Archinect - News

Refik Anadol Studio to open DATALAND Museum of AI Arts at The Grand LA in 2025

2024-09-24T16:24:00-04:00

By the end 2025, Refik Anadol will open a new venture called DATALAND at The Grand in downtown LA. The leading name in artificial intelligence and digital art, Anadol, announced the venture via its YouTube account, adding in a press release that Los Angeles was the "perfect city" for his vision of bringing the intelligence of machines and humans together in a museum setting.

Anadol was considered a prominent thinker at intersection of media and design arts well before his recent Machine Hallucinations series and debuts at MoMA, the Las Vegas Sphere, and 2023 Grammy Awards. (You can read Anadol's thoughts on the subject from his 2022 feature conservation here.)

He now returns to the site of his 2018 installation at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, using his hero Frank Gehry’s architecture as the permanent base of which another experiment, this one to "develop a new paradigm"of museums, can be performed.

Anadol and Erkiliç. Image credit: Dustin Downing

The studio’s long-serving partner, ...

Oceanwide Plaza auction rumored for mid-September after buyers' interest springs

2024-08-19T15:27:00-04:00

Multiple new bids to takeover the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex in downtown LA were reported last week in what could be a positive sign for its future. As per connectcre.com's reporting, an auction has been scheduled for “mid-September.” The update comes after months of speculation as to the future of the graffiti-tagged towers and a few short weeks after a new "saw horse" bidder had dropped their inquiry without submitting any offers.

“A key hurdle that any buyer would need to surmount is the question of financing: not so much to acquire the project, but rather to finish construction on it. The project has been appraised as-is at $434 million by Colliers as part of the Oceanwide Plaza bankruptcy proceedings. Completing the three-tower residential, retail and hotel complex could mean spending twice that amount,” their report reminds us.

(The 1.4-million-square-foot CallisonRTKL design was abandoned in 2020 and now stands as perhaps the largest unfinished project in the United ...

LA moves up Convention Center expansion plan to clear 2028 Olympics hurdle

2024-07-08T11:14:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council moved to finalize plans for the long-awaited expansion of the Los Angeles County Convention Center in downtown. Populous will be leading the design work for the project, which includes a landscaped component from OLIN as was previously reported in March of 2022.

The pre-design work could cost up to $100 million before the estimated $1.4 billion project kicks off in 2025. According to the city’s press release: “190,000 square feet of space to create one contiguous hall, and will add 55,000 square feet of new meeting room space and 95,000 square feet of multipurpose space. The plan also includes a redesign of Gilbert Lindsay Plaza, which will add public open space and become an exciting outdoor venue for event programming.”

Plans for a new 37-story Marriott Hotel tower from Gensler at the site are being delayed for right now, says Urbanize LA. The fate of the nearby unfinished Oceanwide Plaza development also remains unclear.

...

The Oceanwide Plaza dilemma: What should LA do?

2024-07-01T14:30:00-04:00

With a potential fire sale of the residential, hotel and retail project approaching, a far more complex and expensive question looms over one of the region’s all-time real estate catastrophes: Can it be saved from the wrecking ball?

With the fate of LA’s graffiti-tagged Oceanwide Plaza in the balance, the LA Times' Roger Vincent looked into the lack of viable options, finding several CRE experts’ opinions that simply "it’s not worth the risk" trying to "fix" the currently 60% complete three-tower development. This raises several intriguing, if not "unimaginable," potentialities: The complex could be demolished (an option the paper reported in May) or continue in new hands following a fire sale. Its most recently reported value was just $485 million.

Oceanwide Plaza, LA's unfinished high-rise graffiti mecca, faces impending sale

2024-05-10T12:00:00-04:00

The Chinese owners of the stalled residential, hotel and retail complex towering over Crypto.com Arena have hired real estate brokers to sell the property to buyers who could restart the project after work stopped in 2019. Taggers recently covered its outer walls with graffiti visible from far away.

The LA Times also reports the brokerage firm Colliers to have submitted an application estimating the property’s current value at $485 million and stating it is still just 60% completed. Another $865 million would be required to finish the block-scale development designed by CallisonRTKL. Some had speculated it could be demolished. Costs for the cleanup of possibly the greatest graffiti takeover of recent memory have been reported at $3.8 million.

Frank Gehry talks to the LA Times about his ever-expanding vision for downtown Los Angeles

2024-04-12T17:50:00-04:00

Frank Gehry has provided some interesting comments to the LA Times to coincide with last week’s groundbreaking of the new Colburn Center in downtown Los Angeles, a vital lynchpin for the city’s post-COVID economic rebound.

Speaking on the record for an article to the paper’s business section, the 95-year-old Walt Disney Concert Hall designer told reporters about his still-expanding vision for the Grand Avenue corridor and beyond. The neighborhood has been a bit of an obsession of his since the end of the 1990s. Now, he says, "we still have work to do," adding that Little Tokyo, the Arts District, and other neighborhoods near Bunker Hill can and should have their own culture-backed transformations performed to facilitate a revival pushed by LA Mayor Karen Bass and other civic leaders.

The Broad museum also recently announced its own $100 million expansion plans. Our February preview of the new $335 milli...

Frank Gehry's Colburn Center expansion breaks ground in LA

2024-04-10T17:06:00-04:00

Work on Frank Gehry’s new Colburn School expansion has commenced in downtown Los Angeles toward its eventual completion after Q1 2027. His firm Gehry Partners celebrated the groundbreaking with school officials last Friday, April 5th, in sight of his previous Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand designs at the intersection of Hill and 2nd Streets.

Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA are leading the interior fit-outs for the extension, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet of new spaces for performance and rehearsals. A 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios will be added through the construction, along with a new public garden that serves as a gateway to the rest of downtown. Costs for the project are reported to be $335 million.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Colburn School (@colburnschool)

Gehry said in a previous statement: “I hope that it will be well-used and well-loved by the students of the Colburn School ...

The Broad taps Diller Scofidio + Renfro again for major expansion

2024-03-27T18:33:00-04:00

Big news for architecture and art fans alike coming out of Los Angeles today, where The Broad just announced plans for a major expansion project to the tune of $100 million.

The reveal of the new proposal, which will reportedly increase the available gallery space by 70%, comes nearly ten years after the existing building opened to much fanfare on Downtown LA's Grand Avenue arts and culture corridor in 2015 to allow free public access to the vast art collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad.

For the design of the expansion, the museum has commissioned the original architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) again, whose initial renderings hint at a continuation of their "veil and vault" concept.

"The exterior of the expansion echoes the surface appearance of the vault — as if this core had been exposed and 'unveiled' — symbolically expressing The Broad’s commitment to access while playfully inverting the visual vocabulary of the current building," the architects describe...

LA City Council places Dodger Stadium Gondola project on hold pending further reviews

2024-03-25T11:48:00-04:00

The contested plan to build an aerial gondola tram line from downtown LA to Dodger Stadium has been placed on hold after city council members voted last week to halt the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART) for the time being.

Local outlet ABC 7 was first to report on the council’s decision to pause the approvals process “until further studies can be conducted on its potential impacts.”

Opponents of the project had lobbied against its invasiveness and potential for displacement in communities that have been historically marginalized through gentrification. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the measure, said: “We owe the public a real analysis of the issues and evidence-based solutions around Dodger Stadium.” The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will now hire a special consultant to conduct the assessments.

(An unrelated assembly bill, meanwhile, is being advanced that would compensate displaced families who fell victim to the construction of Dodger Stadiu...

Oceanwide Plaza: Graffiti 'vandalism' or the greatest tag 'takeover' of all time?

2024-03-09T08:00:00-05:00

The New York Times has entered the debate surrounding LA's troubled Oceanwide Plaza development this week after social media and the outside press tied its celebrity status to the neglect of downtowns, housing rights issues, and their relationship to developer capitalism.

The Times piece follows news of the city’s recent order on Oceanwide to install a security fence to prevent against interlopers' vandalism and the 'public nuisance' the highly publicized graffiti artwork has turned the unfinished project into.

'Vandalism' is a charged term to apply in this case, but it has affected other sites near Downtown Los Angeles, like the copper wire-stripped Sixth Street Viaduct, in the midst of its delayed economic rebound. The street art community is here portrayed alongside BASE jumpers as a lawless quandary that considers their “takeover” a bar-raising move geared mainly at promotion and exposure. A smarter take is that taggers have the broader consensus of society so well-figured tha...

Dodger Stadium gondola plan gains LA Metro Board approval

2024-02-24T08:00:00-05:00

The LA Metro Board of Directors has given their final go-ahead for a controversial gondola project in Los Angeles that would offer an alternative transportation route from downtown Union Station to Dodger Stadium to baseball fans by the start of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The board voted unanimously in favor of the final version of the plan’s Environmental Impact Report on Thursday.

As was pointed out by LAist, the proposal still needs approvals from Los Angeles City Council, Caltrans, and California State Parks to begin construction. The Metro’s decision came with a steep set of 31 conditions, which include a fund for affordable housing plus marketing opportunities and other concessions directed to small business owners in Elysian Park and Chinatown.

The proposal is marketed as being able to transport a total of 5,000 people per hour on a 7-minute ride with three stations along a 1.2-mile path. The Dodgers say this will reduce traffic by 3,000 cars for each of their 81 home games pe...

Frank Gehry's transformative Colburn School expansion will break ground in April

2024-02-20T19:14:00-05:00

An official groundbreaking date for Gehry Partners' $335 million Colburn School campus expansion has been set in downtown Los Angeles nearly six years after the project, now dubbed the Colburn Center, was announced in unison with collaborators Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA.

Site preparations and other preliminary construction will begin soon on the project, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet worth of new performance, rehearsal, and education spaces, including a 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios. A special groundbreaking ceremony will take place on April 5th. The Colburn School says they expect construction to reach “substantial completion” by the end of Q1 2027.

View from Hill Street West towards the dance school entrance, dance studios, and public garden. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP

View East from Olive Street towards the entrance to the concert hall. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, L...

LA City Council orders graffiti removal on infamous unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers

2024-02-12T13:33:00-05:00

City Council Members in Los Angeles have issued a mandate to owners of the graffiti-tagged Oceanview Plaza development in Downtown to remove the artwork weeks after its unfinished exterior became a national news item and the latest flash point in a debate over the citywide housing crisis that has lingered for a number of years.

By a vote of 14-0, Council Members approved Kevin de León’s motion calling for the city to foot the bill for cleaning up the stalled $1 billion towers if China-based developer Oceanwide fails to meet their February 17th deadline for removal. (CoStar first reported on the motion this weekend h/t Bizow.com.)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chop ‘em Down Films (@chopemdownfilms)

The internet sensation was covered in tags last month by artists apparently inspired by an early December operation in downtown Miami and able to bypass the security detail on site, which has been embroiled in a payment dispute with developers since last ye...

Developer behind BIG-designed 670 Mesquit LA project is seeking financial assistance for scheme's hotel

2023-08-22T12:31:00-04:00

The project, slated for a property at 670 Mesquit Street, would include four buildings on a site stretching between 6th and 7th Streets creating more than 800,000 square feet of offices, 420 homes, ground-floor commercial uses, and a 236-room hotel. That last component of the project is the subject of a new motion introduced on August 16 by 14th District City Councilmember Kevin de Leon.

The motion, which was referred to the Los Angeles City Council’s Trade Travel and Tourism Committee for consideration, states that Vella Group, the developer behind the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed 670 Mesquit Street project, is seeking financial assistance from the city for the completion of the development’s proposed hotel. Vella Group would pay $150,000 to cover the cost of an economic feasibility study for the hotel.

Previously on Archinect: Major changes coming to LA's Arts District as BIG and EYRC projects both move forward

BIG’s scheme, which was first unveiled in 2016, aims to be another major addition to LA’s Arts District. The complex will sit just south of the recently-completed Sixth Street Viaduct and its upcoming park space. Councilmember de Leon’s motion also makes note that the hotel would include an outdoor deck that extends over the adjacent rail lines, which could be spurred by a range of public events.

As noted by Urbanize Los Angeles, these types of incentive p...

AXIS/GFA's record-breaking Weingart Center supportive housing development tops out in Skid Row

2023-07-21T12:34:00-04:00

A record-breaking supportive housing development in the overburdened Los Angeles market is one step closer to completion this week after AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design’s new 19-story Weingart Center Tower 1 project topped out near Skid Row.

Once completed, the development will provide a total of 228 studio and one-bedroom apartments reserved exclusively for people who had previously experienced homelessness. Proponents say it will be the largest single-addition housing project of its kind in the city.

Los Angeles is currently in the midst of a crisis caused in large part by state and local policy failures, the lack of financing, and a compendium of related issues, including developers' reticence, corruption, and the resounding absence of low-income housing countywide. New Mayor Karen Bass recently signed an ordinance that makes it easier to realize constructions under 49 units, but the hope and need for larger developments is also glaring. Therefore the project stands as a new high...

Los Angeles approves car-free 'superblock' pilot program

2023-06-26T17:57:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday on a motion to identify a location to implement its first Park Block -- modeled after the city of Barcelona’s Superblocks, a block grid system that restricts traffic to major roads and opens up city blocks and streets to pedestrians.

The “Park Block” motion was initially introduced by Los Angeles District Councilmember Kevin de León last year. The program aims to save lives lost due to poor air quality and traffic violence. As detailed in a report by LA City Council’s Transportation Committee, the Blocks will serve to form open public space with adequate shade, outdoor recreation, greening, and stormwater capture in communities that lack parks.

Previously on Archinect: LA Councilmember introduces plan to establish Barcelona's car-free 'superblocks' in Los Angeles

The program will first be implemented in León’s District 14, which includes parts of downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Eagle Rock. LA's Department of Transportation will choose which area will host the initial pilot, with priority given to communities that have the least access to public space, the highest health disparities, and high population densities. In addition, the Department will report back on what funding and resources are necessary to...

Downtown LA's U.S. Bank Tower completes two-year overhaul (bye-bye, Skyslide)

2023-04-06T17:57:00-04:00

Silverstein Properties has just completed its overhaul of the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners-designed U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles.

The two-year, $60 million project issued major upgrades across 35,000 square feet of the building while installing a new entrance lobby and amenities-laden 54th-floor Vista feature. Jeffrey Beers International and A+I were in charge of leading the redesign, which also removed the 69th-floor Skyslide attraction that was first installed in 2018.

“The U.S. Bank Tower is a landmark in Downtown Los Angeles,” Silverstein Properties Chairman Larry A. Silverstein said in a statement. “We have reimagined the building with spaces and amenities that reflect the new way of working. We want to ensure it remains a beacon of the business district and also contributes more broadly to a thriving downtown — one of the best places in LA to work, live, and visit.”

Related on Archinect: LA's iconic US Bank Tower sold to NYC developer

The company purchased the tower in...

Political disorder is impeding much-needed housing progress in Los Angeles

2023-01-10T12:54:00-05:00

To ease Los Angeles’ crushing housing shortage, the city needs a lot more new homes, especially affordable ones. Yet the City Council has been sitting on two community plans that would make it easier for developers to construct housing and boost the number of low-income units in downtown and Hollywood. What’s the holdup? Politics and scandal.

One of the plans, the Downtown Community Plan, which aims to add 100,000 new homes to Los Angeles’ downtown core through 2040, was put on hold after an audio recording surfaced revealing three council members making racist and offensive comments about their colleagues and constituents. Two of the council members involved, former LA mayoral candidate Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, helped shape the plan but are now unavailable to push it forward.

The Los Angeles Times highlights the problematic nature of the political structure around development, in which council members have total control over land-use decisions, which, in the case of the Downtown Community Plan has backfired. This, along with the Hollywood Community Plan, which is also experiencing a prolonged delay, is designed to make the approval process quicker for mixed-income developments.

If the City Council doesn’t act on the plans by May, the documents will expire and the approval process will restart.

...

Major changes coming to LA's Arts District as BIG and EYRC projects both move forward

2022-11-17T13:01:00-05:00

The skyline of Los Angeles’ Arts District remains on track to be transformed by a series of major developments flanking the LA River. Along Mesquit Street, a Bjarke Ingels Group-designed development of four towers has submitted a final environmental impact report, while a neighboring tower by EYRC Architects recently overcame an appeal which sought to block its construction.

670 Mesquit by Bjarke Ingels Group. Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group

BIG’s scheme at 670 Mesquit was first unveiled in 2016 and now constitutes four buildings stepping in height along the riverfront, crowned by roof terraces. The tallest tower, measuring 378 feet in height and containing 32 stories, will be dedicated to residential and hotel uses, while the remaining towers will contain a mix of retail, restaurants, gyms, offices, an event space, and a museum.

Between the development and the river, an expansive public realm is proposed, extending over and above the railway line running adjacent to the waterfro...

LA ART releases draft environmental report for proposed Dodger Stadium gondola

2022-10-20T12:45:00-04:00

According to the environmental study, maximum capacity on the gondola system would be 5,000 passengers per hour, with an estimated end-to-end trip of seven minutes. Admission to the system is intended to be free with a ticket to a Dodger game, and rides would otherwise be set at the same price as a Metro fare.

The 1.2-mile-long system will be supported by three 195-foot towers and include stops at the stadium, Chinatown, and its origin point in Union Station. The three proposed stations will vary between 74 and 98 feet in height and between 174 and 200 feet in length. Johnson Fain is reportedly one of the local companies that will be affected by the demolition project required to enable the system’s junction structure at 1201 N. Broadway. Construction is expected to begin as soon as 2024, with a 2026 debut likely to coincide with that year's opening day.

Many residents are still active in their vocal opposition to the $125 million project. The full Environmental Impact Report can be accessed here.

For sale in LA: a building with a Banksy OR a Banksy with a building?

2022-09-05T09:00:00-04:00

In 2010, while in town for the Los Angeles premiere of his documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” the British street artist Banksy left a gift for fans: a mural of a girl on a swing, dangling beneath the five-foot red “A” of the word “PARKING” on a gritty downtown lot. Now that girl — as well as the historic building in the downtown fashion district that serves as her canvas — is for sale to the highest bidder.

The historic 26,000-square-foot Downtown Los Angeles building was purchased for $4 million three years prior to the popular documentary's premiere and underwent a $1.8 million renovation before its then-owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April this year.

Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch says the 12- by 33-foot mural’s intrinsic value merits a different kind of appraisal. (“This is free public art. It is not meant to have a commercial value and be resold. That’s not the intention of the artist.”) The best estimate from the previous owners was reportedly $16 million without the girl, which Sotheby’s placed at a minimum of $10 million standing alone. A resolution will come when the building goes to auction on October 6th.

Grimshaw will deliver a new production studio campus to Downtown LA's Arts District

2022-08-29T12:14:00-04:00

Grimshaw has revealed its design for a new 16-studio production campus to be located in Downtown LA’s Arts District.

The project will transform a disused 15-acre industrial site that was recently purchased by East End Studios. According to Urbanize LA, the site will also include four office buildings totaling 292,000 square feet, another 106,000 square feet of production spaces in addition to the total 321,000 square feet of studios, and below-ground parking that will allow for 1,327 vehicles daily. In addition to Grimshaw, Studio-MLA has been attached to provide a landscaped connection to the intersection of 6th and Alameda streets, with a new open public space sited along Mill Street to the eastern side of the new “campus on top” studios.

Image courtesy Grimshaw

“By taking a vertical approach to the campus design, we free up valuable land area for larger studios and base camps while also creating better pedestrian and vehicular circulation between the soundstages and creative work...

LA's Crypto.com Arena is getting a 'nine-figure' overhaul courtesy of Gensler and MEIS

2022-08-24T15:07:00-04:00

AEG has announced a new “nine-figure” overhaul of Los Angeles’ iconic renamed Crypto.com Arena (formerly The Staples Center) and adjacent L.A. LIVE pedestrian mall in a two-year project that promises to “provide fans with entirely new ways to experience their favorite sports and music event” once it is completed in 2024.

Urbanize LA has more on the planned renovations, which include a new entrance at the concourse level, added restaurant offerings, LED displays, reimagined City View Terrace, upgraded locker rooms, and the creation of new private suites and a multi-level Tunnel Cub said to be reserved for the arena’s many nightly VIP guests.

Image courtesy AEG

Ron Turner (Gensler) and Dan Meis (MEIS), the two architects who worked on the original Staples Center project 25 years ago, will return to oversee the construction, which they say is meant to provide fans with an enhanced entertainment experience for the next three decades.

Image courtesy AEG

“As one of the ...

LA's divisive Dodger Stadium Gondola proposal gets new management and an updated look

2022-08-11T14:10:00-04:00

The group behind LA's proposed gondola project that would run from Union Station downtown and terminate at Dodger Stadium has revealed new images and a strategic partnership for a project many in the area fear could be used as a tool for gentrification.

Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (or LA ART) made an announcement that the scheme would be handed over to the local non-profit Climate Resolve and their newly-formed subsidiary called Zero Emissions Transit, which claims to deliver “emissions-free public transit solutions in the Los Angeles region.”

Proposed Union Station/El Pueblo station. Image courtesy LA ART

The group’s announcement included a new batch of updated renderings of the cable cars, station entrances, and elevated platform structures. Their update comes in the face of continued local opposition and the installation of a mockup cabin in the stadium’s parking lot G last week.

Mockup cabin of the proposed gondola. Image courtesy Climate Resolve.

“Be...

Glass curtain wall begins to wrap around LEVER Architecture's hybrid mass timber building in Los Angeles

2022-08-10T14:38:00-04:00

LEVER Architecture’s 843 N Spring Street is nearing completion as new images have been released depicting its glass curtain wall going up on the hybrid mass timber office building.

Located directly across from LA’s Chinatown Metro stop, the 145,000-square-foot, five-story building is set to be one of the first major Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) office buildings in Los Angeles. It comprises roughly 82,000 square feet of 3- and 5-ply CLT panels and concrete topping slab, with exposed steel columns and beams. In addition, exposed timber panels cantilever over the balconies.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by LEVER Architecture (@leverarchitecture)

According to LEVER, this approach has resulted in an estimated reduction of 1,357 metric tons of carbon compared to traditional building methods, the equivalent of keeping 287 cars off the road for a year.

Joining the building’s office space is 7,000 square feet of street-level and second-floor retail space. It ...

Los Angeles looks to crack down on street takeovers and climbing at its new Sixth Street Viaduct

2022-08-03T18:13:00-04:00

Last Friday, Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León proposed an ordinance prohibiting street takeovers, drag racing, vandalism, and climbing the arches, among others, of the recently-opened Sixth Street Viaduct.

In the three weeks, since the $588 million Michael Maltzan-designed bridge opened, it has been shut down by the LAPD, including a stretch of four consecutive nights, due to takeovers, rowdy crowds, and other dangerous activities.

Previously on Archinect: The Sixth Street Viaduct is lit, and it’s making people in Los Angeles a little too rowdy

Along with the ordinance, de León also proposed a motion to calculate the cost of periodically closing the bridge to cars for pedestrians and cyclists only. His proposal is as follows (h/t Urbanize Los Angeles):

The Bureau of Engineering to report on the resources and timeline to install cameras, fencing, signage, and traffic control mitigations to increase public safety.
LAPD and the Department of Transportation to report on t...

The Sixth Street Viaduct is lit, and it’s making people in Los Angeles a little too rowdy

2022-07-26T12:42:00-04:00

For the third consecutive night, the Los Angeles Police Department said on Twitter that it was forced to shut down the 6th Street Viaduct, saying it was due to “questionable activity.” [...] The 3,500-foot bridge that connects Boyle Heights to downtown Los Angeles has been open to traffic for just two weeks, but it’s quickly become a popular spot for street takeovers, illegal racing, dangerous stunts and vandalism.

The 'party people' took over Michael Maltzan’s brand new bridge redesign within hours of its July 9th opening. Some reports indicated that at least 250 people gathered last weekend for a second night of what the LAPD called "illegal activity," which resulted in arrests and the attempted bombing of a KTLA reporter live on air. Pro skater Meklo Rivera pulled up later to showcase some risky moves on one of the span’s many inviting concrete arches, but the cops eventually shut it down.

Some are framing this as an organic, car-free outpouring of community. In a hard-line rebuke of their viewpoint, Mayoral frontrunner Kevin de Leon said: "Angelenos deserve architecturally stunning projects in their own neighborhood, and we won’t be deterred by a few scofflaws."

Now you can experience LA’s erstwhile Bunker Hill neighborhood thanks to a 3D reconstruction from USC

2022-07-15T14:26:00-04:00

Seven decades after it was razed to do away with what the federal government deemed “urban blight,” the University of Southern California’s Ahmanson Lab, working with the Bunker Hill Refrain Collaboratory, has created an interactive 3D reconstruction of Downtown Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill neighborhood. The initiative gives users a sense of what was lost when the area was turned over to developers and slowly remade into what is today an unrecognizable warren of commercial and luxury residential projects consistently fought over by some of the city’s most powerful names.

The 3D tour captures the area as it appeared between the late 1930s and the beginning of the government-led “slum clearance” initiatives that began in the last two years of the 1940s.

A typical Queen Anne style home in the neighborhood ca. 1940. Image courtesy USC.

Mayor Fletcher Bowron was the domineering political figure at that time, overseeing an unprecedented second wave of urban expansion in Los Angeles that inclu...

Take a look at new Iwan Baan photos of LA's Sixth Street Viaduct ahead of its grand opening

2022-07-08T15:27:00-04:00

Concluding a multi-year construction effort that began with the demolition of the original 1930s Sixth Street Bridge in 2016 and saw the new structure begin to rise one year later, the City of Los Angeles is set to celebrate the opening of the largest bridge project in its history with a slew of public events this weekend, July 9th and 10th.

Spanning 3,500 feet in length, the new $588 million Michael Maltzan-designed Sixth Street Viaduct reestablishes a vital connection between Downtown LA, the Arts District, and the historic Boyle Heights neighborhood by expanding the focus of transportation from merely car traffic to also prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, offering wide sidewalks as well as 10-foot-wide Class IV protected bike lanes along each side of the viaduct. The opening of the ambitious PARC project (Park, Arts, River, and Connectivity), overseen by landscape architects Hargreaves Jones, is anticipated for 2024-25.

Photo by Iwan Baan, courtesy Michael Maltzan Architecture...

On the twisted development of Los Angeles' avoidable 'baked-in" freeway system

2022-06-14T11:15:00-04:00

Can you imagine a version of Los Angeles with even more highway veins pursed throughout its (formerly) Bohemian coastline, super-industrial downtown core, and crisscrossing network of foothills? The reality of what could easily have been (save for the opposition of several big-name celebrities and politicians) is being explored by the LA Times’ new editorial series called ‘‘Explaining L.A. With Patt Morrison.’

In last week’s edition, the writer took to the freeway for a delve into its post-war sources of federal funding (90% of the system here was underwritten through the Eisenhower administration’s nationwide interstate expansion effort), and potential alternatives that included multiple Parkway designs that caught on much easier in Northeast states like New Jersey, Maine, and Connecticut during the same period.

Figures like Randolph Collier and George Gordon Whitnall come into the fore to foil more practic...