Grimshaw, Gruen • Union Station Master Plan in Los Angeles

Aerial view of Union Station (1939), in Los Angeles, California.  Photo: Courtesy Grimshaw

Grimshaw, in partnership with Gruen Associates, has been selected to design the Los Angeles Union Station Master Plan.

Los Angeles Union Station listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, featured frequently in film and other media. The building was designed by John and Donald B. Parkinson, Architects, and was built from 1936 to 1939. The building's Fred Harvey Company restaurant was designed by Mary Jane Colter.

Today, it is the primary station for rail service in southern California, offering both long distance and commuter rail service in addition to local subway, light rail and bus lines. Union Station also anticipates the potential arrival of high speed rail in the future, offering another vital link to the region's transportation network.

The station and the area surrounding it are at the nexus of multiple vibrant communities. The Master Plan project will create a new vision for Union Station, in conjunction with the general revitalization and growth of downtown Los Angeles.

On June 28, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors, chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, approved a nomination that sets in motion a two year master plan creation process for the historic station and 40 surrounding acres in downtown Los Angeles.

The approval is the culmination of a multi‐step process that narrowed an initial list of 22 teams down to a shortlist of six before ultimately selecting the Grimshaw/Gruen team.


This will be Grimshaw and Gruen Associate's first collaboration and will be completed with the assistance of an extensive team of specialized consultants with both local and international expertise in the disciplines required to create a meaningful, successful master plan.

Master Plan Team

• Gruen Associates -- Prime Consultant/Project Management/Master Planning 
• Grimshaw Architects -- Design Leader/Master Planning/Architecture 
• Point C, LLC -- Strategic Advisors on Transportation Finance/Funding & Entitlements 
• Fehr & Peers -- Transportation Planning/Traffic Engineering/Parking/Connectivity 
• Sener -- Transit Engineering for High Speed Rail 
• Buro Happold -- Sustainability/Building Engineering/Security 
• Cityworks Design -- Urban Design 
• Wiltec -- Traffic Consulting 
• The Robert Group -- Community Outreach Historic 
• Resources Group -- Historic Restoration Architect 
• Mia Lehrer + Associates -- Landscape Architecture 
• Psomas -- Infrastructure/Entitlement Assistance 
• VCA Engineering, Inc. -- Civil Engineering 
• Wagner Engineering and Survey -- Surveying 
• Diaz Yourman & Associates -- Geotechnical 
• Terry A. Hayes Associates -- CEQA/Environmental
• Davis Langdon -- Cost Planning 
• MARRS Services, Inc. -- Cost Estimating