Arch Tour Fest 12PM: The Culver Steps

Photo Credit: Jonnu Singleton

Arch Tour Fest: The Culver Steps | 12PM

This is an in-person tour. Attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination. Please read and check the agreement and safety boxes in the registration. Additional information regarding the tour and check-in process will be emailed directed to registrants 24 hours before the event. Tickets are non-transferable.

View the list of all Arch Tour Fest LA tours

Arch Tour Fest is presented by LG | Business Solutions

CES Learning Units: 1 LU

The Culver Steps is a mixed-use project that is located in the heart of downtown Culver City, adjacent to multiple historic and iconic structures. The program includes ground-level retail, a four-story office building, and a Grand Stair that leads pedestrians up to a restaurant pavilion and landscaped Elevated Plaza perched above the existing Town Square. The project weaves into the urban fabric by sensitively scaling the building elements and relating to the surrounding brick fabric. Retail shops are strategically located to energize the existing sidewalks and streets. The project incorporates architectural elements that are instantly recognizable and build on the City’s identity as a place of entertainment, history, and pedestrian-centered activity. The Grand Stair serves the dual purpose of drawing people to the Elevated Plaza as well as providing amphitheater seating for concerts, performances and outdoor screenings.

The tour will explore the public plaza and retail spaces of the project and discuss urban design considerations of creating a new civic center, while taking into account the historic context surrounding this new urban epicenter of Culver City.

OWNER/DEVELOPER: Hackman Capital Partners
ORIGINAL DEVELOPERS: Combined Properties with Hudson Pacific Properties
ARCHITECT: Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: SWA Group
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Bold
ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS: Air Conditioned LA
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: KPRS Construction Services
CIVIL ENGINEER: Psomas
M/E/P ENGINEER: Glumac
ACOUSTICAL CONSULTANT: Veneklasen Associates
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Saiful Bouquet
PARKING: Walter P Moore
SPECIFICATIONS: AWC West

Tour Led By:

Patricia Rhee, FAIA – Partner, Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Patricia Rhee is an AIA Fellow and Partner at Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, awarded the 2015 National AIA Firm Award, one of the industry’s highest honors. Her project experience ranges from civic to institutional and commercial developments of all scales and multiple delivery methods including design-build. Patricia was a founding Co-Chair of the AIA Los Angeles Women in Architecture committee. She has lectured internationally, and serves as a juror for AIA, DBIA and Universities nationally including a recent appointment as the Kea Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland. She is the recipient of the 2017 Culver City Women in Business Council Visionary Award, and is deeply involved in her local community.

Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will be inspired by a design approach to creating a contemporary, responsive architecture in the heart of a site with rich historical context surrounding it.
2. Participants will evaluate urban design considerations for community building – how can private development projects give back to their cities while still maximizing developer’s ROI?
3. Participants will understand possibilities for activating an urban core post-Covid, witness how an open civic space became a vibrant and safe gathering space in the pandemic.
4. Participants will understand in detail the collaboration process between architect and landscape architect to create a concept that blurs the line between architecture and landscape/site design.