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West End

Thinking outside the big box.

Size 230,000 sf

Location Los Angeles, CA

Services Architecture, Landscape

Sectors Adaptive Reuse

Specialty Studios Ark

We all know the story: The advent of online shopping revolutionized the retail industry, making malls and the department stores that once anchored them increasingly irrelevant. That doesn’t mean that the structures are doomed to stay derelict. Case in point: West End.

Formerly a Macy’s located in the Westside Pavilion mall in West Los Angeles, today West End is an adaptively repurposed, mixed-use urban development. The transformation of 230,000 square feet of shuttered retail space now provides Angelenos with an open creative office campus and multiple commercial spaces. Since opening in 2022, West End has become the catalyst for a larger repositioning endeavor to build a transit-oriented development near the Westwood/Rancho Park Expo light rail station.

While maintaining the architectural style and integrity of the existing structure, HLW bifurcated the building with an expansive courtyard, adding open lobbies to connect the two halves and create a seamless indoor-outdoor connection. The ground plane was pushed down one level below the street, creating a light filled courtyard at the lower plaza level. The building’s façade, previously sealed to the exterior, is retrofitted with ample expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass furthering the visual connection between the interiors and the property’s surroundings.

Significant cuts to embodied carbon.

The courtyard is 50 feet wide.

Awards

Architizer A+ Awards

Architecture + Adaptive Reuse, Winner, West End

FX International Design Awards

Global Project, Shortlist, West End

FX International Design Awards

Mixed Use Development, Shortlist, West End

IIDA Southern California Calibre Design Award

Transformation Category

The exterior staircase is clad in burnished Cor-Ten steel, injecting warmth and color into the otherwise neutral color palette.
Wooden accents in the form of façade ornament, loggia, and decking are paired with native plantings to bring a biophilic element to one of many outdoor spaces in West End.
“It’s an impressive case study on repurposing under-performing and abandoned malls throughout the country. Part of the operation entailed pushing the ground plane down one level below the street to create a light-filled courtyard at the lower plaza level. This intervention enables individual rental units to have adjoining terraces and overlooking balconies.”
Profile photo of Sejal Sonani.

Sejal Sonani

Principal and Managing Director-CA

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