New Disney Animation Building?

[zach1]

A couple articles that made the rounds last week quoted Ed Catmull as saying that they were going to build a new building for WDFA. Just curious what everyone thinks. Does anyone have any information on this? Where is it going to be? How big? What happens to the Hat building?

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

Originally Posted by zach1

A couple articles that made the rounds last week quoted Ed Catmull as saying that they were going to build a new building for WDFA. Just curious what everyone thinks. Does anyone have any information on this? Where is it going to be? How big? What happens to the Hat building?

I've heard mutterings that Dr Ed and John would like to combine WDFA and WDI into one larger campus. And the only location I can think of, where this would be feasible, is the Grand Central Terminal northeast of 1401 Flower St, which is currently the headquarters of WDI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale,_California

Grand Central Terminal was purchased by WDC years ago, and is surrounded by several WDI buildings and workshops. (In fact, Grand Central Ave used to be the old airport's main runway.) Perhaps they're thinking of bulldozing the older buildings, and constructing new facilities with WDFA on one side of campus and WDI on the other, and renovating the Grand Central Terminal into conference room space and a large digital projection theatre, as Pixar has off their main lobby?

[Ghostbuster626]

There is a new article up saying that Lasseter & catmull want to build a brand new campus in Glendale.

I think this would be a wise move for the company.

[ALIASd]

Taking over the DreamWorks campus down the street would be faster. Already outfitted with great theatre, screening rooms, cafeteria, a running stream, etc.

[DisneyMickey]

I love that Feature Animation building from the outside. I have never been inside, but I am sure a new building won't be as big of an advertisment as the current one is now. I like how it so proudly announces Disney's A N I M A T I O N is there. I have yet to see such a building devoted to showing off what is done inside. Sarcasm; a little.

[squashandstretch]

I have heard that the hat building is complete piece of marketing dookie. I got this information from "Dream on Silly Dreamer." (great short film by the way.) The hat building was made just for marketing not really functional for animators and artists. That would be awesome if they got a brand new building that was designed for them. Of course once upon a time they had an awesome building that was built for them, some guy named Walt had helped design it for the artists. Then a new regime came in, kicked them out and put them in trailers. But I digress, I hope WDFA returns as the king of the animation hill.


"Animation can explain anything the imagination can think of."

W. Disney

[cellarhound]

Just so long as they don't name it after Eisner... :vomit:

[cellarhound]

Originally Posted by ALIASd

Taking over the DreamWorks campus down the street would be faster. Already outfitted with great theatre, screening rooms, cafeteria, a running stream, etc.

You know, it would be interesting if Disney bought Dreamworks Animation if for any reason to gain access to SKG again... When those three where working with Disney the movie studio was popping out blockbusters... Better than Bucheanhiemer ever could...

[DisneyMickey]

I can't stand hearing the Dreamworks name for some reason.

[merlinjones]

Disney should pair with Viacom to buy out DreamWorks Animation!

-- with Disney keeping only the DreamWorks Glendale "campus" next to WDI for WDFA/Pixar (and negotiating the rights to Roger Rabbit and Zorro back from Amblin).

Viacom gets the rest to go with their DreamWorks studio library.

[NickCharles]

Originally Posted by squashandstretch

I have heard that the hat building is complete piece of marketing dookie. I got this information from "Dream on Silly Dreamer." (great short film by the way.) The hat building was made just for marketing not really functional for animators and artists. That would be awesome if they got a brand new building that was designed for them. Of course once upon a time they had an awesome building that was built for them, some guy named Walt had helped design it for the artists. Then a new regime came in, kicked them out and put them in trailers. But I digress, I hope WDFA returns as the king of the animation hill.


"Animation can explain anything the imagination can think of."

W. Disney

Yeah? What was the beef with it? I personally have been inside the WDFA "hat" building - I worked in it. No, I'm not an artist, I worked in the Story Development department (David Stainton was in charge there when I worked there, so that tells you how long ago that was). It was a really nice, fun, cool building and I loved working in it.

[sailerm]

This is the cool animation building... to bad they don't animate here anymore.

[squashandstretch]

Originally Posted by NickCharles

Yeah? What was the beef with it? I personally have been inside the WDFA "hat" building - I worked in it. No, I'm not an artist, I worked in the Story Development department (David Stainton was in charge there when I worked there, so that tells you how long ago that was). It was a really nice, fun, cool building and I loved working in it.

It is the impression I got off the film. None of it showed any of them being happy with it.

[drnilescrane]

I think it is a beautiful post-modern interpretation of the studio building, developed with the rest of the lot in mind, unlike the horrible Frank G. Wells, Roy O. Disney and Micheal D. Eisner buildings (the ABC building just barely passes, though it's inclusion along with the gas station ruins the Animation Buildings plaza, the original shown in the first photo).

Remember, it was this or an office building like some of the DisneyToon's got stuck with.











Taken from www.ramsa.com

And don't say to me there was no thought put into the design of the buldings interior spaces -

Originally Posted by www.ramsa.com

This 240,000 square foot building serves as the headquarters for Walt Disney Picture's Feature Animation Studios. Located between Disney's Burbank studio lot and Route 134 to the south, this four storey building recalls the futuristic buildings depicted in early animated movies as it mediates between the scales of a busy highway and the pedestrian scaled studio lot.

The new facility, housing 700 employees, is entered under a cone-shaped tower, a reference to Mickey Mouse's hat in his classic role as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. The ground floor contains the building's most public spaces, with a grand triple height lobby and a screening room, both of which can be secured from the rest of the building for special events. Incorporating the full range of animated feature film production departments, the structure includes archives and computers on the lower level, post production (including background and special effects) on the ground floor, animation on the second floor and story development on the third floor. To unify and clarify overall circulation, all four floors are interconnected by a grand stair centrally located and each has a "main street" on the south facade of the building.

The south facing lobby and circulation esplanades become the building's primary circulation and gathering spaces--on the exterior they are expressed by an arching wedge that slopes up in relation to the allowable height limit on this site. This enormous but narrow form is the building's facade to the highway, in scale with Route 134 and with the speed of passing commuter traffic.

The division of the top two floors into three major spaces by double-height secondary walkways create three barrel-vaulted volumes on the exterior, echoing the scale of the stages that they face on the studio lot.

The materials and detailing employ the vocabulary of Kem Weber's original Animation Building (1939) now used for offices on the studio lot.

If it's one thing we have got Micheal Eisner for it's his taste for architecture - I only really hold Micheal Graves against that.

[Coheteboy]

I've been in the WDFA building and thought it was fine. But then again, I'll love any work area that has a ping pong or foosball table for the employees.