Fleeting thoughts: Think-tank site razed
MAIN STREET — The demolition of the old RAND Corp. building this month marks the end of an era for the global think-tank based in downtown Santa Monica.
The old RAND headquarters was razed in the past week, leaving only debris and dust to occupy a building that has accommodated some of the greatest leaders and thinkers the world has ever seen.
Completed in 1953, the building was designed, in part, by RAND’s then-head of the math department, John Williams. His concept was intended to maximize “chance meetings” between people, said RAND spokeswoman Iao Katagiri. Williams suggested the idea and mathematical building plan in a memo to RAND staff, which was then incorporated into the architect’s design.
The lattice design had people walking in small figure-eight patterns so that they were frequently turning corners.
However, the unintended result was that people often got lost, left to wander around the two-story building.
“People used to joke and say, ‘too bad I didn’t have bread crumbs in my pocket,’” Katagiri said, adding other visitors often said they were disappointed because the building was so plain.
The new RAND headquarters, located just south of the old facility at 1776 Main St., has incorporated the lattice design with one figure-eight pattern on each floor, Katagiri said.
For 52 years, the former headquarters were frequented by senior government officials and leaders from the private sector, and staffed by hundreds of academics.
Eventually, the site will be transformed into affordable housing and a park, under the development of City Hall, which is planning a massive overhaul of the entire Civic Center at an estimated $120 million price tag.
In June, the Santa Monica City Council approved the environmental impact report for the Civic Center Redevelopment Plan, which includes a town square, a garden walk with botanical and sculpture gardens, plenty of open space and bicycle paths, as well as a childhood development facility and a revamped City Hall.
In place of the RAND building will be 325 housing units, with no fewer than 160 intended for very low-and low-income households, according to Assistant City Attorney Gordon Anderson. Some also may be work-live units.
City officials publicly put the project out for bid and are waiting for the top three proposals to come back from potential developers. The deadline to submit proposals is Sept. 15.
City Hall purchased 11 acres from the RAND Corp. in 2000 for $53 million with the intention of completely overhauling the Civic Center area so that it would better connect to downtown Santa Monica.
The project is expected to take 10 years to complete and would be paid for through capital improvement funds, redevelopment agency tax increment funds, general obligation bonds and regional, state and federal funding sources. Affordable housing would be supported by local, state and federal housing funds.
The RAND Corp. is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. For more than 50 years, decision-makers in the public and private sectors have turned to the RAND Corp. for objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the nation and the world. Those challenges include such critical social and economic issues as education, poverty, crime and the environment, as well as a range of national security issues.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 18, 2005. Read the original PDF.