Handel Architects and Olin collaborate to design two striking towers that flank the downtown Los Angeles skyline, featuring a series of landscaped terrace decks
Handel Architects’ Angels Landing project in Downtown Los Angeles, developed by MacFarlane Partners, Peebles Corporation, and Claridge Properties, is a $2 billion skyscraper complex situated on Bunker Hill’s Y-1 land parcel.
The development comprises various uses centered around significant public open space, with the design of the open space being led by Olin.
The Angels Landing has been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Plans include 422 residential units, two hotels, cultural/civic space, and 50,000 sq. ft. of retail.
The site, most recently home to the temporary park known as Angels Knoll, was previously intended to be part of a re-development project decades ago.
On an urban scale, the project strives to connect the various neighborhoods that converge at this location, including the Financial District, the Historic Core, the Cultural District, and the Civic Center.
By using the buildings’ architecture and landscaping, the design encourages the fluid movement of people into and through the site’s many building lobbies, retail storefronts, and plazas.
The design approach is based on a number of key factors: the re-interpretation of the arrival plaza at the Pershing Square Metro Station; enhancement of the pedestrian experience of riding the Angels Flight funicular; and creating a more lively pedestrian experience to and from California Plaza and its adjacent office buildings.
Rising above the podium are two towers, organized to act as a gateway into the project site.
The lower tower is located along 4th Street and is set back from the corner of Hill Street, while the taller tower is located on the north side of the parcel and is located closer to the street edge.
The juxtaposition of the two towers creates a dynamic composition within the overall context and provides visual distinction from the surrounding context.
The 42-story tower incorporates a horizontal balcony feature that wraps around the building to create strong bands along the exterior.
The base of the taller tower is expressed by a similar balcony design, creating a dialogue between the two structures.
Above, the banding on the tower turns vertical by using protruding vertical fins that appear as layered screens in front of a horizontal substructure, exposing balconies at the corners of the floor plates.
Angels Landing is a development where urban design and architecture are fused to create a world-class development and a new landmark for the City of Los Angeles.
Project: Angels Landing
Architects: Handel Architects LLP.
Lead Architect: Gary Handel
Landscape Architects: OLIN
Clients: The Peebles Corporation and MacFarlane Partners LP.
Renderings: Courtesy of Handel Architects LLP.
