In this episode, Cherise is joined by Patricia Rhee, FAIA, DBIA - Partner at
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.
In Costa Mesa, the former auxiliary
Los Angeles Times Printing Press facility stands as a relic of a bygone era of information consumption. Built during the latter half of the last century, this complex of concrete panels and steel frames has survived the digital revolution. The Press has been transformed into a creative office space and the expansive halls that once accommodated machinery now welcome people.
Photo Credits:
Matthew Millman (project photographs)
Brandon Shigeta (existing building)
Julius Shulman. ©J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Courtesy of Costa Mesa Historical Society (historic photograph)
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects (drawing)
Luke Fontana (EYRC portrait photograph)
Paul Vu (project photograph of R+D building and aerial photograph)
Project Name and Location: The Press, Costa Mesa, California
In Costa Mesa lies the former auxiliary Los Angeles Times Printing Press facility.
A complex of concrete panels upon steel frames were erected through the second half of the last century, enduring beyond the rise of the digital age. With the removal of the printing presses, these largely abandoned structures persist as ruins, a testament to an earlier era of information consumption.
Unable to return to its original utility, The Press embarks on a new life as a creative office.
Space for machines become space for people.
Many of its design interventions are subtractive. Reinforcing the notion of ‘ruin’ through the partial destruction of the existing building allows for the once resolute mass to dissolve into its surroundings, expanding upon the Southern California vernacular.
Landscape ties site and structure - suggesting a ruin recaptured by nature. Subtraction also allows for otherwise hidden architectural moments to be discovered. Clerestory windows cut into the high volume of a previous press line to fill the space with light. Tinted glass facades are pulled away to reveal austere steel.
Any additive elements deliberately contrast to clarify old and new. This “selective subtraction” approach also prioritized public walkways that prompt occupants to cross paths with one another, cross-pollinating and sharing knowledge.
The design brings the building history to the forefront of each user’s experience.
Occupying a site of almost 20 acres, green space and parking amplify users’ understanding of the history through the preservation of an existing rail spur, a former filling station and hundreds of feet of deep column-free loading dock covered with an expansive canopy.
Former conveyer belts are preserved in place, passing through gardens and conference rooms, marking a moment in time when bundled newspapers were loaded onto trucks and rail cars for distribution throughout Orange County.
From the onset, the campus was designed as a multi-disciplinary, multi-tenant space.
When ultimately leased to a single tenant, they too were attracted to the possibility of interactivity among a range of internal departments. These revitalized buildings and site also provide unique amenities, including a landscaped park area in an otherwise nature-starved corner of Costa Mesa.
Among adaptive reuses of its scale, the project is notable for utilizing nearly every aspect of the building’s previous use. The campus design preserves and upgrades the existing structure with minimal intervention, extending the lifespan of a local landmark beyond even its newly repurposed use today.
Patricia Rhee, FAIA, DBIA – Partner at Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, [email protected].
Very Short Bio (no more than a few sentences or a paragraph):
Partner Patricia Rhee, FAIA received her Master's degree in Architecture from Harvard's Graduate School of Design and has been a member of the firm since 2000.
She has served as Designer for some of the firm's most notable and award-winning projects, including The Press, the Culver Steps, Ivy Station, the UAE Federal National Council Parliament Complex and the John M. Roll Federal Courthouse.
She has served on design juries with the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice, DBIA National, multiple AIA design award juries and local architecture schools.
She has lectured internationally, at the University of Melbourne and the World Architecture Festival, at Clemson University, the University of Maryland, at AIA Los Angeles’ POWERFUL Women in Design symposia and the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit.
Patricia was a founding Co-Chair of the AIA Los Angeles Women in Architecture committee and serves on the board of Heidi Duckler Dance.
Other things of note:
• To date, the project has won 14 design awards including both regional and local AIA awards as well as many notable International and national awards for design.
Additional Information:
Project Team List:
