Beverly Center’s retail experience. The cantilevered concrete facade references and reimagines the brutalist shell of the original existing building and is injected with a pink dye—an ode to the luminosity of California, where the Pacific light naturally amplifies saturated colors.

Encompassing square footage that was originally allocated for interior retail, The Webster establishes a new public space at the intersection of San Vincente and Beverly Boulevards. Featuring a digital art wall and a sculptural water fountain, the new public space cultivates an unexpected urban oasis. Visible only from the underside of the cantilever, the digital art wall spans its surface area to form a column less portico with banquette seating. Both out of deference to and in defiance of Hollywood’s amplified digital culture, the art wall is intentionally low resolution at 1472 pixels wide and 20 pixels tall; it is a sculptural canvas that will debut bespoke art pieces commissioned by The Webster.

At the main entry, a panoramic window—comprised of three sheets of curved glass—creates an angular visual portal, dissolving the boundary between the public space and the retail inside. Conceived as a landscape of forms for display and inhabitation, the color and material palette of The Webster’s exterior identity continue into the interior.

Oscillating between varying textures and types of concrete, the interior is akin to a sculptural field punctuated by cast-in place concrete columns and teardrop shaped display plinths. The resulting effect is, a series of vignettes for the curated merchandise on display. The ground concrete floor features black cherry marble fragments.

Bronze framed mirrors and display racks line the perimeter. These interior finishes balance an appreciation for the sculptural beauty of the store’s sinuous form without detracting from the curated products on display. The upper walls of the fitting rooms are softened with vintage 1950’s wallpaper, sourced from the client’s personal collection.

Transcending the now dated transactional and commercial experience of most brick and mortar retail, The Webster offers a destination and experience not only for its clients but for the city of Los Angeles.

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