With a hybridized civic orientation that blends an L.A. sensibility with a more cosmopolitan urban tradition, the new Caltrans District 7 Headquarters building in downtown Los Angeles is perceptually of the fabric of the city, as opposed to being a singular object or ornament. Enrobed in a constantly changing mechanical skin that is alternately open or closed depending on the conditions of outside temperature and sunlight, the building’s fundamental property is that of transformation.

At dusk the building is transparent -textured and windowed everywhere to invite the voyeur- while at mid-day it is buttoned up against the sun, appearing to be devoid of windows entirely. At night, the dark facade seems to recede in favor of the outside lobby’s four-story-high light sculpture. Mimetic of the larger metropolis, this building will be perceived differently by each observer depending on his or her experience with it.

In a key design gesture, Morphosis moved the main lobby from the inside to the outside to create an outdoor room for 1,000 people with café tables to be shared among building workers, visitors and the general public. Pedestrian traffic on Main Street flows directly into this space, which is defined in part by the joining of the L-shaped building’s two main sections. To engage street traffic, amenities such as the exhibition gallery and the cafeteria are located around the outdoor lobby at ground level.

Marking the entrance of the building at 100 South Main Street is a super-graphic, forward-canted sign towering 40 feet over the sidewalk. Comprised of layers of opacity and transparency that break the confines of the vertical walls, this sign, with its nod to the Chandleresque L.A.’s Hollywood sign, marks the building and the institution as an urban landmark. Further references to the California roadways are apparent in a large light-bar that extends out from the First Street side of the building to cantilever out over the street and in a low yellow neon strip that wraps around the northeast corner of the building at shoulder level. The various cantilevers and extrusions are about movement, about an unrestrained exuberance that speaks directly to the car culture of Los Angeles and that serves to reinforce the raison d’être of Caltrans.

The Morphosis design carries the themes of openness, interplay and sustainability into the building’s interior. Elevators operate on a “skip-stop” basis, opening onto mini-lobbies located on every third floor: a scheme that speeds vertical circulation, establishes interim gathering places throughout the building and encourages those who can to use the stairs. Floor plans reverse the usual hierarchy of office space. In the Caltrans building, Morphosis has concentrated the private, closed-door offices in the core of the building, so that the perimeter -and the windows- are left free for large, open work areas that promote employee interaction.