LA Convention Center Designs Released By AEG (PHOTOS)

If you're a geek for architecture, these renderings of the new LA Convention Center, presented Thursday by architectural firm Populous, are like an early Valentine's Day gift.

The space, which we can't figure out how to pronounce -- LACOEX (LA Convention Center and Exhibition Hall), will feature restaurants and patios, intended to create gathering spaces; gardens that double the green space of the current convention center; and multi-colored lights for signage, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Will the convention center, depicted below, be an architectural icon for Los Angeles? Michael Hughes, managing director at a convention consulting firm, told the Daily News that, while cities like to build "eye-catching" buildings, planners think more logistically about how can people the space can fit and how they can move about. Planning director Michael LoGrande told LADN that, with a limited $300 million budget, an architectural icon is unlikely.

Still, the new convention center will bring LA from number 15 in US convention centers to number 5, according to ESPN. The new football stadium, which will have 68,000 seats and be expandable to 78,000 seats for big events like the Super Bowl, World Cup or Olympics, will require that the current, 40-year-old convention center be torn down.

Comments

[JScott]

11:01 AM on 02/07/2012

How much of the existing structure will be demo'd jeez I remember when they built this whole complex, I went to the open house when it first opened. Oh maybe the profits from the concessions, I mean really the food inside there is wwwaaaaayyyy overpriced. I usually only go there for the auto show anyway

[JoeLosFeliz]

01:24 AM on 02/07/2012

Ugly!

[nomoredead]

05:59 PM on 02/04/2012

Now show pictures of the gridlock traffic that will surround it for every event.

[lacasarosada]

01:00 PM on 02/04/2012

LACOEX was LATAMPAX taken?

[deven61]

10:27 PM on 02/03/2012

In a word....lame. The San Diego Convention Center, located directly on San Diego Bay is phenomenal. Comic Con has picked the SDCC every year since it was completed. San Diego offers fine hotels, a great dining district (Gaslamp Quarter), and Petco Park all abutting the convention center. If San Diego had a single functioning brain cell, they should build a stadium for their NFL Team (Chargers) and a Sports Arena to round out the picture. If your planning on a conference on the West Coast......San Diego is it.

[Hardyman1966]

06:45 PM on 02/04/2012

I couldn't agree more.  Unless we go back to the 1920's and 30's, there's just no reason to be in downtown L.A. unless you have Music Center or Disney Hall tickets...

[Scruffyboo2]

08:16 PM on 02/03/2012

Wonder how much this will cost the taxpayers spent for the benefit of business interests ... ?

[TRhett]

12:38 PM on 02/08/2012

Well . . . since projects like this usually end up costing double the initial estimates, I'd say about $600 million. But you have plenty of money floating around in Dreamland, don't you? . . . maybe Matthew Perry or Charlie Sheen can help out.