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The teams range between “global stars and local unknowns,” but they all “inspired us to imagine more for Pershing Square,” said Eduardo Santana, executive director of Pershing Square Renew, the nonprofit handling the competition.
The finalists will flesh out their proposals, take part in jury interviews and deliver a public presentation in March. The winner is scheduled to be announced April 1.
The finalists are:
— downtown Los Angeles firms SWA and Morphosis;
— New York-based James Corner Field Operations with Frederick Fisher & Partners, of Santa Monica;
— Paris-based Agence TER with SALT Landscape Architects; and
— Culver City-based wHY with Denver’s Civitas Landscape Architecture group.
The New York firm, Field Operations, is one of the better known firms, having designed the High Line in Manhattan, as well as Tongva Park in Santa Monica.
Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents the area, said the selection of the finalists puts the park “one step closer to once again becoming the focal point of life, commerce and civic engagement in downtown Los Angeles.”
“This design competition has allowed hundreds of the most creative architectural and design experts in the world to focus their attention on the city’s oldest park,” he said. “Downtown Los Angeles and the city of Los Angeles will be the beneficiaries of that consideration, and I cannot wait to see what our four finalists have in store for us.”
More information about the competition and the teams’ proposals are at http://pershingsquarenew.com .
—City News Service