Blade Runner, the movie, came out in 1982 and remade the idea of the future. Gone was the Mid Century Modernist ideal of George and Jane Jetson’s glossy, Googie outlook that had reigned for 20 years, replaced by a stark, sharp urbanism that even permeated life in the upper echelon.
Imperial Plaza, built less that ten years later in 1991 could easily have been part of director Ridley Scott’s imagined cityscape of a Los Angeles in 2019. Copper-colored glass prismatic shards protrude from a concrete skeleton with virtually no planar surface as in most highrise construction, it has a look of security, of fortification about it.
Imperial Plaza
Looking for Something Different & Out of the Ordinary?
Recently, I wrote a blog about Penthouse Life in Honolulu, and promised to continue the series. Currently, in Imperial Plaza, there are two Penthouses available, PH3901 and PH3903; both are 3 bed, 3.5 bath units, though PH3901 is almost 800 square feet larger. Both are duplexes, and both are worthy of the Futurism envisioned by Ridley Scott. In fact, I can easily imagine Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the ‘mad scientist’ genius of the film making either one of these his lair. Brutalism, a school of design that immediately preceded and gave Scott some of his ideas, is evident here in PH3903 Great Room with its massive forms of exposed, raw, polished concrete.
PH3903 (MLS# 201506375)
Drama abounds in these units, imagine yourself in this flooded-with-light kitchen, the sweeping arc of the curved countertop creating an elegant counterpoint to the two story, unabashedly industrial windows.
PH3901 (MLS# 201421378)
Or here, in PH3901’s Master Bath, where the sheer angularity of the building’s exoskeleton structure is the overwhelming design element on display, complimented by the austerity of the interior design. It is a room where Brian Eno’s Music for Airports would play well.
Is This the Building For You?
These are not homes for the faint of heart, they have a definite style, a dramatic flair, a point of view. In short, you either love them or you don’t, but if this sensibility is one you share, then it is this building, and this building alone, that will be the one for you.
Left a little cold by the serenity of the newest forms of modernism? Long for the period when high style was a ‘take no prisoners’ affair? Then consider the Penthouse Life at Imperial Plaza. Who knows, maybe the next Dr. Eldon Tyrell will be your neighbor.
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