The Los Angeles Music Center is the central location for the City's
performing arts. Here the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion houses the City's
symphony orchestra, while across the plaza, at the Mark Taper Forum
and the Ahmanson Theater, the Los Angeles community enjoys premier
opera, theater and dance. Situated in the center of the plaza is a water
expression, developed by WET Design to celebrate the vibrancy of this
venue.
The main program objective was to integrate an existing, static pool on
the site into a vibrant, multi-function event plaza. The Los Angeles Music
Center has been a frequent host to the Annual Academy Awards since
its forty-first ceremony was held there in 1969. This and other events
attract large numbers of visitors to the site, exceeding the plaza's physical
capacity.
A secondary objective was to create a work that celebrated the
sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz. This work of art, titled "Peace on Earth"
was dedicated in May of 1969. A gift to the people of Los Angeles
and given as a symbol of peace to the peoples of the world, the work
as a gift to the Music Center form two Los Angeles industrialists,
Mr. Lloyd E. Rigler and Mr. Lawrence E. Deutsch.
In order to enlarge the functional area of the plaza, WET Design
eliminated a central seventy-five foot square open pool by covering
it in plaza paving. A new water feature emanates as four rectangular
masses of vertical water activity that emit form openings in the new
plaza's surface. The water can be turned off, recovering the plaza
for events that require expanded open space. In addition, as a result
of this treatment, there are no barriers between the towering clusters
of water jets and their surroundings. The feature seamlessly engages
its environment and invites visitors to intimately experience the water.
When active, hundreds of crystalline water columns, that range in
height through choreographed sequences, surround and embrace the
Jacques Lipchitz sculpture. In the evening, vibrant white illumination
saturates the vertical forest of kinetic activity. Visitors to the Music
Center enjoy an opulent, animated chandelier of water and radiance.
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