Foundation Seeks Minor Changes in Much-Criticized Arts Park Model

The Cultural Foundation said it was making a bold statement when it selected an avant-garde architectural model for the theater that would highlight an arts complex the group hopes to build in Sepulveda Basin.

But after taking strong criticism for the recently unveiled model, the foundation has decided to speak a little more softly.

Arts Park L.A.’s proposed theater is designed to jut above ground in what appears to be an industrial splay of grids, fins, elevated walkways and “thrusting circulation bars.” The Sierra Club, among others, has complained that the design is inappropriate for the basin’s natural surroundings.

Earlier this week, foundation officials asked Morphosis--the Santa Monica firm that designed the theater--to alter the intricate, monochromatic model so that the public can more easily understand it.

Specifically, the foundation said it wanted Morphosis to add artificial grass and miniature trees to give the model a more natural look.

“When you get something as sophisticated, design-wise, as the Morphosis model, it’s hard for people to visualize it,” said Linda Kinnee, executive director of the Cultural Foundation.

But when the model was returned to the foundation’s ARTSPACE Gallery in Woodland Hills, where it is being displayed, the alterations were slight. Morphosis merely painted in a darker shade of brown the portions of the model that are supposed to depict ground level.

“The model wasn’t produced for purposes of promoting Arts Park,” said Thom Mayne, one of the partners who run Morphosis. He said of the model, which was selected after a lengthy design contest, “It was produced for the purposes of a competition.”

Kinnee said she expected Morphosis to soon add artificial grass and trees to the model, but Mayne said he did not intend to do that. The architect said the theater’s landscaping will be designed after the project proceeds toward construction.

Arts Park, as it is envisioned, would include the theater, a wing-like museum, an open-air amphitheater, an art center and clusters of colorful workshops set among rolling hills. The foundation, a private, nonprofit group, has yet to acquire funding for the 60-acre, $50-million project. Neither has Arts Park received official approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the basin, or the City of Los Angeles, which leases the land.