(W)rapper
In his commentary in “The Architect’s Newspaper,” Ryan Scavnicky expresses this opinion of (W)rapper: “Seen at a distance, the building is a disagreeable, clunky, loud, uncomfortable hot mess. Yet encountered up close, parts of it are captivating… And I’d be remiss not to mention the success at the municipal level: The site has been converted from an industrial lot with a 45-foot height limit to a 235-foot office tower.” (W)rapper is Eric Owen Moss Architects’ latest building (almost) in the Hayden Tract (almost) in Culver City. Its structural concept originated in 1998 and was first presented in an exhibit at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. The curving bands on the building exterior provide structural integrity like a typical structural grid of columns and beams, but create an open, column-free floor plan of 22,000 square feet of uninterrupted space per floor.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographer: John Bare