Los Angeles: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has been chosen to design the new Long Beach Civic Center in California. Scheduled to open in 2019, the development of the 22-acre site, located in Long Beach’s downtown core along Ocean Boulevard, will include a new City Hall, Main Library, city park, and headquarters for the Port of Long Beach, as well as residential units, retail shops, and a hotel.
The Long Beach City Council unanimously voted in favor of Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners, a partnership of Plenary Investment Group and Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate. Along with SOM, team members include Clark Construction, Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc., Syska Hennessy Group, Nabih Youssef and Associates, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Bennitt Design Group, Linda Demmers, and P2S Engineering, Inc.
Long Beach city leadership described the team’s plan as attractive and cohesive, as well as acutely responsive to the city’s current and future needs. Under the direction of SOM Los Angeles, the transformative design will reinvigorate the area of the existing civic center. The creation of a new plaza between the new City Hall and Port headquarters will renew downtown Long Beach’s public experience and urban identity. Together with the new plaza, the city found SOM’s innovative integration of the new Main Library and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol’s new design for Lincoln Park into the existing surroundings key to their decision.
Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal praised the building, noting that “a space that speaks to the human interaction and the human scale first is something that I believe addresses the vision of our council and our city.. ” The mayor added: “I think that the staff’s recommendation for the Plenary team is the one that delivers that.”
About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,700 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award — in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi.