The Los Angeles Music Center is the central location for the City’s performing arts. Here the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion houses the City’s symphony orchestra, while across the plaza, at the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theater, the Los Angles community enjoys premier opera, theater and dance. Situated in the center of the plaza is a water expression, developed by WET to celebrate the vibrancy of this venue.

The main program objective was to integrate an existing, static pool on the site into a vibrant, multi-function event plaza. The Los Angeles Music Center has been a frequent host to the Annual Academy Awards since its forty-first ceremony was held there in 1969. This and other events attract large numbers of visitors to the site, exceeding the plaza’s physical capacity.

A secondary objective was to create a work that celebrated the sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz. This work of art, titled Peace on Earth was dedicated in May of 1969. A gift to the people of Los Angeles and “given as a symbol of peace to the peoples of the world,” the work as a gift to the Music Center form two Los Angeles industrialists, Mr. Lloyd E. Rigler and Mr. Lawrence E. Deutsch.

In order to enlarge the functional area of the plaza, WET eliminated a seventy-five foot square open pool that central, by covering it in plaza paving. A new water feature emanates as four rectangular masses of vertical water activity that emit form openings in the new plaza’s surface. The water can be turned off, recovering the plaza for events that require expanded open space. In addition, as a result of this treatment, there are no barriers between the towering clusters of water jets and their surroundings. The feature seamlessly engages its environment and invites visitors to intimately experience the water.

When active, hundreds of crystalline water columns, that range in height through choreographed sequences, surround and embrace the Jacques Lipchitz sculpture. In the evening, vibrant white illumination saturates the vertical forest of kinetic activity. Visitors to the Music Center enjoy an opulent, animated chandelier of water and radiance.