Client: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Cost: $1.7 Billion
Start Date: 2014
Completion Date: 2019
AVA’s Role
Anil Verma Associates, Inc., is responsible for Architecture, Landscape Architecture and assisting with Civil Engineering in the design of three (3) underground stations and their plazas in downtown Los Angeles. This $1.4 Billion project is a continuation of the Long Beach – Los Angeles Blue Line Transit System from the 7th and Flower Street Metro Red & Blue Line intermodal station to the Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. It runs along Flower Street turns eastwards below 2nd Street and follows Alameda into eastern side of Union Station, in underground cut and cover and tunnel configurations. This system will ultimately connect the gold line from Pasadena/Claremont to Culver City/Santa Monica, and also to City of Long Beach and to East Los Angeles from 1st/Central (Little Tokyo/Arts District) Station, as a single ride.
Description
The challenge is to design all three (3) stations to work within the urban fabric of their respective neighborhoods and to meet the desires and aspirations of the communities surrounding them.
- 1st /Central Station lies in the Little Tokyo area across the Japanese American Museum (JAM) of Los Angeles and is very close to the Arts District. Along with the large museum plaza and the gathering areas at the Japanese Village, the Metro station plaza will serve to provide a third community anchor helping to complete the framework for a significant gathering space that can be utilized for large public events. The station area is surrounded by three of the most well known Buddhist Japanese American Temples and the oldest Christian Japanese American Church. It’s in the midst of a thriving retail commercial and growing high density residential center of downtown Los Angeles.
- 2nd and Broadway Station lies in the historic district of Los Angeles between Spring and Broadway Streets. It serves the old financial, entertainment, and the retail district of downtown. This station also crosses over Metro Red Line heavy rail tunnels posing challenges to underground station layouts. This station will potentially have a transit oriented development (TOD) office tower above its 2nd Street/Broadway Street entrance. This tower is likely to cover a good part of the city block along with underground parking. The Regional Connector interfaces with the future street car system on Broadway Street at this location.
- 2nd/Hope Station is close to the music center and the Financial Hub of Bunker Hill and will be connected from the underground station to a plaza level by high-speed elevators, and eventually a pedestrian bridge will connect to the Disney Hall, the Music Center, popular museums of Los Angeles and the upper level of Bunker Hill financial district.
All three (3) Stations had major challenges for the layout ancillary equipment rooms, public concourses and entrances, along with systems integration and construction interface issues with various Metro Lines, and future Transit Lines.