Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles

10/21/08

Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles

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The AIA Award winning Caltrans District 7 Headquarters Replacement Building in Los Angeles California, by Morphosis, has made quite a splash. Structural steel moment frames poke through the perforated metal panel. A variety of systems are put together to suggest a modern industrial construction quality that describes Caltrans' culture. The building's transparency that is so noticeable at night turns into a secure fortress under the midday sun.

The towering street number graphic "100" indicates what this design is about: establishing an infrastructure. Great towering intricate blocks aspire toward a great human achievement. The designer also introduced some sustainability, in hope that this will become part of the city's future. Miniature streetlights, cantilevers, and extrusions describe the freeways and other infrastructure that Caltrans is all about. There is no particular reason beyond immediate pragmatics that puts them there, further describing L.A.'s sprawling culture.

This expensive, perhaps gluttonous building describes something else that Caltrans is all about: finding ways to spend taxpayer money on stuff other than actual city infrastructure, contributing to the state's astronomical debt. It was completed in 2004.

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