Source: archdaily.com, Tom Bonner Photography

Culver City’s Hayden Tract Is an Architectural Adventure

by SweisKloss
December 16, 2021

The Hayden Tract neighborhood is a deep dive into unique architecture if 1. You know about it and 2. You can find it (hello GPS navigation). One staff member has been traversing from Santa Monica to Hayden Tract several times a week in her spare time to get to The Pottery Studio and commented on the creative vibe of the area. Fascinated by this seemingly hidden district made up of structures where architecture is an obvious visual priority, we wanted to learn more.

This 60-acre industrial area gained economic momentum in 1947 when manufacturing plants fully got back into business after the Great Depression. Glass developer Sam Hayden moved his company from the east coast to this pocket of Culver City because he was enticed by the “modern reinforced concrete buildings.” A street and ultimately the neighborhood was named after him.

These buildings fell to disrepair but had good bones, which might be why Frederick and Laurie Samitaur Smith, construct developers, were attracted to this warehouse district. In the mid 1980s, they focused their resources and attention on the revival of Hayden Tract, working with local architect Eric Owen Moss who is now quite famed for his radical (almost Seussian in design) yet intellectual approach to architecture. Frederick recalled seeing a copy of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets on Moss’ desk and knew he had found a kindred spirit.

Together they worked on 31 buildings for Hayden Tract, creating adaptive re-use structures and interior spaces that were experimental in nature but planned for resiliency, sustainability, and connecting people. These buildings—with playful names such as Beehive, Umbrella, Waffle, and Stealth—are now housing start-ups, digital media companies, advertising agencies, architecture firms, as well as other creative studios.

Last year, Moss and the Samitaur Smiths were awarded the AIA Twenty-five Year Award for their accomplishment with this project. Well-deserved. Now, if you plan on venturing to the neighborhood for yourself, here’s a tip for this worthwhile trip (a little rhyming nod to Dr. Seuss). Look for the Samitaur Tower as a landmark. The unconventional structure is used not only as an observation tower but as a space to project images of culturally significant content for passersby.