Century Plaza

The design extends and dramatizes the visual axis established by the orientation of Yamasaki’s twin office towers toward his earlier hotel. Along this central axis through the property, a new sequence of spaces constitute Century Plaza’s most important contribution to the public realm.

These spaces include a new Avenue of the Stars Entry Plaza; the Lobby Breezeway, a loggia-like central gathering place; the Gardens of Century Plaza, a landscaped public square surrounded by retail shops at plaza level and the podium gardens above; Constellation Plaza, providing access to the lower level of retail shops; and the continuation of retail frontage east along Constellation Boulevard. This carefully crafted sequence of public spaces is bold in its ambitions, intended to create an urban scene of a quality rarely encountered in the contemporary city.

The new towers rise from a richly detailed, stone-clad podium of lower buildings animated by shops and cafés, shaping public space at a scale sympathetic and inviting to pedestrians.

Retail frontage terminates at the proposed entrance to the future Metro Purple Line station, where a circular retail pavilion defines a small pocket park surrounded by a sweeping water wall.