Only in LA

Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live eyes October finish

By Greg Aragon

Los Angeles will soon have another glamorous venue for its annual parade of star-studded award shows. In October, the city will see the opening of the $100 million Nokia Theater at LA Live.

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"Only in LA could you build something like the Nokia Theater," says Kurt Schindler, a principal with Berkeley-based ELS Architecture and Urban Design, designers of the project. He says Los Angeles is "kind of the capital for motion pictures and television and sports award shows," and that Nokia was designed with shows such as the Grammys, Emmys, Oscars and ESPY's, in mind.

The 260,000-sq-ft theater is part of the larger LA Live project, a $1.7 billion development, covering 28 acres around Staples Center in downtown.

Developed by Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group, LA Live will be highlighted by the Nokia Theater, a 40,000-sq-ft outdoor plaza, an ESPN broadcast and restaurant facility, Regal Theaters, and Club NOKIA at L.A. Live.

The LA Live complex will also feature a 54-story, 1,000-room convention headquarters hotel, combining the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton brands, as well as 216 luxury condominiums at The Residences at The Ritz Carlton.

But when it comes time for red carpets and glitzy Hollywood-type award shows, it will be the 7,100-seat Nokia Theater under the spotlight.

Located beside Staples Center, the trapezoidal-shaped hall is designed unlike other theaters, says Jeff Zieba, ELS associate principal. "Normally a theater gets wider as it goes away from the stage, but this gets smaller."



He adds that the design of the five-level theater followed the shape of the rectangular piece of land they were given.

By using this design, the team was able to create a unique 4,000-seat orchestra level and the country's larges stage, says Schindler.

"One of the prime [project] drivers was that the orchestra-level have 4,000 seats," says Schindler. He adds that this allows nominees and their entourage to sit together in the orchestra section, so that if called they could all approach the stage together.

"Plus all of the TV cameras can be panning the orchestra at all times," he adds.

And when winners hit the stage, they will stand on a 180-ft-wide by 80-ft-deep slab of concrete, topped with a layer of plywood and Plyron. Schindler says the Nokia stage will be the largest in the country, surpassing the 66-ft- deep by 144-ft-wide stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Above the stage, 1,700 tons of structural steel is going in the roof to support a myriad of rigging, catwalks and cranes for quick set changes and lighting during live shows.

"Most of the difficulties [associated] with the stage is all of the rigging components," says Ryan McKenzie, project manager with Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Construction Group, the project's general contractor.

"There are a lot of removable structures and an inordinate amount of structural steel above."

Construction on Nokia Theater broke ground in November of 2005 and work is scheduled for completion Oct. 12, at which time it the building will have consume 25,000 cu- yds of concrete and 8 million lbs of rebar.

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