Annenberg Community Beach House

Santa Monica, Calif.

The Annenberg Community Beach House project is the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the historic 5 1/2-acre Marion Davies Estate constructed in the 1920s. The challenges to the project were many. The project experienced early delays due to the discovery of unforeseen buried historical elements and footings for the original main house. In addition to this, every step of the project required careful review with a historic consultant. The design of the new pool house reinterprets the key historical elements of the original structure. Central to the architect’s design and a source of major innovation was the visual reinvention of the original iconic columns through the use of symbolic columns along the pool house exterior. The architect’s aesthetic vision called for a highly refined concrete mixture and special form system to create these columns. The precaster worked closely with the architect to develop samples of the mixture, final texture, and lift/brace points. The resulting precast concrete columns, with their perfect color, shape, and harmony, are as dramatic as the columns of nearly a century ago and will continue to inspire for the century to come.

Precaster: Mid-State Precast, Corcoran, Calif.
Website: www.midstateprecast.com

Architect: Frederick Fisher & Partnes, Los Angeles, Calif.
Website: www.fisherpartners.net

Engineer of record: KPFF Consulting Engineers, Los Angeles
Website: www.kpff.com

Area: 18,141 ft²
Number of stories: 1
Structural system: cast-in-place concrete
Precast concrete components:
16 architectural columns (18 in. x 18 in. x 30 ft)