Wilshire & La Jolla Tower Los Angeles, California

Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and La Jolla, just south of the Hollywood Hills and east of Beverly Hills, the lens-like shape of this high-rise residential tower draws inspiration from the film and television industry of Los Angeles. 

  • Location

    Los Angeles, California

  • Sector

    Residential

  • Service

    Architecture

  • Client

    WS Communities, Inc.

  • Status

    Completed

  • Size

    292,000 SF; 112 units

A customized occupant experience is rare in the residential tower typology, as rigor towards repetition usually governs and allows for minimal deviation. Even when context offers the opportunity for exploration, the idea of tailored experiences for residents often goes unexplored. 

For the 112 units across 16 floors at the corner of La Jolla Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, a rigor towards the individual experience and response to place act as primary shaping elements. The building brings together co-living apartment homes, 6,000 SF of retail, four levels of above-grade parking, and resident amenities on the sky deck and podium levels.  Rethinking the typical relationship between building skin and balcony at a per unit level, the tower is conceived as singularly connected elements with the ability to respond to the two forces of program and/or view as required.  

The result is a geometric manipulation expressed along the exterior building edge, which allows for idealized programmatic distribution throughout every unit from the top the bottom. The form of the tower echoes the shape of a lens, with an irregular, undulating façade to add visual interest. The convex profile allows residents to easily access view corridors between the taller buildings along Wilshire Boulevard. The malleable building edge opens Los Angeles to residents, and reframes one’s relationship to the metropolis.