Beverly-Canon Mixed-Use Retail
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Field Paoli
Parking lot converted into urban shopping oasis
The City of Beverly Hills, Calif., had historically operated a large surface parking lot in the heart of its exclusive shopping district, one block from Rodeo Drive. The lot interrupted the neighborhood’s lively pedestrian experience—yet, like all of Southern California’s commercial strips, the area’s vitality depended on cars. To remedy the problem, the City hired Field Paoli to design a mixed-use complex included shops, offices, and parking.
Rather than lining a parking garage with retail and office space, Field Paoli emphasized the program’s people-oriented functions by incorporating public walkways and a plaza that linked two surrounding streets. They placed a four-level, 400-car garage—holding more cars than the existing lot could hold—underground. Elevators at each street frontage serve all parking and commercial levels, opening directly to the outdoors on the upper levels. The architects ran a small service alley running through the middle of the block, topping it with a public plaza. The two street-facing elevations hold 48,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants at ground level. The anchor tenant, Crate & Barrel, extends to the second level on one side; offices occupy the rest of the second floor. The building’s third level contains 17,000 square feet of office space with private balconies that offer views of the hills to the north and east.
The building’s design forms a dialogue between the strong urban forms along the street and the interior plaza’s intimacy. Crate & Barrel customized its elevation with a horizontal metal brise-soleil and a curved roof. The opposite elevation appears more civic, with a stepped-back stone and glass facade. The plaza’s simplified geometries form a transition between the building’s two halves. This area contains outdoor restaurant seating, merchandizing displays, landscaped plantings, and water features—all of which help draw shoppers up to the second level. Overall, the complex provides a calm, oasis-like setting for shoppers and residents alike in the midst of a thriving urban environment.
Formal name of project:
Beverly-Canon Mixed-Use Retail
Location:
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Gross square footage:
90,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost:
$30 million
Owner:
City of Beverly Hills, Calif.
Architect:
Field Paoli
150 California 7th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-788-6606 tel.
415-788-6650 fax
www.fieldpaoli.com
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