Archinect - News

Thom Mayne Announces Winners of the 2013 Julius Shulman Emerging Talent Award

2013-06-07T19:09:00-04:00

[...] unique to this event was a student design contest among the top seven schools of architecture in Los Angeles. Teams of three students from each school participated in a three-day competition in February to design a Continuing Care Retirement Community that will promote social interaction and community on the MLK Medical Center Campus in the South Los Angeles community of Willowbrook.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas joined Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne to honor the team from Woodbury University in Burbank with the Julius Shulman Emerging Talent Award. [...] Honorable Mentions went to the teams from CalPoly Pomona and USC.

The schools participating in the charrette were:

University of Southern California
Otis College of Art and Design
University of California, Los Angeles
California State University, Long Beach
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Woodbury University
Southern California Institute of Architecture

See the MOCA U-Hauls Full of Ingenious Architectural Solutions - LA Architects Making the World a Better Place

2013-06-06T18:58:00-04:00

A squadron of U-Hauls descended on the parking lot in front of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA last weekend, setting up a pop-up architecture exhibition in the first in a series of events called On the Road. The U-Hauls served as temporary displays for the work of up-and-coming, experimental architecture practices here in Los Angeles--where architecture businesses are known for being experimental, even if they don't often get a chance to deploy those innovations in Los Angeles.

Winners of the 2013 Los Angeles Architectural Awards Announced

2013-06-06T15:47:00-04:00

At a festive ceremony yesterday afternoon, the Los Angeles Business Council unveiled the winners of its 2013 Los Angeles Architectural Awards. The program recognizes buildings from throughout the region for their excellence in design, commitment to sustainability and impact on the community. Architectural icon and SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe was honored with the L.A. Architectural Lifetime Achievement Award.

Peter Zumthor's $450,000,000 'Black Flower' for LACMA

2013-06-03T14:10:00-04:00

"Bracingly forward-looking, Zumthor's design for LACMA would give the city a much-needed jolt of architectural energy."

Zumthor's design, which obliterates the original campus of LACMA, would cost an estimated $450M to construct, with another $200M in soft and operating costs built in.

A few questions abound: is this really any different (in overall approach) than OMA's ill-fated masterplan from roughly 10 years ago? Will this truly solve LACMA's core collections questions? And would the money raised be much better allocated towards improving those, the existing facilities and creating a long term operations fund to help stabilize the institution?

Frank Gehry back in MOCA architecture show, coaxed by Thom Mayne

2013-06-01T09:48:00-04:00

With his fellow Pritzker Prize-winning L.A. architect, Thom Mayne, playing the self-described role of “ombudsman” and “facilitator,” Frank Gehry is back in the fold for a major exhibition on Los Angeles architects that will open June 16 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Frank Gehry says new subway could be 'disaster' for Disney Hall

2013-05-28T13:34:00-04:00

Frank Gehry has raised concerns that concerts at his Disney Hall in Los Angeles could be ruined by a planned subway line that would run close to the venue. Recent simulations suggest rumbling might be audible in the concert hall. These have provoked the architect to call for the Metro’s own noise projections, which two years ago predicted there would be no audible impact, to be reviewed.

L.A. artists, architects' effect on each other at MAK Center exhibit

2013-05-24T18:49:00-04:00

The exhibition at the MAK Center in West Hollywood, curated by UCLA architectural historian and critic Sylvia Lavin, is a wry study of the ways Los Angeles artists and architects worked with, leaned on, stole from and influenced one another in the 1970s. In a larger sense, it charts the way Southern California architects threw off the influence of establishmen Modernism and helped remake the profession in that decade.

Packed with mostly small-scale work by artists Judy Chicago, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Smithson, Ed Moses and architects Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Charles Moore, Cesar Pelli and Frank Gehry, among many others, it is easily the most surprising and opinionated of the exhibitions to open as part of the Getty L.A. architecture series "Pacific Standard Time Presents."

Jorge Pardo & Oscar Tuazon, in conversation

2013-05-23T18:22:00-04:00

Though indebted to conventional artistic methodologies, the vibrant, playful works of Jorge Prado lack traditional notions of artistic autonomy, with multiple uses straddling sculpture, furniture and architecture. Over espresso and a cigarette in the kitchen of his Los Angeles home, Pardo shares with Oscar Tuazon his processes of transforming built environments into functionally fluid sites designed to facilitate a diversity of experience.

Eclectic Revisited: Preserving Venice's Architectural Context

2013-05-14T18:35:00-04:00

In Venice, Sandmeier wanted to tell the story of a whole neighborhood, not just emphasize the architectural merits of any one structure, and in doing so build a history of architects and artists working together. "Buildings are important for different reasons. Sometimes it's the architecture, sometimes it is the history, and sometimes it is the context," she explains. "Venice is a place with such rich cultural context that underlies the whole community, there is a lot to talk about."

Mimi Zeiger reports from the self-guided tour "Venice Eclectic: Modern Architecture from the '70s and '80s", part of "Curating the City Modern Architecture in L.A.," the Conservancy's ongoing contribution to Pacific Standard Time: Modern Architecture in Los Angeles.

Growing "Fruit Activists" and "social art"

2013-05-13T13:44:00-04:00

The decision to go with “edible art” as part of a larger park renovation, rather than a standard mural, was seen as a way to foster residents’ participation, said Karly Katona, a deputy to Mark Ridley-Thomas, the local county supervisor.

Patricia Brown highlights the work of the group Fallen Fruit, particularly their recent installation of California's first public fruit park in Del Aire, outside Los Angeles. She also outlines a growing fruit-activist movement, who use urban agriculture as a way to explore issues of public health, public space and civic engagement.

Historic Los Angeles Union Station facing renovation plans

2013-05-02T13:14:00-04:00

While high-speed rail remains an uncertain prospect in California, it is the centerpiece of four design concepts unveiled Wednesday for modernizing Union Station. Architects commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to upgrade the 77-year-old transit hub in downtown Los Angeles showed preliminary plans that put a high-speed rail system atop, beneath or alongside existing subways without compromising the character of the historic landmark.

Metro will hold a community workshop on the Union Station Master Plan at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, 2013, at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

Previously:

MOCA architecture show, funded by Getty, could face cancellation

2013-05-02T12:46:00-04:00

The exhibition was planned as an exploration of the last 25 years of Los Angeles architecture, with work by Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Michael Maltzan, Barbara Bestor and many younger architects. It was funded in part by a Getty Foundation grant of $445,000. No other single show in the PSTP series received a grant as large, according to a Getty press release. A 272-page catalog, co-published by Rizzoli, is already complete.

Facing delays in finishing the installation of the show, the show will be canceled, or, at best, delayed.

LACMA taps Zumthor for $650-million new look

2013-05-01T14:08:00-04:00

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, an acclaimed Swiss architect is hoping to pull off what an acclaimed Dutch one could not. Next month LACMA will publicly unveil a $650-million plan by Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor for a dramatic new museum building along Wilshire Boulevard.

Motion Picture Academy unveils Renzo Piano's design for LA film museum

2013-04-16T15:25:00-04:00

Italian architect Renzo Piano, Los Angeles architect Zoltan Pali and officials from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled preliminary designs Thursday for a $300-million film museum at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The architectural centerpiece of the 290,000-square-foot complex, just west of the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, would be a giant glass-enclosed dome, which Piano refers to as the "sphere" and the "soap bubble."

Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990

2013-04-09T18:11:00-04:00

This exhibition charts L.A.’s rapid transformation into one of the globe’s most influential industrial, economic and creative capitals. From its ambitious freeway network and sleek coffee shops, to its dynamic cultural destinations and experimental residences, the vast metropolis’s rich yet often underappreciated built environment is reexamined, promising new insight into the region’s development and impact as a vibrant laboratory for cutting-edge design.

Only 4 more days to enter the LA Film Festival Design Competition! And we've got a new celebrity judge!

2013-04-09T17:06:00-04:00

As we previously announced, we've partnered up with the LA Film Festival and Designer Pages to host a competition to design the interiors and layout of this year's VIP Director's Lounge at the LA Film Festival. There are only a few days left until the deadline, but don't fret, you can still submit a winning entry!

We're looking for creative solutions to the design problem described in the brief. The winner will be selected both on his/her proposal, AND also his/her experience and previous work as displayed on his/her Archinect profile. If you have a killer portfolio, and some good ideas, we encourage you to submit! The winner will be prominently displayed among a very prestigious group of wealthy and creative people in the entertainment industry, which is a pretty sweet place to market your design skills.

More information can be found on the competition website: competition.lafilmfest.com

Questions? Send to lafilm@designerpages.com

Oh, one more thing, we've just added a ne...

UCLA engineers will study the stability of Watts Towers

2013-04-01T16:37:00-04:00

The Watts Towers in South Los Angeles will be the subject of a new study conducted by experts from UCLA to determine the stability of the historic sculptures, which were completed by Simon Rodia in 1954. The study, now underway, is expected to be completed by early next year.

Announcing the 2013 LA Film Festival Director's Lounge Design Competition, co-hosted by Archinect

2013-03-27T14:56:00-04:00

We're excited to announce a competition we're co-hosting with Designer Pages and the LA Film Festival. This competition seeks proposals for the interior design/layout of the VIP Director's Lounge for this year's LA Film Festival.

The winner will have their design executed, with a cash prize and an "Industry Badge" pass to the LA Film Festival in June. The winner's designs will also be on display in the director's lounge throughout the festival, which will be seen by many of the entertainment industry's most influential and respected members (hint: pretty amazing source for new clients).

Take a look at the website for the full details - competition.lafilmfest.com

No robots in our homes, but many predictions about 2013 come true

2013-03-22T12:44:00-04:00

The April 3, 1988, magazine's cover illustration showed bubble-shaped cars traveling in "electro lanes" on a double-decked, high-rise-lined 1st Street in downtown's Civic Center area. The cover's headline was "L.A. 2013: Techno-Comforts and Urban Stresses — Fast Forward to One Day in the Life of a Future Family."

To read the 1988 Los Angeles Times Magazine's future prediction, DOCUMENT: 1988 'L.A. 2013' essay, click here.

Frank Gehry designing new tower in Santa Monica

2013-03-04T11:52:00-05:00

Frank Gehry is designing a new 22-story tower that developers want to build in downtown Santa Monica, near the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, according to the official website for the project. The structure will feature space for a hotel and condominiums, as well as restaurant and retail space.

Massive mixed-use project in Hollywood clears a hurdle

2013-02-20T16:47:00-05:00

A proposal for two skyscrapers that would flank the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood gained the approval of the city's planning department Tuesday despite push-back from dozens of disgruntled residents. The Millennium Hollywood plans are the most ambitious in a string of revitalization projects in the area, including the W Hotel and the Hollywood & Highland Center. The $664-million mixed-use development could include more than 1 million square feet of apartment, office and retail space.

Previously: First Plans Released For Huge Towers Next to Capitol Records

Pacific Standard Time's architecture focus moves forward

2013-02-08T20:31:00-05:00

Last time around the focus was Southern California's art history; now homegrown architecture is getting its time in the sun. Getty Trust leaders are announcing Monday the final roster of exhibition and event partners in its Pacific Standard Time spinoff, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in Southern California, slated to run April through July.

Moby Celebrates LA Architecture for Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.

2013-02-07T15:00:00-05:00

Musician, DJ, photographer and architecture blogger Moby riffs on LA architecture in this video about the Getty-led initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.

L.A. imagined: The city that isn't

2013-01-23T20:12:00-05:00

It all leads one to ponder the what-if Los Angeles, to imagine the city that would exist today if the best proposals for remedying its ailments had been realized. Los Angeles would now include a ring of thousands of acres of urban and regional parks, a bold, space-age airport, a winged nature center for Griffith Park and hillside housing developments sculpted to the contours of the landscape rather than sitting on graded and terraced scars. We would be living in a very different city.

Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell talk about their co-curated show, Never Built: Los Angeles, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.

Developer Unveils New Plan for Grand Avenue, sans Gehry

2013-01-18T19:47:00-05:00

Developer Ditches Gehry Mega-Project for Phased Approach, Starting With Second Residential Tower The real estate development firm Related’s long-delayed plan to build a $2 billion Frank Gehry-designed hotel, housing and retail complex on Grand Avenue has been off the table for several years. Now, a new proposal is finally coming into focus.

L.A. architecture school is poised to spread its wings

2012-12-26T01:33:00-05:00

Unlike more traditional colleges, SCI-Arc, as it is known, has no lawn or central quad to accommodate graduation ceremonies and other big events. The school uses the parking lot for such gatherings, but it lacks amenities and charm, despite remarkable views of downtown skyscrapers. Now an ambitious project is in the works to create what teachers and students believe will fill the need and become a landmark in a neighborhood that is morphing from gritty to artsy.

McCarthy /Brooks + Scarpa/HMC Architects Unveils Team’s Vision for the New United States Courthouse, Los Angeles

2012-12-14T19:15:00-05:00

McCarthy/Brooks + Scarpa /HMC Architects have released their proposal for the Design Excellence/design-build competition for new United States courthouse in Los Angeles. The contractor lead design/build team was selected to compete thru the General Services Administration two-stage Design Excellence Program. The approximately 550,000 sq. ft. high-rise building located at 1st and Hill Street is designed to accommodate a future 175,000 sq. ft. federal office building. The proposed 320 foot tall structure will be certified LEED Platinum and will save nearly 2 million gallons of water per year. 

 Design Concept:
 Inspired by the interweaving of a grand natural arch embedded with a memory of the scales of Lady Justice who represents the allegorical personification of the moral force of our judicial systems, the proposed design symbolizes the strength, dignity and balanced fairness of the Federal Court. As the visitor approaches they will discover that the acanthus leaf pattern o...

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to Design Federal Courthouse

2012-12-12T15:21:00-05:00

Federal officials this morning announced that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architects has won the contract to build a $400 million Downtown courthouse. “Today, the new federal courthouse is that much closer to becoming a reality for downtown Los Angeles,” said Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard in a prepared statement. The selection, she said, “means we are moving toward the groundbreaking of a critically needed facility that will resolve long-standing security and space issues.”

Oscar Niemeyer's LA house for Joseph and Anne Strick

2012-12-07T13:23:00-05:00

... he did design one house in the US, "where he was long banned because of his leftist political associations," according to an Architectural Digest story from 2005. The 1963 Strick House sits on Santa Monica's architecture-packed La Mesa Drive, and it was designed via post--Niemeyer never visited the site or met Joseph and Anne Strick, who commissioned the house (Joseph was a filmmaker best known for his adaptation of Ulysses and in fact divorced Anne before the house was even finished).

Eric Chavkin shared an interesting story about this house in the comments from the news post announcing Niemeyer's death...

I wrote this a couple of years ago

Go Oscar go...102 years.

In 1964 Oscar Niemeyer designed a residence for the art doc and film director and also producer Joe Strick. I got to meet Joe Strick as he was partners with a friend of mine, screenwriter and director Fred Haines, who I invited and they arrived to party at the book launch of Voluptuous Panic held at Adam Parfrey's Echo Park house.

That was fun evening. Of course Parfrey and I asked Strick about working with Niemeyer but the owner and architect never did meet only corresponded.

Funny how it goes; Inventor and new cinema filmaker Stick hires a world famous architect Niemeyer to design a modern home in Los Angeles, then the Brazilian architect's only residence in North America. During construction Strick and his wife divorce. The property is sold and later forgotten, almost demolished, b...

A look into Thom Mayne's home

2012-12-06T14:12:00-05:00

Taut concrete skin, structural glass, an escalator with nothing to hide, everything kinetic, a roof that rocks and rolls. Thom Mayne has given us the most exciting building in Dallas. Plastic cuckoo clocks, his wife Blythe, his dog Isis, his socks, his shoes, his Pritzker prize, the garden, the cereal, the coffee, showers you can see through, columns that could roll. This is where he lives.