Sunset Art Center

The new art collective building on Sunset Boulevard honors California’s rich tradition of wood construction, blending sustainability, beauty, and craftsmanship. Wood, as a renewable resource, plays a central role in the design, where the structure itself becomes the architecture. From afar, the building presents as a striking diagrid wood monument; up close, the intricacy of its exposed components reveals a fine level of craftsmanship and human scale. The mass timber structure, composed of exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) and a diagonal screen system, sits atop an existing concrete building, elevated by nine CLT pillars and separated by a narrow gap.

The floor plan follows a two-by-three grid system, with columns positioned at intersections to create 30-foot bays. Drawing inspiration from Japanese wood joinery, the beams are doubled, with columns, bracing systems, and shear walls sandwiched between them. The CLT structure forms both diagonal and perpendicular patterns, which are further emphasized by the diagrid screen system. This screen, composed of 10″ x 10″ wood members stacked to form a 30-inch deep structure on the south side, filters sunlight while maintaining visual transparency. On the north side, where shading is unnecessary, a simpler arrangement of diagonal bars is used. The screen’s geometry follows the original grid system, with selected boxes removed on each floor to create vertical and horizontal voids. These voids house sculpture gardens on the ground and third floors.