Married Architects Talk Building Interest in Reuse

0
Married Architects Talk Building Interest in Reuse
Willing to Adapt: Barbara Flammang and Wade Killefer at their Santa Monica firm.

Santa Monica firm Killefer Flammang Architects, helmed by the husband and wife team of Wade Killefer and Barbara Flammang, is designing Pico 11, a 32-unit apartment building that was the only multifamily project approved last year in Santa Monica. Their business, which turned 40 this month, also designed the adaptive reuse of downtown L.A. landmarks such as the Ace Hotel, and Eastern Columbia and Taft buildings. Its latest reuse project is the conversion of the former Los Angeles Times printing building in Chatsworth for toymaker MGA Entertainment. The duo spoke with the Business Journal about how they grew their business, the resurgence of adaptive reuse projects and the problems that development faces in Santa Monica.

Question: What are you currently working on?

Flammang: We’re working on the drawings now for Pico 11. There are 64 parking spaces for cars and 68 for bicycles, which shows some change is going on.

Killefer: Peter Bohlinger is the lead developer. It was the only residential project that passed in Santa Monica in 2014.

Why is it so challenging to develop there?

Killefer: There are a lot of disparate views of what sort of city Santa Monica should be, how tall and dense it should be. Some people think it should be like it was in 1950 and some people think it should be a modern, well-planned city. Elected officials and city staff are called upon to resolve those two visions.

What exactly holds things up?

Flammang: Over many, many years there have been multiple iterations of land-use policy. It takes years to write a land-use policy plan. Then once it’s finally adopted, they decide to amend it, so it’s a constant rethinking of guidelines for development. Developers have guidelines they need to follow but when those guidelines get questioned again and again, it’s confusing. It comes down to a matter of not understanding growth. Why shouldn’t more people live here?

How do you think attitudes toward reuse have changed in Los Angeles?

Killefer: The biggest change was the adoption by the City Council of the reuse ordinance. We were doing affordable projects in the late ’80s on old, wonderful buildings. But the cost was so high. Provisions in the adaptive reuse ordinance in the ’90s took away a lot of things in the code that made the costs high. The whole look of downtown can be attributed to that ordinance.

Flammang: And now there’s a second wave. We were the executive architects on the Ace Hotel, and that has led to more hotel (reuse projects).

What do you think of creative office being the go-to for reuse?

Killefer: I find it amusing. They are always wonderful buildings, left ignored for 40 years and now everyone says, “Aren’t they cool?” It’s happening all over the country. People are looking for a different work style and we have a lot of great ’20s buildings in Los Angeles that are good places to live and work.

Do you think creative office is a good reuse?

Killefer: Yes. These spaces have a lot of natural light and when you strip away some of the old gunk, what was there to start with has a good feel to it, and is good for housing or office.

Design trends come and go and you must have seen a lot over the past 40 years. What is your view of where things are now?

Killefer: Los Angeles has always been open to the widest range of architectural expression, and that continues today. In this town, anything goes. There doesn’t seem to be an -ism in design right now, which is very refreshing. Interestingly, the two most exciting buildings currently in design or construction in town, the Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Peter Zumthor’s LACMA (redesign), are both designed by out-of-towners.

You design a wide range of project types. What do you most enjoy?

Flammang: We always enjoy most the one we’re working on right now. But one thing that’s been important to us is affordable housing work. (We’ve worked on) over 3,500 units of affordable housing and almost 1,000 are on Skid Row.

Killefer: We’ve got thousands of people on Skid Row and we have to house them. Most other cities have, and we’ve failed. The answer is the housing-first model where you get people off the street and worry about their addiction problems after you get them housing.

Is there anything architects or developers can do to make that happen?

Killefer: It’s not hard to do. It’s just a matter of resources. We need public money.

No posts to display