76664 SOM050

Gas Company Tower

Design/Completion 1988/1991 Los Angeles, California, USA Maguire Thomas Partners 1,780,000 square feet Steel frame

Granite, aluminum panels, reflective glass and metal curtain wali

Linking two of the city’s public precincts, the 55-story tower updates the Southern California Gas Company’s image. Rising from the blue/gray granite shaft is an elliptical blue glass volume; its shape symbolizes a gas flame and its reflectivity distinguishes it from the building shaft. The design reduces in mass towards the top, responding to the downtown site with different building skins. The central shaft is simple in form like the neighboring Arco Tower, with a granite facade featuring punched openings. The side volumes are wrapped in metallic skins echoing an adjacent building.

The base of the tower is a critical link between the Central Library and Pershing Square, both newly renovated. The Pershing Square entrance is proportioned to relate to the openness of the park and to the historie Biltmore Hotel, with the corner of the four-story base cut at the height of the hotel.

Lobby-floor plan View of an elevator lobby Tower in the skyline