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PARK PARK Beverly Center



Before the Beverly Center sprouted up on the corner of Beverly and La Cienega boulevards, there was a picturesque amusement park on the site called Beverly Park Kiddieland. In 1974, higher rent and surrounding expanded oil drilling had convinced the owner to close Kiddieland. Only a few Angelinos remember riding ponies at the site of what became the Beverly Center. The currently well-known Beverly Center was designed by Welton Becket in 1982 and was renovated by Fuksas studio in 2018. It was a project that pursued the understanding of the role of shopping centers in our previous society, where they were perceived as magnets for social venues and cultural exchanges. The roofed-over, climate-controlled retail destinations have defined the car-centered lifestyle of Los Angeles for several decades. It was a statement of its time. With the increasing density of the urban fabric and technological advancement, along with the pandemic outbreak, the need for retail typology and wellness in urban living is in question.









Park Park is an adaptive reuse proposal that will restore and revitalize the site as a community by bringing back a leisure atmosphere with public parks and facilities. It will also create a sense of neighborhood and alleviate the current housing problem by the addition of affordable housing units. The design approach opens up the single massive enclosure and introduces courtyards and communal gardens to allow for natural ventilation and daylight for various programs. The active oil well will be put to rest and replaced by a public park, serving its residence and the public. Part of the multi-level parking structure will remain; part of it will turn into recreational use such as sports courts, gymnasiums, reading areas, exhibition spaces, and art classrooms. Affordable units occupy the South-East portion of the existing building, where the retail area is minimized to the North-West half. The roof will be covered by a renewable energy system as well as roof gardens. Park Park is focused on the community and wellness; it will minimize contributions to further climate change through greenhouse gas emissions while providing comfort, health, and wellness for people who inhabit or visit buildings.