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Mercantile Lofts
Mercantile Lofts
620, South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Mercantile Lofts
620, South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, United States
The LADG, LLC recently completed an interior renovation of a 1906
Chicago Style Beaux-Arts building in Downtown Los Angeles. The project
re-worked the public spaces of the Mercantile Lofts, a condominium
development which is the latest occupant of the historic structure.
After changing ownership and uses over the course of a century, there
are now extreme structural and mechanical constraints to making any
further modifications to the building. These limitations provoked a
series of questions about building in an environment that can’t be
altered: If walls can’t be added or removed, what if design alters the
character of existing walls? What if walls appeared to be deep instead
of flat? What if graphic and color got confused with three-dimensional
objects? In other words, is it possible to manufacture more space
without changing the size of a room?
In response to these questions, The LADG largely restricted design to
a graphic pattern that takes cues from op-art to make flat walls appear
deep and rich with material qualities. The scheme uses a large number
of slightly tapered parallel stripes to produce variable spatial
qualities depending on the angle of view. Viewed frontally the stripes
look like shading on a flat surface. Viewed obliquely the stripes and
the wall blur into a fog; it looks like you can touch cloudiness.
Two benches in the building lobby were designed to interface with the
wall graphics so that three-dimensional form appears to peel out of the
flat wall. Acrylic globe lights throughout the project are positioned
to hover like soap bubbles in front of the optically foggy material of
the walls.
Mercantile Lofts was commissioned by ICO Development, a real estate
investment firm with holdings throughout Southern California. ICO has
recently completed several residential projects in LA’s Historic Core,
emphasizing a commitment to the revitalization of Downtown.
Chicago Style Beaux-Arts building in Downtown Los Angeles. The project
re-worked the public spaces of the Mercantile Lofts, a condominium
development which is the latest occupant of the historic structure.
After changing ownership and uses over the course of a century, there
are now extreme structural and mechanical constraints to making any
further modifications to the building. These limitations provoked a
series of questions about building in an environment that can’t be
altered: If walls can’t be added or removed, what if design alters the
character of existing walls? What if walls appeared to be deep instead
of flat? What if graphic and color got confused with three-dimensional
objects? In other words, is it possible to manufacture more space
without changing the size of a room?
In response to these questions, The LADG largely restricted design to
a graphic pattern that takes cues from op-art to make flat walls appear
deep and rich with material qualities. The scheme uses a large number
of slightly tapered parallel stripes to produce variable spatial
qualities depending on the angle of view. Viewed frontally the stripes
look like shading on a flat surface. Viewed obliquely the stripes and
the wall blur into a fog; it looks like you can touch cloudiness.
Two benches in the building lobby were designed to interface with the
wall graphics so that three-dimensional form appears to peel out of the
flat wall. Acrylic globe lights throughout the project are positioned
to hover like soap bubbles in front of the optically foggy material of
the walls.
Mercantile Lofts was commissioned by ICO Development, a real estate
investment firm with holdings throughout Southern California. ICO has
recently completed several residential projects in LA’s Historic Core,
emphasizing a commitment to the revitalization of Downtown.
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