Hercules Playa Vista

Playa Vista, CA

The historic site of the Hughes Aircraft Company hosts a new generation of innovators. The remade campus builds on the vestiges of its storied past to create a place where innovators once again are at home. When we first toured the site and buildings it took real vision to imagine what could become of the site. The largely paved tarmac that covered the twenty acres were completely reimagined to provide a multi-use landscape around six historic buildings. A deep dive into the history of Hughes Aircraft brought to focus the entrepreneurial and inventive journey of Howard Hughes and his team, setting the stage for creating a campus where creativity could once again take flight.

Today, top game design, advertising, and media companies are creating the next big thing on grounds where Howard Hughes built his Spruce Goose. The variety of reimagined spaces foster outdoor work and play zones; necessary extensions of the highly programmed interiors.

After years of neglect and dormancy, the renewed site and restored buildings once again serve as a place for innovators to work and for ideas to take flight.

Floating wooden decks reference the Spruce Goose’s wooden frame.

Swooping forms of the site walls evoke airflow and aviation while the plants and materials palette respect the site’s location just upstream from the delicate ecology of the Ballona Wetlands.

Related