Archinect - News

Editor's Picks #564

2024-11-05T12:29:00-05:00

As part of the Archinect In-Depth: Licensure series, Niall Patrick Walsh gathered perspectives from Mike Armstrong, CEO of NCARB, Pascale Sablan, President of NOMA, architect and author Melvin L. Mitchell, writer and editor John Parman, architect and Professor Emeritus at George B. Johnston and Peggy Deamer author and Professor Emerita at Yale University.

Later, Kate Wingert-Playdon, Senior Associate Dean and Director of Architecture at Temple University, made the case for "always working in collaboration. That is a strong theme here at Tyler...so many good results in the built environment rely on good relationships, including well-conceived contracts…Respect is a big piece of collaboration. This is not to say that all design comes down to a contract; it is still about creative thinking. But a good contract isn’t just about business and law".

News

The_Crow felt the Snøhetta-led expansion for The Joslyn Art Museum was "pretty corporate tbh". What’s your take?

Photo © Nic Lehoux, cou...

Farshid Moussavi one of ten appointed to Mayor of London’s new Town Architects committee

2024-10-29T15:53:00-04:00

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced the appointment of Harvard GSD professor and architect Farshid Moussavi to a new two-year pilot program to improve public space and high streets in the city.

The Town Architects program includes ten total names and is meant to "support the creation of safe, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhoods and economic growth by ensuring that boroughs" by augmenting the planning process in unison with Chief Placeshaping Officers and Design Champions. Each architect was chosen from the existing Design Advocates pool. Joining Moussavi are Jas Bhalla, Adam Khan, Ken Okonkwo, Holly Lewis, Hilary Satchwell, Paul Monaghan, Tom Holbrook, Alice Fung, Julian Lewis.

New York City previews initial pedestrian-minded ‘Future of Fifth’ redesign proposal

2024-10-21T18:51:00-04:00

The full details for a proposed new pedestrian corridor along Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan designed by Field Operations have been released by the city in anticipation of the first redesign of the famous thoroughfare in its 200-year history.

The plan covers a swath from Central Park South to Bryant Park, expanding sidewalks in the area by 46% and reducing the number of lanes for motor vehicle traffic from five to three.

Arcadis and Sam Schwartz Engineering are joining Field Operations as the co-leads of the design and study. Their work expands on the previous mayoral administration’s Open Streets program. The city says the plan is "projected to pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue."

Image courtesy of City Hall

Aside from the stated economic benefit the redesign is meant ultimately to solve an existing spatial imbalance, as 70% of Fifth Avenue's current daily traffic is pedestrians.

At this volume—which increases during times wh...

$2 billion Fourth & Central plan for LA's Arts District gets update

2024-10-17T17:05:00-04:00

The $2 billion plan for the mixed-use Fourth & Central development in downtown LA has been altered away from the project’s originally announced 10-building plan in the Arts District. Studio One Eleven is leading the plan, which has been updated as of October 17th.

The update includes more rental housing than its previous iteration. An Adjaye Associates-designed residential tower has also been resized from 44 stories to 30 stories in response to "community concerns," according to developer Continuum's late-August statement in the LA Times.

Image rendering courtesy Studio One Eleven and Adjaye Associates

Image courtesy Studio One Eleven

Foster + Partners debuts Gaafaru Island master plan for the Maldives

2024-10-17T15:55:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled a new resiliency-based master plan for the low-lying Gaafaru Island in the Maldives. The plan addresses the existential crisis posed to the island by climate change, providing "holistic" solutions along multiple fronts where there is a need for a better economic and environmental way forward.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

According to the firm, the six core tenets of the plan are:

Adapting to rising sea levels and extreme conditions
Minimizing damaging dredging and land reclamation practices
Nurturing ecology
Enhancing prosperity for all
Unifying communities
Establishing net zero energy, water and waste

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

Partner Tony Miki said: "A significant part of this project has been about identifying and understanding the various challenges – and then working out how to tackle them in the most holistic way possible. Our masterplan seeks to embed resilience into the built fabric for the next one-hundred years, providing ecological prote...

Field Operations completes major elevated walkway on Seattle waterfront

2024-10-08T08:31:00-04:00

Seattle’s Waterfront Park transformation took another step closer to completion last week with the opening of Overlook Walk, a new elevated park for the waterfront designed by Field Operations. The new walkway creates a “new pedestrian destination and journey between the city and waterfront,” linking the historic Pike Place Market with the Seattle Aquarium, Pier 62, Waterfront Park, and Elliott Bay.

Image credit: Tim Rice

The walkway is located in the footprint of the former Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was demolished to improve access to the waterfront. Sitting between Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium, Overlook Walk bridges a nearly 100 vertical foot gap between the market and waterfront, featuring 360-degree views of downtown Seattle, Lumen Field, T-Mobile Park, Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains on the western horizon, and Mount Rainier to the south.

Image credit: Tim Rice

Image credit: Lara Swimmer

The design also envelops the new Seattle Aquarium Ocea...

SCAPE completes Living Breakwaters coastal resiliency project for Staten Island

2024-10-01T11:01:00-04:00

SCAPE has completed work on the $111 million Living Breakwater coastal resiliency project in Staten Island, New York three years after the start of construction in the borough's Tottenville neighborhood.

Per SCAPE: "The project consists primarily of 2,400 linear feet of near-shore breakwaters—partially submerged structures built of stone and ecologically-enhanced concrete units—that will break waves, reduce (and eventually reverse) erosion of the beach along Conference House Park, and provide a range of habitat spaces for oysters, fin fish and other marine species."

Image courtesy SCAPE/Ty Cole

Staten Island was heavily impacted by Superstorm Sandy, prompting the launch of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Rebuild By Design competition in 2013. A live oyster installation for the project is expected to follow by 2027.

Image courtesy SCAPE/Ty Cole

Port Authority signs on to Foster + Partners' $10 billion Midtown Bus Terminal replacement plan

2024-09-30T18:19:00-04:00

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in conjunction with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), has announced the signing of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the revised Midtown Bus Terminal replacement plan from Foster + Partners and Epstein.

The $10 billion project, which was last updated in February, calls for a 2.1-million-square-foot terminal to be delivered in phases over four years with an eventual 2032 completion. The plan will partially close 41st Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. A temporary facility will come online by 2028. The terminal currently services around 100,000 passengers per day.

Image: Foster + Partners & Epstein

Field Operations announces new The Bentway Islands project in Toronto

2024-09-30T12:00:00-04:00

Field Operations has announced they are working with Canadian partners Brook McIlroy on a new public realm rehabilitation project dubbed The Bentway Islands in Toronto.

The plan calls for the redevelopment of three traffic islands into a new space that totals 125,000 square feet. Design concepts for the project will be revealed next year. It will serve as the "sister site" to a previously completed Phase I development. Field Operations also recently completed the final piece of the award-winning Domino Park in Williamsburg. Brooklyn.

Image courtesy The Bentway

Phase I of The Bentway development. Image courtesy Nic Lehoux

Phase I of The Bentway development. Image courtesy Brandon Ferguson

L.A moves new rezoning plan forward, critics say it will codify exclusion

2024-09-28T10:07:00-04:00

Will L.A. continue to preserve communities dominated by single-family homes? Or will the city make a historic shift to allow for more affordable housing in areas that have long excluded it?

City Planning officials voted on Thursday to approve the plan, which the LA Times pointed out is limited to just 28% of the city and areas that are heavily zoned for commercial and/or multifamily construction.

The publication had to use a F.O.I.L. Act petition to obtain a copy of the city-funded Architectural Resources Group/USC-UCLA report on outdated single-family zoning policies, which reads: "Detached single-family residences cover a disproportionate amount of the land zoned residential. This has resulted in an unaffordable housing market due, in part, to a pervasive lack of supply and the fact that single-family homes are more expensive than multi-family residences."

City Council has until February to approve a final rezoning plan in line with the state's original 2022 mandate.

Studio Egret West, Hawkins\Brown, Haworth Tompkins, and others behind $13.4 billion Earl's Court master plan in London

2024-09-27T17:13:00-04:00

A £10 billion ($13.4 billion USD) master plan for London’s Earl’s Court district has been submitted to planning officials in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea before the commencement of construction on its first phase in 2026. The plan covers 7.5 million square feet and includes 4,000 new residential units plus a 4.5-acre park and 2.9 million-square-feet office component.

Joining Studio Egret West and Hawkins\Brown on the project are dRMM, Maccreanor Lavington, Sheppard Robson, Haworth Tompkins, Serie Architects and ACME, and SLA. Approvals are expected by the summer of 2025.

Image: courtesy The Earls Court Development Company

SOM, Weiss/Manfredi, and Future Green's $336 million NJPAC redevelopment breaks ground in Newark

2024-09-20T11:05:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merril (SOM) have broken ground on a new $336 million campus redevelopment at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in downtown Newark. The state’s largest city will receive a new 350-unit SOM-designed ArtSide apartment complex through the plan. Other key elements include new headquarters for legendary WBGO radio, Future Green Studio’s reimagined Chambers Plaza park area, and the 58,000-square-foot Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center from Weiss/Manfredi.

ArtSide. Image: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, courtesy of NJPAC.

SOM had created the NJPAC’s original master plan in 1988. Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka commented: "The streets of Newark have always been steeped in the arts. This is a city where jazz and hip hop are in the breeze, and every wall without a mural is just a canvas no one’s yet claimed. The new neighborhood around NJPAC will fully embrace that dynamic spirit, bringing more housing, stores and gathering places to our already lively do...

1 in 3 American bridges are in need of significant repairs, new study finds

2024-09-16T11:49:00-04:00

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s 2024 Bridge Report survey has found 221,800 bridges in need of repair and 76,175 bridges that should be replaced across the country. The accounting, released in late August, claims that some 36%—or nearly 221,800 spans—require some repair work currently. States are simply not committing enough of their available bridge formula funds from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to adequately solve the repair problems, according to their analysis.

The report echoes the urgency of last year’s findings, which declared the exact same percentage of bridges to be "structurally deficient", requiring a total of $319 billion worth of repairs nationwide.

In the face of post-pandemic habits, U.S. cities turn to vernacular design traditions for answers

2024-09-12T07:00:00-04:00

Gone are the days when the easiest way to make an architectural splash was with a shimmering and photogenic stand-alone building, fancy forms torquing this way and that. Along with exploring new takes on regional or vernacular design traditions, the field’s top talents are taking on projects that reimagine existing institutions or public spaces — or forge new links among them.

In a new piece for The New York Times, Yale School of Architecture senior critic Christopher Hawthorne explores how architects are striving to rejuvenate downtown areas across the U.S., where hybrid work schedules and negative perceptions have led to reduced vibrancy.

While converting commercial buildings into residential spaces is a popular strategy, it's not always feasible due to structural constraints, Hawthorne argues. Architects are therefore exploring strategies to entice activity downtown by reimagining existing structures and incorporating regional aesthetics.

Related on Archinect: Foster + Partners' Three Transamerica redesign wins approval in San Francisco. Image credit: dbox, courtesy of Foster + Partners/SHVO

Throughout the New York Times piece, Hawthorne cites examples such as the Seattle Aquarium's Ocean Pavilion by LMN Architects which reconnects the city to its waterfront, the revitalized Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco by Foster + Partners aimed at attracting ...

Chicago pushes O'Hare Airport redevelopment completion target to 2034

2024-09-11T19:26:00-04:00

The official timeline of the planned $8.5 billion Chicago O’Hare Aiport expansion has been moved to 2034, according to Crain’s. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is working with Ross Barney Architects, Arup, and Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects (JGMA) to complete its first 19-gate Satellite Concourse 1 phase, which will be completed in 2028. Phase 2 will follow four years later (two years more than was previously scheduled). The $300 million renovation of Terminal 3, which broke ground in April, is expected to be complete by 2032.

Maryland officials announce design contract for collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge reconstruction

2024-09-07T12:00:00-04:00

The Maryland Department of Transportation has awarded the contract to rebuild the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge to Kiewit, a national infrastructure development firm with extensive experience in similar projects and a reported $17.1 billion in revenues last year. The AP reports the design contract is worth $73 million. Officials released the RFP in June following the March 26th disaster and will grant "exclusive rights" to the company for its second construction phase, which is expected to stretch into 2028. The total cost of reconstruction is expected to surpass $1.7 billion.

Related unveils plans for next phase of Hudson Yards

2024-08-30T11:30:00-04:00

Renderings of the next phase of Hudson Yards have been made public by Related Companies along with a construction price tag of $12 billion. Hudson Yards West will be built on top of the site’s still-undeveloped western rail yards and cultivate a 5.6-acre park called Hudson Green designed by HOLLANDER and Sasaki.

Related's CEO Jeff T. Blau says it will "be an oasis that becomes the new calling card of the neighborhood."

Rendering Courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Once in place, the project will yield a total of 1,500 new apartment units (Related has promised that 324 will be affordable) with an anchoring 80-story Wynn Resorts hotel and casino tower at Eleventh Avenue and 33rd Street. An architect for either of these components has yet to be named.

Rendering Courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is responsible for the total 13-acre master plan, which includes another 2-million-square-foot office component and public K-8 school. This...

New York City releases RFP to transform Park Avenue into a verdant, public space

2024-08-30T08:00:00-04:00

Earlier this week, the City of New York released a request for proposals (RFP) to redesign a portion of Park Avenue, between East 46th Street and East 57th Street, by adding greenery, public seating, concessions, and safer crossings for pedestrians.

This section of Park Avenue sits atop the Grand Central Terminal Train Shed, which is currently undergoing a major rehabilitation by the City and the MTA. The project includes replacing the train shed roof structure and waterproofing membrane, along with enhancing Park Avenue, which will be removed and reconstructed in stages as underground work occurs. The street will be restored with an expanded median for pedestrians. Its redesign aims to enhance public space, promote sustainable transit options, and foster community for residents and visitors.

The New York City Department of Transportation is seeking design services from a contractor with a background in landscape architecture or urban design to fill the wider median with elements,...

Message In a Bottle In Sainsbury

2024-08-29T21:36:00-04:00

The false columns in the foyer were part of the intended spatial sequence, conceived as a procession from shadow to light, inspired by the entry to an ancient church. Visitors would enter this crypt-like lower level, proceed up a grand staircase, and arrive in the airy galleries above.

Call it a reactionary's revenge if you want, but "a message in a bottle" was found inside one of the Sainsbury Wing's pilasters during the demolishment activity. It is said to have been written as a time capsule by one of the major donors of the Museum, Lord John Sainsbury.

While the message's author goes as far as to say, “I believe that the false columns are a mistake of the architect (VSBA) and that we would live to regret our accepting this detail of his design. Let it be known that one of the donors of this building is absolutely delighted that your generation has decided to dispense with the unnecessary columns.”

The Guardian's architecture critic Oliver Wainwright has the last piercing words for the client and their architect doing away with the old design; "More than 30 years later, Sainsbury’s view is shared by the National Gallery’s current administration. Director Gabriele Finaldi has said it is the “heavy grey architecture” and “forest” of thick pillars on the ground floo...

Editor's Picks #562

2024-08-29T20:31:00-04:00

Earlier this summer, Archinect invited the community to share insights and feedback on the economic outlook of their firm and sector. Analysis of these results has been released in two parts. Part I and Part II

The "survey showed a significant divergence between the sentiments of owners and workers" in a couple of key areas, which made sense to Donna Sink "overall employees are more anxious than owners. Possibly because they're younger and more pessimistic about the future in general?...It's bleak out here."

Plus, Joseph Choma, Director of Florida Atlantic University's School of Architecture, explained the thinking behind FAU’s five-year BArch and their approach to AI, demystifying the digital, teaching "computation even though they are not using a computer" and how "One of the roles of the architect will be to create a web or network to connect the AIs together".

News

The United States Department of Defense finalized a revision to the fee limitations for federal design projects aft...

Hassell and IAAC deploy 3D printing method for greater gender equality in Tanzania

2024-08-29T12:35:00-04:00

A new 3D printed project in Tanzania from Hassell and the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) team of researchers in Barcelona will provide housing, professional skills training, and education for young women in the village of Kibaha.

Within the new Hope Village master plan, which is being undertaken with help from Australia’s Clarke Hopkins Clarke (CHC), a new Community Building structure will take shape using earth materials and locally sourced timber sections.

Its realization expands on research that first began in Spain and has since earned the Shaping A Circular Industrial Ecosystem Prize at the New European Bauhaus Awards in 2023. Construction will start in 2025. Mark Loughnan, the Principal and Head of Design at Hassell, states: “We’re using design to uplift the way people experience their daily lives. In this instance, we’re using it to hopefully help, heal and educate — and we’re also using it to innovate.”

...

NYC forms task force to search for housing opportunities on gov't owned land

2024-08-26T14:53:00-04:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the formation of a new multi-agency task force aimed at finding city-owned land and properties that can be redeveloped in the interest of putting an end to its greatest housing crisis in more than 50 years.

According to amNewYork, the new City Housing Activation Task Force is operating under a directive to “review all land under the ownership and control of the city or of other participating and cooperating agencies and entities … to identify potential sites for housing development and to determine if such sites could be used to further housing production … without disruption to critical operations."

Former NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer is leading the task force. It expands on the 'City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal that was launched by the Adams administration in September of 2023.

Zaha Hadid Architects previews Discovery City master plan for southern Malaysia

2024-08-26T12:22:00-04:00

The first project from Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in Malaysia will be a master-planned Discovery City located within the Ibrahim Technolopolis (or IBTEC), a new 7,290-acre smart city in the southern state of Johor. While design details of the firm’s 582-acre contribution won’t be put forth in full until 2025, its initial announcement includes particulars such as a centerpiece cultural center (valued at appx. $62 million) and plans for strategies for renewable energy and water infrastructure. The project's total value is equal to about $6.2 billion USD.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Heatherwick details reimagined Sunset Place retail center in Miami

2024-08-23T11:58:00-04:00

A hyperlocal strategy and refinement of the site’s relationship with the street-level and corresponding parts of Midtown will be the defining features of Heatherwick Studios’ planned Sunset Place retail regeneration project in Miami.

The plan was put forth in detail via a 5-minute Instagram video this week. Heatherwick says: “Our idea is to get rid of the sterile atmosphere of the previous shopping mall and bring back streets influenced by the scale and charm of Sunset Drive. The plan is to extend the existing grid into the site and create continuous routes and a village of smaller, intimate spaces, framed in an extraordinary way by the apartments above.”

His newest humanizing design joins other newly announced mixed-use and retail projects from Kengo Kuma and David Chipperfield. No construction timelines for the project have been made available at this time.

Foster + Partners signs agreement for King Salman International Airport

2024-08-23T10:59:00-04:00

Promising it will deliver a "truly innovative approach to airport design that reinvents the passenger experience at every level," Foster + Partners has signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia for the next phase of the master plan for Riyadh’s King Salman International Airport after winning an international competition for its design in December 2022.

The airport, which is set to become one of the world's largest, bolsters the Saudi capital's position as a logistics hub with seven terminals and a capacity for 100 million annual travelers by the year 2030.

Within it, a 4.6-square-mile tract for residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets, and other airport operations/logistics will link back through a looping green corridor. The LEED Platinum plan will enhance connectivity to public transit and the city. Foster + Partners is also currently tendered to other aviation projects in Dubai, Cambodia, and the country's Aseer region.

...

Are New Towns really the best new hope for ending the UK housing crisis?

2024-08-19T17:45:00-04:00

Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver.

Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a self-identifying YIMBY who wants to "bulldoze" planning rules and overrule local-led resistance to get it done. The strategy, which preceded a new plan central to Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign, could still regrettably wind up hemmed in by a notoriously parochial planning process which, nevertheless, gifted the world with Milton Keynes and other important architecture.

His deputy Angela Rayner says the list of sites to be developed won't be revealed until the end of this year. RIBA's President Muyiwa Oki has said at the outset that their plan "offers overarching solutions, but lacks critical detail on delivering social housing and futureproofing existing homes."

LA issues RFQ for $352 million Exposition Park recharge

2024-08-19T11:52:00-04:00

The City of Los Angeles will issue a major $352 million upgrade to Exposition Park in its build-up to the 2028 Olympic Games in an effort to address spatial inequalities in neighborhoods that had been “historically left behind,” Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said at the August 1st announcement.

In order to help mitigate the effects of an urban heat island in one of California’s most park-deficient and densely populated areas, the project will install a new six-acre green space and underground parking structure. Residents of the surrounding neighborhoods in South LA will benefit from the incorporation of other state-of-the-art amenities like EV charging stations and a new community space after asphalt surface parking areas are removed from its southeast corner. The announcement noted this area is currently underserved with only about 1 acre of green space available per every 1,000 persons, which is about ten times less than the national average.

Image: Torti-Gallas + Partners

Califor...

Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s

2024-08-16T16:13:00-04:00

The story of modern architecture in St. Louis is complex and often contradictory.

Beginning in the 1930s, internationally known architects such as Eric Mendelsohn, Eero Saarinen and Minoru Yamasaki — alongside important regional and national figures like Harris Armstrong, Charles Fleming, Joseph Murphy and Gyo Obata — created iconic structures that embodied new ideas about form and, in many cases, democratic social organization. Yet the period also was marked by racial segregation and by large-scale demolitions throughout the urban core.

This fall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s.” With nearly 300 architectural drawings, models, photographs, films, digital maps and artworks, “Design Agendas” is the first major exhibition to examine how interlocking civic, cultural and racial histories, as well as conflicting ideological aims, reshaped the city.

“I lived in Pruitt-Ig...

Disney previews major theme park expansions in Florida and California

2024-08-13T13:04:00-04:00

Disney’s magical footprint is about to expand through a new strategic initiative at its long-established Orlando and Anaheim theme parks.

The company’s largest-ever expansion of Walt Disney World in Florida is reportedly worth $17 billion and will unfold over a period of 15 years to cover 17,000 acres. The Orlando project will deliver Disney’s first-ever suspended roller coaster design and, among other attractions, a new section dedicated to villains.

Rendering courtesy of Walt Disney Co.

Back in California, Disneyland’s Avengers Campus will double in size, while the popular Avatar franchise will get its own dedicated destination nearby. It is unclear whether this is part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward expansion project announced in March.

Rendering courtesy of Walt Disney Co.

Disney Experiences Chairman D’Amato said, “Work is well underway on all of the new projects we announced, and fans will start to see them come to life in the near future.”

...

Checking in on LA's ‘28 by 28’ transit plan with an eye on the next Summer Olympics

2024-08-09T18:00:00-04:00

New reporting on the transportation infrastructure strategy for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles from the local NBC affiliate has shown glaring gaps that may complicate the promises made previously by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and other officials.

The report found that ten L.A. Metro projects will not be completed until after 2028. Metro, which received $900 million in funding for the expansion this spring, is still facing a $400 million deficit. Altogether, the projects (which also include freeway improvements around L.A. County) are worth a total of $42.9 billion. The most important of these is the Purple Line extension to the Westside, which has faced numerous cost overruns and construction challenges since work first began in 2014.