Letterman Digital Arts Center
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The Letterman Digital Arts Center is an ensemble of buildings in the Presidio of San Francisco , which is the headquarters of LucasArts , Industrial Light & Magic , as well as the location of various departments of Lucasfilm Ltd. serves. The facility was built on the former site of the Letterman Army Hospital , named after the military doctor Jonathan Letterman (1824–1872), and continues its name tradition. The center, which opened in 2005, received gold certification according to the LEED standard due to its resource-saving and sustainable construction, in which parts of the demolished military hospital were reused . The park that adjoins the buildings was created according to plans by the American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin .
Location and description
The Letterman Digital Arts Center is located in the Presidio of San Francisco , a former military base now managed by the Presidio Trust as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area . The center's 23 acres (9.3 hectares) site comprises four five-story buildings ("Buildings A – D") that together provide 850,000 square feet (79,000 square meters) of floor space . The buildings frame a park of 17 acres (6.9 hectares) to the northeast, which is freely accessible to the public. During the inauguration in 2005, George Lucas called the technical equipment of the building "the most powerful and sophisticated in the entertainment business". Fiber optic cables connect the individual offices and ensure that large image and video files can be transferred quickly. The total annual rent of $ 5.6 million represented 17 percent of the Presidio Trust's revenues in 2005.
Construction and inauguration
As early as 1999, the Presidio Trust began considering how the grounds of the former military hospital in the Presidio could be re-used. George Lucas won a competition initiated by the Trust with his suggestion that Lucasfilm Ltd. and a number of other entertainment companies to settle in the Presidio. The Letterman Army Hospital, which had been vacant since the army withdrew in 1994, was demolished and all materials that could still be used for later construction were stored.
The construction met with multiple criticism, as the buildings do not fulfill any public function and, according to the critics, obscure the view of the Bay of San Francisco and the nearby Palace of Fine Arts . In response to the criticism, the construction plans were adapted and the building height reduced.
After the groundbreaking ceremony on February 8, 2003, was 300 million dollars expensive Center completed in about two years time. Around 50 percent of the military hospital's concrete was reused during construction. The Letterman Digital Arts Center later received gold certification according to the LEED standard for this resource-saving construction .
The inauguration of the center took place on June 25, 2005. On this occasion, George Lucas invited around 2,000 guests. These included five mayors of the city of San Francisco and two members of the American Senate , as well as numerous celebrities from the film and music industries.
Web links
- One Letterman Drive - Official Website
- Letterman Digital Arts Center on the Presidio Trust website
Individual evidence
- ^ A b One Letterman Drive, Campus Plan
- ↑ a b c d e Dan Levy: Lucas' Presidio premiere / Filmmaker christens his new studio with a picnic for 2,000 , in: San Francisco Chronicle of June 26, 2005, last accessed on April 18, 2015.
- ↑ a b c The Presidio - Letterman Digital Arts Center ( Memento of the original from May 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Wyatt Buchanan: Planting seeds of movie magic in Presidio / $ 300 million digital arts complex , in: San Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2003, last accessed April 18, 2015.
Coordinates: 37 ° 47 '59.3 " N , 122 ° 26' 57.3" W.