British firm Foster + Partners has unveiled a masterplan for a site in Beverly Hills that will include plant-covered residences and elevated botanical gardens.
Unveiled by developers Alagem Capital Group and Cain International, One Beverly Hills is designed for a 17.5 acre (seven hectare) site that is home to the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotels.
The masterplan proposal develops the triangular site, which is located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, with an "ultra-luxury hotel" including 42 suites and 37 residences, two residential buildings with 303 units and a four-storey pavilion for shopping boutiques and eateries.
Visual is by DBOX for Alagem Capital
The surroundings are transformed into 8.5 acres (3.4 hectares) of garden, with over 300 species of plants and trees, that Foster + Partners' founder Norman Foster said references the history of Californian city Beverly Hills. "In its beginnings, Beverly Hills was agricultural flat land ? a green oasis that fed a growing urbanity," he said.
"A century later, we have seized on this inspiration to create an organic architecture that merges with landscape, a large part of which is publicly accessible, creating a shared resource for the city."
Renderings of the project show a pair of rounded, glazed residential buildings wrapped by curvilinear white balconies and greenery. Three lower-level buildings have a similar aesthetic. 

The Merv Gr...