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Fashion Institute of Design Studio

Los Angeles
Clive Wilkinson

Clive Wilkinson combines Minimalist cool with L.A. glam at the FIDM Design Studio in downtown Los Angeles

	Photo © Benny Chan/Fotoworks

By Sam Lubell

It’s hard to know what to make of downtown Los Angeles. Although many stretches seem underactive, it’s showing signs of life, with condos, restaurants, and shops arriving in striking numbers. The changes are exciting, but many building projects rely on uninspiring, formulaic imitations of Mediterranean, California Bungalow, or New York loft styles in their design, both inside and out. A refreshing exception to this mishmash is the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising’s (FIDM) Design Studio in Los Angeles, by Clive Wilkinson Architects, a firm based in the city. The 11,400-square-foot interior renovation, which occupies the former 20-foot-high main hall on the first floor of the 1926 Standard Oil building, is part of a two-block downtown campus for about 4,000 students near the Staples Center.

FIDM is a private college with four campuses in California specializing in fashion, interiors, graphics, and film-set design, as well as marketing and business. The purpose of the new Los Angeles space, say the architects, is to supply studio and study areas to an urban campus that had lacked both, and to invigorate the school’s image with an original interior that would inspire students in their creative work.

In renovating the former bank, Wilkinson divided the double-height hall into two parts separated by the building’s lobby: The L-shaped Design Studio East is reserved for computers and individual study, and the rectangular Design Studio West is designated for drawing and group activities. To make the most of the space, the architects left the banking hall’s concrete shell, concrete columns, and mechanical elements exposed.

Three focal elements designed for student interaction heighten the quirky aesthetic. In Studio East, the “Tank,” a 17-by-17-foot box, is enclosed in blue glass with a blue neon light strip running along the top to simulate a water line. Elevated on 8-foot-high steel columns, it is used for group meetings.

Not far from the Tank is the “Pool,” a roughly 3-foot-high platform constructed of palm wood and fitted with upholstered blue floor mats for lounging and casual discussion. Around the perimeter of the Pool, deck chairs with adjustable arms create a surreal environment for computer work.

Across the lobby, in Studio West, is the “Wave,” an elevated box propped up on angled steel columns that gets its name from both its blue color and its profile, which looks like a geometric abstraction of a curling wave.

Want the full story? Read the entire article in our May 2006 issue.
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the People

Owner
The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM)

Architect
Clive Wilkinson Architects

Design Team
Clive Wilkinson, Alexis Rappaport, Hailey Friedman
www.clivewilkinson.com

Engineer(s)
Structural: Johnson Leifield Engineers

Mechanical: Simon Wong & Associates

Electrical: MDC Engineers
www.metisdesign.com/

General Contractor
Steiner Construction
www.steinerdevelopment.com

Photography
Benny Chan – Fotoworks
Los Angeles 310-842-9446

the Products

Custom Furniture
dTank Inc.
www.dtank.com/