Archinect - News

Longtime beloved SCI-Arc faculty member Robert Mangurian passes away

2023-07-10T13:01:00-04:00

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has announced the recent passing of influential longtime faculty member Robert Mangurian in Los Angeles at the age of 82.

Mangurian originally hailed form Baltimore. After moving to the Bay Area to study at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford, respectively, he moved to NYC to practice, and soon after relocated to Los Angeles where he joined the Los Angeles-based practice Studio Works Architects in 1969, originally founded by Craig Hodgetts, Keith Godard, and Peter DeBretteville.

Mangurian lectured at Yale, Rice, Harvard, the University of Michigan, and the University of Virginia in addition to his decades-long tenure at the SCI-Arc, which ended in 2018. He was awarded the prestigious Chrysler Design Award in 2001 and was later inducted into the American Academy in Rome along with his practice partner and fellow SCI-Arc faculty member, Mary-Ann Ray.

Mangurian, along with Frederick Fisher, Eric Owen Moss, Coy ...

Iconic Los Angeles home designer Harry Gesner has passed away at the age of 97

2022-06-14T16:41:00-04:00

Los Angeles’ architectural community is mourning the death of a legendary figure in its storied history of residential design after reports that Wave House architect Harry Gesner passed away Friday, June 10 at his Malibu home following a battle with cancer.

Best-known as the designer of several important residential commissions such as the Cole House, the Hollywood Boathouses, and Eagle's Watch which helped create a more nuanced visual culture for Southern California.

Gesner was a headstrong modernist who broke with certain midcentury conventions in pursuit of his own vision of landscape-derived naturalistic “nests” that were deliberately more responsive to both environmental elements and the local character.

An image of Gesner's Eagle Watch home from its current Airbnb listing. Image courtesy of Airbnb via super host Katherine VandeVoort

An avid surfer and gregarious regular in Hollywood circles, Gesner rubbed elbows with celebrities like Errol Flynn and is said to have learned to ...

For Labor Day, FORT: LA is offering free downloadable "trails" of the city's best residential architecture

2020-09-03T18:19:00-04:00

Friends of Residential Treasures: LA (FORT: LA) are offering locals and others the opportunity to experience and learn about the history of Los Angeles residential architecture. Compiled by a group of curators dubbed "trailblazers," the carefully-outlined trails will highlight the architectural beauty of LA.

Singleton House. Richard Nuetra.

For the month of September, and to kick off the new offering, international photographer and writer Tim Street-Porter will kick off "Tim's 20th Century: A House for Each Decade," in which the photographer lists his personal selections of LA homes that represent each decade of the 20th century and how he chose the photographs and structures.

Eames Case Study House No. 8. Charles and Ray Eames.

Some of the homes included are The Gamble House, the Horatio West Court, the Millard House (La Miniatura), the Dolores Del Rio House, the Charles and Ray Eames House, the Singleton House, the Reiner-Burchill Residence (Silvertop), the Gehry Residence, the Schn...

Architecture helps memorialize basketball legend Kobe Bryant

2020-01-27T16:43:00-05:00

Many are shaken by the recent news of the tragic deaths of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and 7 other people in Los Angeles over the weekend. As fans grieve the loss, the city of Los Angeles mourns for Bryant. With the number of accolades and championships Bryant has won during his 20-year career, the impact he's had on the sport and the city of Los Angeles is insurmountable.

Coverage of the heartbreaking incident sent shockwaves through the media, and curiously, during this time of widespread grief, Los Angeles took to its built environment to honor one of the city's most esteemed athletes. On Sunday night, several LA buildings sported the Lakers' trademark purple and gold team colors. Fans across the nation also shared photos of cities repping Laker purple and gold.

Nice tribute! The Gores Group in Beverly Hills lit up their building tonight too. #RIPMamba pic.twitter.com/TGPbmycGai
— ACF in LA (@ACFinLA) January 27, 2020 From @HoustonTX too- our bridges lit...

Godfather of LA architecture, Robert Winter, author of "An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles", has died

2019-02-12T15:38:00-05:00

Robert Winter, the architectural historian who spent his life chronicling Los Angeles' sweeping cityscape, passed away Saturday night at age 94. His death was confirmed by his publisher, Angel City Press.

Author of the seminal work, An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, Winter is widely considered as the godfather of Los Angeles architecture, and his writings, as Southern California's bible. The exhaustive collection, now in its sixth edition, was notable for going beyond the already famous to feature the humble, manmade structures and other physical features of the city. In his writings, the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and Gregory Ain, appear alongside gas stations, subway stops, and fast food restaurants with equal importance.

Batchelder House in Arroyo Seco.

While his guidebook spanned all regions and styles, from Beaux-Arts to High Tech, Winter himself had a strong affinity towards the American Arts and Crafts movement, for which Southern...

Irving Gill, Homer Laughlin and the Beginnings of Modern Architecture in Los Angeles

2018-04-02T18:26:00-04:00

Gill, for Christ's sake, get your hair cut.-FLW

If you think architecture has a dense web of characters and influences now, read So. Cal's arch historian John Crosse's account of the development of modernism in Los Angeles, going all the way to Adler & Sullivan's prestigious office in the Auditorium Building in Chicago.

Front elevation, George Steckel Residence, Normandie Ave. near 4th St., Los Angeles, 1910. Courtesy of UC-Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collections, Irving Gill Archive.

"The evolution of modernism in Los Angeles architecture can arguably be traced back to the Auditorium Building offices of Adler & Sullivan in the early 1890s. The Auditorium Building was Adler & Sullivan's crowning achievement and met with rave reviews in the local and national press and trade journals as setting the bar for buildings of its typology upon its 1889-90 completion. The now famous partners and their chief draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright excitedly moved their offices into their masterpiece of engineering and interior design's tower ...

The quiet legacy of the late architect Gin Wong, who helped shape L.A.'s postwar cityscape

2017-09-11T19:43:00-04:00

In other ways — in almost every other way — Wong’s career was a study in complexity. Political and ethnic complexity, mostly. And the complicated question of credit in architecture: Who gets it, who doesn’t and who has the authority to hand it out. [...] If not for the persistence of that narrative, Gin Wong’s contribution to postwar L.A. would be far better understood. It’s that simple.

In a recent column, Christopher Hawthorne highlights the quiet legacy of architect Gin Wong, who passed away September 1 at the age of 94. Wong worked as director of design for William Pereira in the 1960s before opening his own firm in 1973. Some of his projects include LAX's original design in the 1950s, the swooping Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills, the ARCO Tower, and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, to name a few. In stories like Wong's, Hawthorne questions the “tricky conversation of authorship, which remains stunted in architecture”.

Clocks and Clouds, The Architecture of Escher GuneWardena

2017-08-04T13:03:00-04:00

The title Clocks and Clouds comes from philosopher Karl Popper’s essay on rationality and freedom, but also describes the dreamy precision, the spirit, and the material of Escher GuneWardena’s art.

A gem of an exhibition by Escher GuneWardena whose work meticulously navigates architecture, art and design. The quietly original and meaningful architecture of the firm can be classified as timeless and critical, alluding to philosophy of Karl Popper. The work reflects the best tenets of modern architecture and the geographical particularities of Los Angeles. Not to be missed if you are in Southern California. Curated by Lilian Pfaff and Jocelyn Gibbs, the show runs until Sunday, August 20, 2017.

The exhibition also features a new book on architects' work, 'Clocks and Clouds, Architecture of Escher GuneWardena.' Edited by Lilian Pfaff, featuring essays by Martino Stierli, Barbara Lamprecht, Nicholas Olsberg, Mimi Zeiger and Paulette Singley. Available here.

Bid for a cocktail party at the VDL, a “Hostage Situationist” experience, and more fun items in L.A. Forum's 2016 auction

2016-10-28T15:02:00-04:00

The L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design is hosting a silent online auction as part of their Fall Benefit starting now until November 13. When architecture is involved, the items up for bidding are bound to be an interesting mix — and the more than 80 items in this particular auction don't disappoint.

Bidders can choose from books signed by the likes of Frank Gehry, Barbara Bestor, and Aaron Betsky, unique hand-made accessories, photographs, and one-of-a-kind experiences (Hostage Situationist, anyone?), all ranging from $50 to $1,000 — so no need to worry about million-dollar pricetags here. For starters, here are some items that caught our attention:

All screenshots via L.A. Forum.

Find all the auction items here. More info here.

Three dozen projects win big in 2016 Los Angeles Architectural Awards

2016-06-21T14:54:00-04:00

A fresh set of three dozen projects were recognized in the 2016 Los Angeles Architectural Awards. Organized by the LA Business Council, the awards recognize some of L.A. County's top-notch designers and projects... “This year designers rose to the challenge to design more eco-conscious and efficient features, and generally improve the way people live through architecture”

Here are a few of this year's winners:

Beyond L.A. Award - Harbin Opera House. Architect: MAD Architects.

Landscape Architecture Award - Apollo at Rosecrans. Design Architect: Ehrlich Architects | Landscape Architect: LRM Landscape Architecture and Urban Design

Healthcare Award - Kaplan Family Pavilion at City of Hope. Architect: Belzberg Architects.

Kronish House Award. Architect/Contractor: Marmol Radziner

(cover image) Civic Award - The Broad. Architect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler

See the rest of this year's winners on Bustler.

L.A. as mini-golf course: Materials & Applications to host "TURF"

2016-02-24T15:09:00-05:00

Imagine the conditions of Los Angeles—its housing types, its parking, its response to drought—as a series of mini-golf course obstacles. Or, just go to Materials & Applications this June, when the Silverlake-based exhibition space will launch "TURF: A Mini-Golf Project," featuring the contributions of nine designers, including installations Putt-to-Fit by Knowhow Shop, The Electric Palm Tree Turbine House by Ordinary Architecture, and SiNK by Kyle May.

According to Ordinary Architecture's website, "Part wind turbine, part-palm tree and part-residential tower, the object addresses issues of densification + verticality, renewable technologies and sustainability and architectural symbolism. It plays with images of a future LA that is denser, taller and more environmentally responsible whilst also enjoying the city’s historic iconography." Here's a rendering of The Electric Palm Tree House:

Kyle May writes on his website that the concept behind SiNK originates in California's complex re...

$500,000,000 spec house under construction in LA

2015-11-11T22:29:00-05:00

"Nobody really reads books," Niami says, "so I'm just going to fill the shelves with white books, for looks." Stepping past the nightclub's outdoor lounge area where circular banquettes will seem to float next to a two-story waterfall, he says: "I really think that this house is going to do a lot for L.A. Anybody who lives in the area is going to be proud to be near it."

Go ahead and hate!

About half of the tennis court had to be built on pilings to account for the land's contours. This niche will have a covered viewing area and a fire pit.
The infinity pool for the guesthouse, which, when built, will be 5,000 square feet itself.
The motor court and the main house's entrance hall; a fire display will greet guests as they step inside.
The gigamansion's main guard gate (there will be a separate area, with monitors, for keeping an eye on the whole estate).
The property will be surrounded on three sides by a moat and other water features, which will make the whole thing appear to be floating.
The "sky deck," as Niami refers to it, will have a putting green, a bar, a lounge area, and covered loggias.

Architecture shapes hyperreal photographic narratives in art collection "Schude"

2015-08-28T00:20:00-04:00

Photographer Ryan Schude's narrative panoramas are as informed by the artist's humor as they are by the structures in which they often take place. Consider "The Saturn," a typical Southern California dingbat that is transformed into a tableau of subjects wondering where they went wrong. There's the man whose belongings are being unceremoniously tossed out of a window by an enraged lover to the woman staring out of her kitchen window to the mildly distressed dingbat itself. At least, that's one reading. Look closer: other stories begin to emerge.

Beginning as an editorial portraitist for a magazine, Schude "wanted to figure out how to do more than just show a documentary aspect of [a subject's] personality. I wanted to tell a story that would be more interesting than the person themselves, and take that concept and apply it to a much bigger scene with actual actors and create another story, depending on the location." The narrative within "The Saturn" evolved as he sought a location....

Under the Radar Los Angeles #1

2013-08-13T16:48:00-04:00

Los Angeles is a vast city with countless significant buildings working their way into native architects' psyche often without their acknowledgement. It is not unusual one of those buildings would show up head on, often seen while driving and only to go back to their reclusive place in mind unless someone mentions them in a conversation and you say "oooh yeeeah..."

I will try to bring those buildings to you as often I ran into them and record their history here as much as available in record books or in people's memories. They are our collective pedigree in this city that do not get to be talked that much unless "ooh yeaah" that is.

Wenceslao Alfonso Sarmiento, also known as W.A. Sarmiento (born 1922) is a Peruvian-born American modernist architect who is known for his apprenticeship in Oscar Niemeyer's office and who is known for his financial buildings since the 1950's. More here on him to start.

And the building by him to start the series, Glendale Federal Savings, Glend...

Anthony J. Lumsden dies at 83

2011-10-11T15:12:18-04:00

The spirit of his midcareer buildings almost perfectly matches that of the Southern California of the time. They are buoyant, forward-looking and unburdened by the weight of history -- placeless landmarks for a placeless city.

Anthony Lumsden, known as Tony, served as design director at Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall, the large architecture and engineering firm, from 1968 to 1993. While there he designed or co-designed prominent buildings including the Manufacturers Bank in Beverly Hills, Federal Aviation Administration offices in Hawthorne and the Century Bank Plaza in Century City.

With their taut, reflective glass facades, these buildings relied on a technique that Lumsden, along with Cesar Pelli, the architect who hired him at DMJM, pioneered in the late 1960s. The two architects were the first to discover the range of architectural possibilities opened up by turning a building's mullions – the vertical elements dividing one window from the next -- to face in rather than out. By keeping the mullions virtually flush with the rest of the exterior skin, Pelli and Lumsden were able to entirely smooth over, rather than express, the structural skeleton underneath.