Interesting Angles Taking Shape on Concerto

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — No matter how many renders one sees of the construction projects proposed and under development here in Downtown, the details of the execution are always a bit of a surprise.

Facade work on Astani’s Concerto project, rising on the former parking lot at 9th and Figueroa, offers a look at some interesting angles that should spice up the building’s street presence.

While most highrise renders take a big picture view of the project, that’s not how the finish product is experienced. A great tower design can be ruined by a poor interaction with the street. While Downtown’s Thom Mayne designed Caltrans building is considered an architectural gem, its much less liked by those who walk by it and experience the blank concrete walls the structure affords the sidewalks on 2nd and Los Angeles.

The Concerto project, with its different street-level architecture and multiple pedestrian paths, seems to be doing a number of things that will make the project as interesting to experience up close as it will be to see from afar.

The first phase of the Concerto project is scheduled for completion in fall of 2009.