Honor Award
Hancock Park
Location
Los Angeles, California
Client
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, George C. Page Museum
Design Firm
Sussman/Prejza & Company, Inc.
Design Team
Paul Prejza (Principal in Charge), Holly Hampton, Niv Kasher
Fabricators
LNI Signs
Consultants
Olin Partnership, Fong Hart Schneider, Lighting Design All
Photographer
Jim Simmons
Hancock Park is home to both the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries. Containing natural tar pits and fossils, the park is a natural historic site where both science and art are combined. To enhance the social and aesthetic values of the park, landscaping, environmental design, lighting and architecture all came together to create a rejuvenated place. The new environmental design expands beyond traditional identification and wayfinding signage. A distinctive color palette was developed and porcelain enamel was chosen as the material to create a system of transitional markers guiding the way to the museums. The designers worked with the curator of the Page Museum to design a series of didactic panels, which guide the visitor through the scientific site and enhance this educational experience.
Jury Comment
The jury found this to be a thoughtful design that presented an exceptionally clear and legible system to orient visitors to this urban historic setting. The porcelain interpretive panels skillfully used a series of different visual cues to pass on to visitors, young and old alike, and gave a sense of the history of the Lake Pit at Hancock Park. The jury found this to be a successful use of this modestly budgeted exhibition design system.