Marilyn Monroe’s dress inspires LA tower design

The image of Hollywood siren Marilyn Monroe’s white dress billowing above a New York City subway grate in The Seven-Year Itch is one of the most iconic images in cinematic history.

So famous is the moment that 65 years later it has found itself as the inspiration for a new Los Angeles tower, designed by a Sydney architect.

The project, ‘Sky Trees’, is also intended to pay tribute to California’s redwoods – some of the oldest and tallest trees in the world, however it is a flowing ‘skirt’ – paying tribute to Monroe’s iconic scene – at the base of the building that will almost certainly become its calling card.

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Created for Sydney property developer Crown Group, the tower is being designed by Koichi Takada Architects and will rise up to 70 storeys into the LA skyline in an old warehouse district on South Hill St.

The ‘Sky Trees’ building will become one of the tallest in Los Angeles.

Once completed it will comprise 528 apartments and 515sqm of retail space, as well as a living ‘green wall’ of plants and trees that climb the side of the building.

On its website, Koichi Takada says it hopes to create a building that people want to visit and enjoy.

“We want to humanize tall buildings, to celebrate the pedestrian activities and consider how people experience it,” they say.

“We want our tall building designs to be more engaging to the public to contribute to the community by activating and creating a connection with the neighbourhood.”