Building Trades News

The Alliance for Quality Construction, a Southern California association of union contractors and crafts persons, presented AEG's NOKIA Theater at LA LIVE with the 2008 "Q Award."

This year's award ceremony was held at the NOKIA Theatre on June 12. The award honors AEG for its recently constructed 7,100-seat theatre with architecture by ELS. The new $120 million live entertainment venue is part of AEG's LA LIVE project, a 5.6 million square foot mixed-used development on 27 acres and covering more than 6 city blocks.

"With this great project the quality construction and skill of our union craftsman and contractors is on display to Los Angeles residents and people who will be traveling to downtown from all over Southern California to enjoy the world class entertainment that will be featured here," said Richard Slawson, Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. "As we see from the Disney Concert Hall, to Staples Center and now LA LIVE, the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles could not happen with the participation of our union craft workers."

The "Q Award" is given annually for outstanding contributions toward the attainment of quality construction within the building industry of Southern California. The winner is nominated and selected by the Alliance's membership from quality union construction projects completed in the previous year. Recipients of previous Q Awards have been Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (2007), The Getty Villa (2006), The Home Depot Center (2005), The Walt Disney Concert Hall (2004), and Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral (2003).

The Alliance's member union trades and contractors completed the construction of the ELS designed theatre, which features four Lobby Levels, 12,000 square feet of VIP and hospitality areas, over 14,000 square feet of performance area (largest stage in southern California), the Wachovia VIP Lounge – a two level private "club," with its own patio, exclusively for VIP and special events, and the NOKIA Lounge.

NOKIA Theatre LA LIVE is in full operation and has already hosted acts including opening with six sold-out nights of the Eagles and Dixie Chicks, Sugarland, Queens of the Stone Age, Neil Young, Anita Baker, the American Music Awards, Mary J. Blige, So You Think You Can Dance tour, John Fogerty, La Quinta Estacion, John Mayer, Bjork, Tori Amos, George Lopez, Moody Blues, Kayne West, Duran Duran, Rush, and Juanes.

"The NOKIA Theatre project is most certainly a state-of-the-art entertainment focal point within Southern California," says Pam Ackrich, Chair of AQC. "People visiting the venue will experience the quality craftsmanship our member contractors and craftsmen have provided for AEG."

"Only in LA could you build something like the Nokia Theater," said Kurt Schindler, a principal with ELS Architecture and Urban Design, designers of the project. He said Los Angeles is "the capitol for motion pictures and television and sports award shows," and that Nokia was designed with high profile awards shows in mind.

The Nokia Theater sits directly beside the union-built Staples Center. Its trapezoidal-shape is designed unlike other theaters, said Jeff Zieba, ELS associate principal. "Normally a theater gets wider as it goes away from the stage, but this gets smaller." He added that the design of the five-level theater followed the shape of the rectangular piece of land they were given. By using this design, the team was able to create a unique 4,000-seat orchestra level and the country's largest stage, says Schindler.

With the leadership of general contractor, Clark Construction, NOKIA Theatre LA LIVE absorbed 725,000 man-hours to its completion. This world-class facility was built with union craftsmen in slightly over a two-year period. Within this construction project, notable building facts arise including the use of 61,000 tons of concrete, 1,515 tons of steel, 200 sheets of plywood, 23,000 panels of sheetrock, 50,000 screws, 40 miles of cable, and 148,000 feet of fiber optic cable.

The venue boasts state-of-the-art technology including a $2 million specialty lighting & rigging package, $1.5 million JBL VerTec facility sound system, 11,000 Amps of show power, 548,500 watts of show lighting, 300,000 lbs. of rigging capacity, 90,000 lbs. capacity of motorized rigging & lighting catwalks, and 23 Media Patch Panels.

 "Once again, the incredible synergy between the various union construction trades, orchestrated by general contractor Clark Construction and developer AEG, along with government cooperation, has resulted in an incredibly beautiful structure," says Ackrich. "The AQC is most proud to present this year's Q Award to AEG and NOKIA Theatre LA Live."