After reviewing a pool of nine applicants, the City of West Hollywood named four finalists in a competition to design a new advertising display for the Sunset Strip.
The mile-and-a-half stretch of boulevard cuts through West Hollywood, Calif., just outside of Los Angeles. Along with theaters, restaurants, shops, and clubs, the Strip is known for its array of billboards, as cluttered as they are striking.
The finalists of the The Sunset Strip Spectacular Pilot Creative Off-Site Advertising Sign Competition are teams made of JCDecaux and Zaha Hadid Project Management Limited; Orange Barrel Media, Tom Wiscombe Architects, and MoCA; Outfront Media, Gensler, and MAK; and TAIT Towers. The entries can be viewed online.
An ideal spectacular design, according to the city, is one that is digital, multidimensional, and interactive (curved multi-planar forms, specialized lighting, moving parts, and 3D props are encouraged). It uses kinetic signage and creative programming, and can be understood both up close and at a distance. It encourages viewer participation through social media, and it incorporates a multi-use public square at its base. It can be no higher than 90 feet tall and have no more than 1,000 sf of digital display elements.
A jury will decide a winner later this month. The winner will receive a five-year contract with West Hollywood to construct and install its piece.
(Renderings courtesy their respective designers, via ArchDaily. Click images to enlarge)
Orange Barrel Media, Tom Wiscombe Architects, MoCA
Related Stories
| Sep 23, 2011
Under 40 Leadership Summit
Building Design+Construction’s Under 40 Leadership Summit takes place October 26-28, 2011 Hotel at the Monteleone in New Orleans. Discounted hotel rate deadline: October 2, 2011.
| May 17, 2011
Redesigning, redefining the grocery shopping experience
The traditional 40,000- to 60,000-sf grocery store is disappearing and much of the change is happening in the city. Urban infill sites and mixed-use projects offer grocers a rare opportunity to repackage themselves into smaller, more efficient, and more convenient retail outlets. And the AEC community will have a hand in developing how these facilities will look and operate.
| Apr 12, 2011
Retail complex enjoys prime Abu Dhabi location
The Galleria at Sowwah Square in Abu Dhabi will be built in a prime location within Sowwah Island that also includes a five-star Four Seasons Hotel, the healthcare facility Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and nearly two million sf of Class A office space.
| Mar 30, 2011
Big-box giants downsize, open smaller, urban stores
As U.S. chain retailers absorb the lessons of the Great Recession, many big-box chains have started to shrink average store footprints to reflect the growing importance of multi-channel shopping, adapt to urban settings, and recognize the need to optimize portfolios. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and the Gap, among others, all have small concepts in the works or are adapting existing ones. These smaller store formats should allow the retailers to maximize profitability and open more stores in closer proximity to each other.
| Mar 22, 2011
Mayor Bloomberg unveils plans for New York City’s largest new affordable housing complex since the ’70s
Plans for Hunter’s Point South, the largest new affordable housing complex to be built in New York City since the 1970s, include new residences for 5,000 families, with more than 900 in this first phase. A development team consisting of Phipps Houses, Related Companies, and Monadnock Construction has been selected to build the residential portion of the first phase of the Queens waterfront complex, which includes two mixed-use buildings comprising more than 900 housing units and roughly 20,000 square feet of new retail space.
| Feb 23, 2011
Unprecedented green building dispute could cost developer $122.3 Million
A massive 4.5 million-sf expansion of the Carousel Center shopping complex in Syracuse, N.Y., a project called Destiny USA, allegedly failed to incorporate green building components that developers had promised the federal government—including LEED certification. As a result, the project could lose its tax-exempt status, which reportedly saved developer The Pyramid Cos. $120 million, and the firm could be penalized $2.3 million by the IRS.