Orange County Museum of Art. From the mass model to the building

 

Approaching OCMA, Costa Mesa, CA.

NOTE: All pictures belong to my personal archives, please do not reproduce-share without my permission.

I have been a visitor of the Orange County Museum of Art since it was in Newport Beach, then it was moved to a provisory building in Costa Mesa, right in front of the Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Back in March 2019, I took some quick pictures of the mass model of the upcoming building, designed by Thom Mayne's studio Morphosis. I am happy to say I had the chance to talk to him in person long years ago, during an architectural exhibition in our FADU Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Buenos Aires. We briefly discussed a post graduate project designed by architect Luis Makianich and me. And he left us a very good impression, at least speaking about theory of architecture.

And once I emigrated to California, I had the opportunity to visit his building for Caltrans in Los Angeles and now the OCMA, which was inaugurated a few months ago. 

My impression of the Caltrans building is barely mentioned in my post about Trees that Conform Social Space. I remember very well the lack of human scale while walking around the building, the heat in the cement plaza and the emptiness of the bar in the shadows, an intermediate space of multiple height were people did not want to stay (I questioned the employees). That imprinted in my mind that maybe our beloved Thom Mayne designed his buildings as objects, the morphology prevailing over the human scale and sensorial, human perception necessities. 

My two pictures below are from 2009. The bar is in the dark left corner. People preferred stay in the plaza across the street, drinking a juice sold at the mobile stands, under the shadow of the welcoming trees.

An empty plaza with benches like sculptures, under 100F degree or more...

This picture shows how the side street offers a solid wall as a basement, see the scale compared to the men in the corner. Well, this is part of the main problem I see in Los Angeles, a city that has evolved for and with the cars. It is not pedestrian friendly.

The next pictures are cell phone snapshots of the OCMA building mass model, from 2009. Yesterday, I was wondering what was so "off" from the mass model to the final product. 

Approaching OCMA. On the right side, the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, designed by Cesar Pelli studio. 

Basically, the resolution of spaces is the same, but in a closer analysis, I have seen that the intersecting planes, have become undulating surfaces on which the straight lines in the massive model are materialized with thick rigid ceramics (!!), what is worse, the ceramics are installed in diagonals, in consequence, there are a lot of unsolved triangular cuts.

The upper undulating surface, I have taken this picture standing on the terrace. The red building behind is not part of OCMA.

A corner view, which looks OK. See how the ceramics change direction on the left and compare the photo with the mass model above.

Now, let us take a closer look at the joints. So obviously wrong and without care, to the expert eye. Besides, the joints have different thickness, due to them being forced to adapt to the shape.

A macro shot of the tile next to the Aluminum

The problem of the materials intersection is seen inside as well (precisely, the curve on the left), though I truly like how the light and volumes play at the entry hall. 

This one is my favorite interior view, the dark ceiling extends above the longitudinal bar.

I believe the use of brick would have been better for this morphology, a prefab brick with the same or similar color. Because the continuity with the neighboring Pelli's Segerstrom building is kept without a doubt.

OCMA on the left and the Segerstrom Concert Hall on the right. Alike colors, and an impeccable resolution for the Segerstrom curved surfaces.

I took this picture for a colleague and friend at the University, so he can show it to the students, to learn that even the minor details should be solved.

I have had long conversations about this building with some colleagues today. Should we worry about minor details or should we enjoy the overall display of technology? Can we still praise the functional resolution, regardless the morphology, which a friend of mine calls "totally whimsical" ?.

I am in favor of "whimsical" new shapes that are allowed due to the advance of technology, but most of all due to us being accustomed to new images and sensorial spaces, for exampl, all those immersive "out of this world" experiences inside buildings like warehouses. I still remember when our students played with Zaha Hadid designs, and we warned them "remember, we need to build it!", the first GA magazine with Zaha Hadid projects that had no chance to be materialized, at the time, of course. So now, I feel like the architects have a sort of victory, while, of course, these "liberties" are allowed by the City planners, who are not architects but expert on zoning codes where politics are also at play. But this is another story.

OCMA galleries are an example of a revised Museum concept. The galleries are open to a common corridor and we can take a quick look at what is going on from afar, or turn around and be tempted to enter the gift shop, which is open as well, like at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

We can also have a preview from the upper galleries, through narrow openings on the white walls. Of course, it depends on your height. As I'm short, then I could take the following pictures, if your height is 6' or so, the narrow opening is below your line of sight, unless the staircase down is taken. The minor details: you will also see the dust accumulated on the free standing partition walls and the horizontal part of the wall beyond the columns, as no human arm can reach there to clean. Needless to say, the white walls next to the gallery stairs are stained already. A colleague's opinion was they should have been painted another color where the dust can't be noticed. I proposed a change of material, but the Minimalist white would have been lost. 

Where you see the line of the glass, on the walking side it is clean, on the other side, there is dust.

If this picture is zoomed, there is a visible line of cleanliness vs dust. I extended my own arm to see how far I could reach to clean without an extended dust brush.

The sort of white Minimalism is extended to the bathroom stalls, and there it was where I had my surprise. I felt this weird sensation that I was inside a closet. The feeling of uneasiness made me choose the pull knob for handicap. I wanted to get out of this bathroom space as soon as possible. In the back of my brain, I recalled the horror movies with labs and dead frozen bodies. Too much of my imagination I suppose :)

The uneasiness is repeated outside, in the (empty again) terrace, when I reached the stairs or sort of theatre wide hemicycle where one can seat and view a narrow circulation to the side entry door, or just the street beyond. I expected a space to enjoy a performance, more like in the Getty Museum style, but not. And there is lack of middle handrails (of course, it is not a formal stair), so I stayed a while observing what people would do: 

just take pictures facing the flat sculpture which is nonsense to be "walked around", sit for a few minutes on the upper stairs or close to the handrails on the sides. I had to avoid a couple in order to reach the handrail. I think nobody would venture to go downstairs taking the middle part of the it.

If we compare this pictures with the mass models, we'll notice the side guardrail which was meant to be glass was replaced by a solid high guardrail. The sculpture is meant to be seen from below, and the back has the just the braces painted alike. It is more a scenography than a 3D sculpture.

The empty terrace and the back of the flat sculpture.

The planter on the terrace. The row of trees on the side looks very good but sculptural. The planter seems to be like "we need a planter somewhere, given it's a barren terrace". Some people were sitting there, but there is no hope of future good shadow, just to see the species. A reminder of the Caltrans plaza?

Looking up from the ground plaza. The building on the left does not belong to the museum. What makes me think maybe complex morphology buildings should be erected on open spaces without any other building around. One may guess at first sight which building is which or part of.

The gift shop has this interesting "sculpture" which reflects the building and on the back contains glass cabinets for art products. I was astonished to see, a few rubber bands for hair pony tails, hardened in free standing curly shapes, were 45$ each one (!!). 

A colleague that visited the museum with me found this tempered glass railing over the steps pretty funny and out of sense. We were doubting if this sculptural construction was finished or not. A climber would grow and cover all of it, I will have to come back to see if the climber would hide the guardrail, and then give an answer to my friend who asked, how much would you think it was the cost of the diagonal tempered glass? While I was looking at the climber trying to reach it. 

A final consideration about the landscape. If the climber was meant to add some green area to the barren open space, then it is not significative.  The plaza has a few trees, and the palm trees are part of the buildings across the street. 

The row of trees, as seen in the massive model, are not to enjoy them from a practical and useful point of view. They are just like sculptures, one cannot step on the planters. There is also a physical barrier to the side garden, as seen from the terrace. I am against this design decision, since any architect can use the landscape as a mean of relax and healing. This decorative landscape is reinforcing the idea of the architecture as an object, pretty far form the  users natural need of being in close contact with nature. Which is the consequence? People taking their beverages outside the building, looking for a plaza with canopy trees. 

Regardless my personal opinion, the OCMA is worth the visit.

A row of trees dividing two buildings. No matter the effort, this space will be always empty, it is just a service corridor. The trees are planted where some space was left.

Thoughts about "Hoarders"

Many years ago, one of my posts was about people with compulsive behavior keeping lots of staff inside and around their homes. I'm not a psychologist and I saw this from the point of view of a morphologist, just the occupation of the architectural space.

We had a client, back in 2012, owner of an important house, who used to fill up the rooms with vintage objects, up to the ceiling. She had some illegal constructions and upon comparison with the inspector's pictures, we discovered the owner was relocating stuff and even windows and doors. 

I was surprised, being this my first experience with hoarders. I offered her to buy a nice vintage jar, and she reluctantly sold it to me while warning me "be careful, that's the way you begin to pick up". 
She made the effort to have her legalization plans prepared soon, but she decided not to submit them. After a few meetings with the City inspector, the planner and the City attorney, and due to the inaction on her side, she was arrested and put in jail. Until her brother came back from Europe and got everything done: plans got approved, a contractor was hired to fix the house, which was deeply cleaned, and she was sent to hospital. I don't know what happened then, but I promised the brother to keep the original plans of the house.
Now, trashing old plans I had in a closet, I couldn't get rid of this house blue prints (they are genuinely blue), out of respect for my compromise.

Back in 2018, we had another experience, more serious this time, and the contractor taught me the word: "hoarder". He cleaned part of the house to allow us to take the overall dimensions.

All the time I was wondering how they could live in these conditions where all type of objects, clothes, toys, food etc etc was piled up everywhere.

The lady homeowner had psychological problems, but the husband, after many years of living under the circumstances, seemed to be submissive and in full acceptance of the unhealthy environment.

The son, had a separate clean room and bathroom for himself, like a bubble in a sea of trash.

In my experience, the family accepts the situation and everyone tries to create an independent personal space in the house. This is the best thing they could do.

There's currently a series on Netflix called "Hoarders" which captured my full attention. Not that I like the style of "Big Brother" show, I would have preferred a documentary instead of a sort of short performed novels about the disease.

What is stated is that 19M people in the USA suffer from hoarding disorders. And they are showing some extreme examples.

It seems to be a common factor, which is the lack of interest of the son/daughter in a long period of years. They go away from home, being incapable of dealing with their parent/s disorder and when they come back (they are brought back in the "show") they are repentant they have not seen or realized what was going on inside the house in question. Or with the person in question.

It feels weird to me that a son or daughter does not know how the parent is living this way for so long years, but not all families are the same.

Grievances and tears are abundant and worst of all -in my opinion- is the participation of a licensed psychologist who admonishes the hoarder, in the effort of making him/her realize of his/her bad doings, and what is more, she gives a public diagnostic of the psychological health of the hoarder. 

Which doctor would publicly state the patient's diagnostic openly to the world???? "It's a mental illness!" That is stunning, at least in my mind. And of course I am not criticizing her experience and wish to help, it's just I would have preferred more privacy for the addicted.

Of course, she appears to be a counselor and they are not her patients. And I'm assuming the family is being paid to show all the procedures for the extreme cleaning up in a very short period of time, let's say three days, before Code Enforcement shows up. And this is never enough.

An interesting "legality," is that the cleaners must not take the junk away unless the owner gives them permission. Which is very difficult because what is junk for some, is precious to others. If the hoarder does not allow the removal of objects/ trash, then it could be considered a robbery.

A case that has made me sad, so far, is Patricia's, a lady from Indiana, whose house is deeply full of trash accumulated along 30 years, infected by rats, dogs and human feces, the house is collapsing due to the extra vertical loads and all its component materials are biohazardous given the feces and rotten organics have been absorbed by walls, flooring, foundation. The house is unsafe and worth demolition, but at the end we learn Patricia comes back and her son in law (or so relative) is making some improvements in the house to leave it "somehow" habitable. Because that's the main point, is the hoarder able to live back in the house? Is he /she able to get his/her pets back?

Can he or she be treated or is it a sort of dementia? And it is clear that the whole close family needs therapy.

Coming back to Code Enforcement, they shouldn't let the hoarding reach such a critical point because setting aside the decrease of the property(ies) value, it's absolutely unsafe and contaminating. It seems to me they do not notify the family, but just the homeowner, who cannot understand what is wrong.
In the cases I personally know, not a single social worker was sent to the property. It was all related to the building, to the construction. I see it as a weak point.

NOTES: 
All pictures are screen shots from the "Hoarders" show on Netflix.
On episode 5, another doctor is presented: psychiatrist Melva Green, who has shown a lot of support and compassion. And she helps the hoarders (two of them) to get to the root of their problem which -apparently- is a consequence of their poverty in childhood. 

Abriendo un nuevo negocio. ¿Qué se necesita para un Tenant Improvement (TI)?

Un espacio vacante con cañerías y conexiones expuestas. Las banquinas de concreto deben ser demolidas. Archivos personales.

Este post lo escribo fundamentalmente para la gente que desea rentar su primer local comercial para comenzar un negocio en California. La mayor parte de las veces, ellos visitan el lugar, si les gusta, lo aceptan, sin investigar lo que los departamentos en las Ciudades (y eventualmente Health Department) van a requerir.

El caso más rápido, es pasar desde un cierto uso al mismo uso (o similar), sin otros cambios más que pintura, decoración. Para abrir un negocio, la Ciudad le pedirá que aplique para una licencia (Business license). Digamos, como ejemplo, pasar de oficinas a otras oficinas administrativas, es un paso simple, un plano (floor plan) podría ser requerido si la Ciudad no tiene records de la propiedad.

Un escenario completamente distinto sería pasar de oficinas administrativas a centro médico, para comenzar, la ocupación de personas sería mucho más alta.

El primer paso para el inquilino, y antes de firmar el contrato, es ir al departamento de Planning y preguntar si el nuevo uso es permitido. Segundo, cuántos parkings serán requeridos, según tal uso, y verificar de cuántos estacionamientos se dispone, si son asignados o generales. Tenga en cuenta que aplicar para un variance sobre parkings es un proceso que lleva mucho tiempo, durante el cual, la renta debe ser pagada, y lo más probable es que el resultado sea negativo.

El broker o agente inmobiliario (de haber uno), no siempre cuenta con esta información, y hasta podría ocultar las restricciones para lograr cerrar la operación.

Supongamos que el uso está permitido y la cantidad de estacionamientos está bien. Luego, la accesibilidad para personas discapacitadas es muy importante. Su nuevo negocio debe ser totalmente accesible, aún para los empleados. De lo contrario, es discriminación.

Por supuesto existe la cláusula de ¨grandfather¨ que protege la construcción existente: las que fueron aprobadas bajo permisos antiguos y mientras que no se haga una remodelación o ampliación, tales construcciones pueden ser mantenidas como están.

El piso de concreto necesita reparaciones, la estructura de las paredes y techo están aún expuestas. Archivos personales.

Pero si hay una remodelación o ampliación, todo debe cumplir con los códigos corrientes. Un porcentaje de la inversión debe ser destinada a las mejoras de accesibilidad. Un presupuesto de obra (que incluye mobiliario y terminaciones) debe ser presentado si se disiente con la valuación que establece Building and Safety. Si las mejoras son muy importantes, y/o no hay una forma técnica de realizarlas, una forma de ¨hardship¨ puede ser presentada a Building and Safety para su evaluación.

¿Cómo  se muestran las nuevas mejoras de accesibilidad (ADA)? A través de planos de arquitectura necesarios para el ¨Tenant Improvement¨, como parte de un paquete que puede ser completado con planos y cálculos mecánicos, de electricidad, plomería y eventualmente estructura, dependiendo del tipo de trabajos y del negocio.

Nosotros comúnmente comenzamos mostrando los caminos de egreso con los signos de ¨exit¨ (salida), remodelación de baños accesibles (lo que se requiera para cumplir con el código actual) y mostradores con las alturas correspondientes. Pero si el monto de esta inversión requerido para ADA no es suficiente, continuamos con mejoras en los estacionamientos, lo que se relaciona con rampas exteriores, veredas, carteles, caminos, etc. Esto significa más dinero de obra que lo que el inquilino había imaginado.

¿Tiene el inquilino la obligación de proveer todo esto, en el peor de los casos?. Si, pero sólo hasta el monto establecido para mejoras de ADA. Si los trabajos afectan el exterior, generalmente el inquilino tiene un arreglo con el landlord para que se ocupe de pagar las mejoras exteriores. Cuando el caso es difícil de solucionar, la Ciudad suele mandar un inspector de ADA para hallar una solución razonable. En mi experiencia, esta situación sólo la he visto en shopping malls antiguos.

Equipos de aire acondicionados viejos, sobre plataformas precarias. Habrá que testear si las unidades funcionan aún. Súbase al techo para ver de qué equipamiento dispone. Archivos personales.

Volviendo a los planos para un TI, un error habitual es creer que sólo un plano se requiere. Ésto sería así si la remodelación es menor, en tal caso lo mínimo son dos planos, un site plan (plano del sitio) con los estacionamientos, más el floor plan con detalles de ADA. Para trabajos más importantes, se necesitan planos completos de arquitectura, mecánicos, eléctricos, plomería y tal vez estructurales. Si el negocio es relacionado con comida, recuerde que el departamento de salud (Health Department) toma 21 días hábiles para dar los comentarios del plan check. El inquilino debiera negociar con el landlord cuántos meses de gracia (sin pago) le serán dados para permitir que los ingenieros y arquitectos preparen los planos y cálculos. Este período de gracia suele variar entre dos y tres meses.

Aquí, aunque los baños tienen una buena medida, no hay barras de ADA. Deberán ser agregadas según el código. Archivos personales.

Nosotros recomendamos altamente para los nuevos inquilinos con poca experiencia en el proceso, que consulten a un arquitecto o diseñador experto antes de firmar el contrato si hay cambio de uso.

Algunos cambios de uso especiales pueden llevar Planning Commission y ésto se traduce a un par de meses de demora. Podría ser un mes pero se supone pedirán alguna corrección y las fechas de reuniones son una vez por mes.

¿Qué debiera el inquilino tener en cuenta?

Primero, si la licencia del negocio está aún activa. Luego de seis meses de ser revocada, o si el lugar ha estado cerrado, los derechos de ¨grandfather¨ expiran. En consecuencia, todo debe ajustarse a los códigos corrientes de Zoning y Building.

Por ejemplo, si Ud desea abrir un restaurant que ha estado cerrado por seis meses, nuevos planos deberán ser presentados para todo el local.

En este nuevo retail de jugos, el espacio asignado a ¨cocina¨ no tiene paneles de cielorraso lavables. Deberán ser cambiados. Archivos personales.

El resto es parte de los documentos típicos de construcción. Las preguntas básicas son:

Son los paneles de cielorraso aptos para la cocina (de haberla)?

Habrá preparación de comida?

Habrá penetraciones entre los negocios adyacentes que requieran protección contra fuego y cuántas horas de protección?

Hay suficientes puertas de salida? Puertas de emergencia?

Cuál es la condición de las cañerías, los paneles eléctricos, etc?

Son los Amperes de los tableros suficientes para el nuevo uso? Como un ejemplo importante, pasar de un negocio de venta de ropa a un yogurt store o restaurant obviamente requiere mucha más carga eléctrica.

Cómo está diseñado el estacionamiento? Hay rampas de veredas, líneas diagonales, carteles de accesibilidad?

Son los baños existentes correctos para ADA?

Es la cantidad de baños adecuada para el nuevo uso y cantidad de gente?

Es el edificio histórico? De serlo, cuáles son las restricciones?

Es el tipo de piso, y cielorraso, las terminaciones, permitidas?

Hay alguna obra realizada dentro del local sin permiso? Por ejemplo, equipamiento no declarado.

Las paredes entre locales (demising walls) son las originales permitidas?

Habría otras preguntas, pero al menos éstas serán suficientes para que el lector entienda qué mirar. 

Estamos aquí para ayudar, si tiene preguntas,

mbmahiques@gmail.com

Penetraciones existentes desde un restaurant en segundo piso a un negocio en el primer piso. Se debe verificar si son protegidas contra fuego. Archivos personales.

Aquí, la pared divisoria entre negocios no tiene la altura total requerida. Archivos personales.

Equipamiento eléctrico sobre una plataforma precaria. Deberá cambiarse por otra de concreto. Archivos personales.

Soluciones no permitidas para ADA. Una remodelación exterior será requerida. Archivos personales.