Architechture Unrestrained – A Culver City Industrial Park Like No Other

So last year whilst perusing one of my favorite mags, Los Angeles Magazine, I cam across an article about some crazy goings on in Culver City. The team of architect Eric Owen Moss and developer Frederick Samitaur Smith have been quietly converting a down in the mouth industrial tract into an architectural wonderland. Basically, they’re taking a no holds bar do whatever the hell you want approach to designing structures. It has made for some amazing buildings to say the least.

LA Mag suggested taking a self guided walking tour of the area to view these wonders. I sat on that idea for almost a year until last Sunday when I found myself in Culver City with some extra time on my hands. I headed on over to the intersection of National Blvd. and Hayden Ave. to see for myself what was going on.

Yowza! No holds bar is right! These structures are out of this world. Now, I’m not too big a fan of contemporary buildings (I’m all about Beaux Arts, Arts and Craft, and all that stuff from about a century ago) but these guys did impress me. When most commercial building are basically boxes it moves the emotions to see something out of the ordinary.

And it certainly stirred my creative juices. Suddenly, I felt myself to be a seasoned photographer and couldn’t stop snapping pics from every angle. So rather than ramble on and on I’m just gonna give you a sample of what I took. Then hopefully you’ll want to go see them for yourself cuz you know everything is always better in person.