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Los Angeles City Hall Exterior Historic Renovation

Los Angeles, California

Hailed as a uniquely American masterpiece of architecture and design in 1928, the Los Angeles City Hall remains one of the most recognized and admired buildings in the United States.   As a way to preserve the civic heritage of Los Angeles, it was the goal of Project Restore to pursue the monumental task of restoring the Los Angeles City Hall to its original splendor.   Besides restoring the architectural elements of the building, modern systems were incorporated to bring the structure up to current safety standards.   One of these systems involved the lighting of the exterior façade.

Horton Lees Brogden proposed a reinterpretation of the original exterior façade lighting design in an effort to maintain the unique historic character of the structure and to protect its civic heritage.   By utilizing modern lighting technologies and energy efficient luminaries that incorporate long-life lamps, the lighting design approach provides a modern day equivalent to what was originally planned for the City Hall façade lighting but only utilizes one fourth of the power.   Light levels were balanced throughout to compensate for the higher ambient light levels inherent in a present day metropolis.   Los Angeles City Hall restorative illumination is unlike any other skyscraper in the downtown area allowing it to regain its prominence in the skyline.

The lighting design has been recognized with an IIDA Award of Merit and a Lumen West Award of Excellence.