38 DIGS.NET
| 3.5.2021
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P R O F I L E | T H E W E B S T E R
PHOTOS:
COURTESY
OF
LAURIAN
GHINITOIU
A Softer Tone
An homage to the luminosity of California,
a pink-tinted façade marks The Webster—
David Adjaye's first foray in Los Angeles.
T
he latest in a series of works by architect Sir David
Adjaye OBE that experiments with material and
pink pigment, The Webster's flagship in L.A., set at
the base of the Beverly Center, is a curvaceous concrete
form injected with a pink dye that softens the brutalist-style
building above it. "Pink felt like fashion, but I wanted to
make something that was tough and gentle at the same
time," said Adjaye, in an interview with Surface Magazine.
Designed to be more of a public space, the
11,000 -square-foot structure might feel too much the
monolith without the plethora of incandescent pink
inside and out. Adjaye selected the hue for its appeal
to the Pacific sensibility and specifically how the light
in California naturally enhances saturated colors, and
this choice gives the form an artful edge while asserting
itself as an urban oasis with a shorter, curved concrete
wall that can be utilized as a bench facing away from the
structure. Fronted by a long glass window, the building
opens itself up to onlookers, but retains intimacy and
spatial elegance within. Inside, the permeation of pink is
near total, complemented by a terrazzo floor topped with
grayish concreted and chips of marble, along with glints
of bronze-framed mirrors and other fittings that infuse the
space with just-enough luster. In The Webster—Adjaye
Associates' first project in L.A., and a bit of a budding
landmark at that—pink proves itself not only amenable to
architecture of a particular physicality, but the most ideal
of its amplifiers. adjaye.com
(FROM TOP LEFT) THE WEBSTER'S LATEST FLAGSHIP STORE IN LOS
ANGELES; THE MASS OF CONCRETE IS SOFTENED BY THE USE OF
PINK DYE, WHICH ALSO HIGHLIGHTS AND FEMINIZES THE BUILDING'S
ARCHITECTURE; THE VIEW FROM STREET LEVEL.
"Pink felt like fashion, but I
wanted to make something
that was tough and gentle at
the same time."
— David Adjaye
