Ground Control LA is a beacon for sustainable energy in an urban setting. The building represents the question of Space Based Solar Power technology, and how it might become a part of an urban environment. The project connects LA’s urban area with means of production and making energy generation visible to the public. The building also operates as new infrastructure for historic DTLA buildings by providing a power grid, food production, on-demand delivery and public transit services to its context.
Ground Control maintains a geosynchynous relationship between a space based solar power satellite and the building. It's infrastructural significance allows it to host distribution centers, agriculture, offices, and housing, while also supplying sustainable power to the area surrounding the building.
Autonomous devices are constantly interacting with the building, watering and tending to crops, or moving goods in and out of the micro-fullfillment centers.
The towers protruding from the building's sky lobby host apartments and mixed use office space, while the legs holding the building up host autonomously operating facilities, and are not designed for human occupation.
Ground control rejects the commuter-urbanism paradigm of Los Angeles developlment. The building facilitates new public transit systems, and encourages the use of automation that increase convenience for urbanites in the LA area. Ground control also features a large urban ring that connects power antennas to the building, while providing transit, energy production, and public space to existing buildings in DTLA. The ring physically and representationally engages with older buildings, and looks at a way that they might be utilized in the future.
