Pershing Square Los Angeles

摘要

In Los Angeles gibt es nichts, was es nicht gibt. In keiner anderen amerikanischen Stadt liegen Himmel und Hölle, liegen Träume und Alpträume so nahe beieinander. So verwundert es nicht, daß gerade hier sich immer wieder Architekten oder Designer in Szene setzen können, die das Ungewöhnliche suchen und so stets eine neue Interpretation des American dream schaffen. Zugleich spiegelt deren Werk aber auch etwas von den Spannungen und Brüchen einer solch bunt zusammengewürfelten Gesellschaft wie in dieser 12-Millionen-Metropole.%Pershing Square, which occupies a 2,000-square-meter city block in downtown Los Angeles, was created in 1866 as an urban park but was torn up in 1951 to make way for an underground parking garage. An open competition held in 1986 for the redesign of the square was won by SITE Projects of New York but never realized, and later Ri-cardo Legoretta and Laurie Olin were entrusted with the task. The result, begun in 1991 and completed in late 1993, is a geometric square with fluid boundaries between the built and the organic, and while it is basically open and transparent in intent, introverted, open-use rooms are featured at various levels. The sculptural forms, the red-brown paving and a tall campanile refer to the surrounding high-rise office buildings, while an open grove of palm trees provides a welcome contrast. The basic idea of the square was to refer to the Anglo and Hispanic roots of the city and create a bridge between these two main elements of the population. Correspondingly, an area of lawn to the north, terraced with low walls and thus acting as an amphitheatre with room for 2,000 people, refers to the English influence, while a circular water basin to the south refers to the Spanish. The campanile in the middle creates a link between the two while recalling the simple pueblo origins of the city. Long staggered sections of wall, one of them bearing water to the basin, enclose the square and cut down traffic noise, while two flat structures at the west form a counterweight to the tower and house a bus stop, snack bars and garage access. As a final touch, the square features a crack in the ground created by the artist Barbara McCarren - a reference to the uncertain and dangerous terrain on which the city stands.