2024-04-28T02:49:45-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/121431802/alicia-eler-s-ode-to-jon-jerde-and-the-mall-as-part-of-the-american-experience Alexander Walter 2015-02-23T13:49:00-05:00 >2024-01-23T19:16:08-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/by/by7d7xmin4a75euv.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>I love the mall as much as I love the urban walking experience, museums and movie theaters. Today the stripmall is not just a part of my everyday life in Los Angeles [...] it is also a memory from my own suburban adolescence growing up in Illinois. Jon Jerde, the LA architect both celebrated and loathed for his role in spreading shopping malls across US suburbia, died this month. Some might scoff at his life&rsquo;s achievement. I am not one of them.</p></em><br /><br /><p>Previously:&nbsp;<a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/120367884/jon-jerde-founder-and-chairman-of-the-jerde-partnership-has-died" target="_blank">Jon Jerde, founder and chairman of The Jerde Partnership, has died</a></p> https://archinect.com/news/article/120367884/jon-jerde-founder-and-chairman-of-the-jerde-partnership-has-died Justine Testado 2015-02-09T19:22:00-05:00 >2024-01-23T19:16:08-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/xa/xa5ynfrlmhgq1wua.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Jon Jerde, founder and chairman of the Venice, California-based Jerde Partnership, passed away today in his home in the Brentwood area in Los Angeles after a longterm illness. He was 75.</p> <p>Born in Alton, Illinois on January 22, 1940, Jerde grew up in the oilfields of the West where his father worked as an engineer at Fluor. After his parents divorced in 1952, he and his mother moved to a garage apartment in Long Beach, California, a city he soon developed a connection with. While Jerde studied engineering at UCLA, a chance meeting in 1958 with Arthur Gallion -- dean of the USC School of Architecture -- led to Jerde studying architecture at USC after Gallion recognized his talent through his sketches.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.archinect.net/images/514x/3p/3p8xnnie8ztmhmv0.jpg"></p> <p>Jerde led a multi-disciplinary team that created more than 100 urban places worldwide since The Jerde Partnership's inception in 1977. He developed the concept of "placemaking", which can be defined as designing memorable vibrant places, using entertainment and shopping as catalysts. Thi...</p>