The Berggruen Institute, a think tank founded in 2010 by philanthropist and investor Nicolas Berggruen, recently unveiled plans for a new Los Angeles campus designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The low-density campus will be built on a site in the eastern portion of the Santa Monica Mountains and comprise meeting and study spaces, scholars’ residences, and gardens.
The campus will be built along a mountain ridge that was scraped and flattened in the 1980s to cap a landfill. The ridge will be turned into a linear park or a gardened plinth landscaped with drought-resistant plants.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
Herzog & de Meuron’s design is as much a landscape vision as an architectural project. The campus will concentrate development within previously graded areas to limit topographic changes. In addition, 415 acres of the 447-acre site will be preserved as open space. The campus will also make use of infrastructure that is already in place, such as Serpentine Road, which will connect Sepulveda Boulevard to the Institute’s main entrance. Existing public hiking trails will be maintained and improved and provide access to the Institute campus.
The new campus’s main facility will be built on the far southern end of the site’s eastern ridge. A horizontal structure, dubbed the Frame, will “hover” 12 feet above the ground and be supported by just a few building elements. A large courtyard garden will exist at the center of the main building while the main functions of studying, living, and convening are located within the Frame on one level with occasional mezzanine spaces. A collection of live-work lofts, meeting rooms, study spaces, offices, artists’ studios, media spaces, dining areas, and reception areas will all exist within the Frame.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
A sphere that sits within the courtyard and contains a 250-seat lecture hall will become the tallest structure on the Berggruen Institute campus, rising 45 feet above the roofline of the Frame. A second, smaller sphere sits atop the Frame and serves as a water storage tank. When combined with the lecture hall, the frame offers a total of 137,000 sf with 26 Scholars-in-Residence units and 14 Visiting Scholars units.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
North of the frame will exist the second main element of the campus; Scholar Village, 26,000 sf of residential use for scholars and guests. The third and final main element is located on the northern end of the eastern ridge and is dubbed the Chairman’s Residence. The Chairman’s Residence is a 26,000-sf compound that includes a library, conference room, dining and catering facilities, and staff quarters. Just north of the Chairman’s Residence is a heavily landscaped area that serves as a buffer zone between the Institute and the neighboring MountainGate community.
Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.
Related Stories
Designers | Jan 3, 2024
Designing better built environments for a neurodiverse world
For most of human history, design has mostly considered “typical users” who are fully able-bodied without clinical or emotional disabilities. The problem with this approach is that it offers a limited perspective on how space can positively or negatively influence someone based on their physical, mental, and sensory abilities.
University Buildings | Dec 8, 2023
Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex
A groundbreaking on Oct. 11 kicked off a project aiming to construct the largest Living Building Challenge-certified residence on a university campus. The Living Village, a 45,000 sf home for Yale University Divinity School graduate students, “will make an ecological statement about the need to build in harmony with the natural world while training students to become ‘apostles of the environment’,” according to Bruner/Cott, which is leading the design team that includes Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Andropogon Associates.
Student Housing | Dec 5, 2023
October had fastest start ever for student housing preleasing
The student housing market for the upcoming 2024-2025 leasing season has started sooner and faster than ever.
University Buildings | Dec 5, 2023
The University of Cincinnati builds its largest classroom building to serve its largest college
The University of Cincinnati’s recently completed Clifton Court Hall unifies the school’s social science programs into a multidisciplinary research and education facility. The 185,400-sf structure is the university’s largest classroom building, serving its largest college, the College of Arts and Sciences.
Higher Education | Nov 21, 2023
UPitt at Bradford opens new Engineering & Information Technologies Building
The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford recently opened a new engineering and information technology building that adds urgently needed lab and instructional space to the campus.
Higher Education | Oct 19, 2023
Johns Hopkins transforms a former museum into a learning and research center
The 10-floor facility houses a new school for government and policy.
Esports Arenas | Oct 10, 2023
Modular esports arena attracts more than gamers
As the esports market continues to grow to unprecedented numbers, more facilities are being developed by universities and real estate firms each year.
Higher Education | Oct 10, 2023
Tracking the carbon footprint of higher education campuses in the era of online learning
With more effective use of their facilities, streamlining of administration, and thoughtful adoption of high-quality online learning, colleges and universities can raise enrollment by at least 30%, reducing their carbon footprint per student by 11% and lowering their cost per student by 15% with the same level of instruction and better student support.
Building Materials | Oct 2, 2023
Purdue engineers develop intelligent architected materials
Purdue University civil engineers have developed innovative materials that can dissipate energy caused by various physical stresses without sustaining permanent damage.
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2023
Top 80 University Building Engineering Firms for 2023
AECOM, Jacobs, BR+A, and Salas O'Brien head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest university sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue for all university/college-related buildings except student residence halls, sports/recreation facilities, laboratories, S+T-related buildings, parking facilities, and performing arts centers (revenue for those buildings are reported in their respective Giants 400 ranking).
