Archinect - News

Four potential routes emerge for the Griffith Park Aerial Tram in Los Angeles

2020-09-08T14:52:00-04:00

Progress on Los Angeles's very own aerial tramway has made some headway as the City of LA's Department of Recreation and Parks prepares a feasibility study on the project. Intending to provide increased access to Griffith Park and alleviate urban congestion, the Aerial Transit System for Griffith Park hopes to additionally improve public transportation within the city.

Griffith Park Aerial Tramway - All Potential Routes. Image courtesy of griffithparkaerialtransit.com

According to the project's website, "an Aerial Transit System for Griffith Park would be a 'closed-loop' system where riders can only enter at the origin station. There would be minimal noise impacts at the landing station, and the station itself would be non-visible due to the landscape's natural berm." Engineering, consulting, architectural, and design firm Stantec will be leading the feasibility study to address transit and mobility within and around Griffith Park, improved access to the park, and the application of ...

Another day, another gondola study for L.A.

2019-07-22T14:32:00-04:00

As Los Angeles officials ponder ways to cut down on traffic in and around Griffith Park, an engineering firm hired by the city is analyzing the pros and cons of installing a gondola or similar aerial transit system that could ferry riders in and out of the park. [...] City leaders ordered the study last year, after reviewing a list of 29 recommendations from an outside consultant brought in to analyze traffic issues in the communities surrounding the 4,511-acre park.

There's no shortage of aerial tramway schemes in Los Angeles these days. Pitched as possible measures to alleviate specific traffic hot spots, proposals for gondolas running between Dodger Stadium and Union Station, or up to the Hollywood Sign, and now along a number of potential routes in Griffith Park will, if ever realized, leave a lasting impact on the city's urban and natural landscape.

Los Angeles is building an urban wildlife crossing

2019-06-13T17:45:00-04:00

A proposed bridge over the 101 would allow mountain lions and other wildlife to cross safely over the freeway and improve their access to food and mates.

Caltrans authorities working in Los Angeles County are pushing toward creating a $60 million wildlife crossing that will allow urban animals to roam throughout the region's mountainous geographies. The 165-foot by 200-foot crossing would span over US Highway-101 and Liberty Canyon in the city of Agoura Hills.

“Freeways are unique in that they can kind of divide up habitat and territory in a way that other infrastructure cannot, and I think that Caltrans wants to play a role in rectifying that problem in the future,” Caltrans structural engineer Ulysses Smpardos told KCRW's DnA.

So far, $3.7 million has been raised for the privately-funded effort, which is being supported by the National Wildlife Federation and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund.

A guerilla teahouse pops up in LA's Griffith Park

2015-07-01T15:01:00-04:00

The invitation was cryptic. A small piece of wood with a laser-burned message that read, "June 30, 2015. Please join us for tea and wishes overlooking the city. Sunrise, Griffith Park."

It's a rather charming story: an anonymous collective of artists have fashioned a Japanese-inspired teahouse out of charred wood reclaimed from the 2007 Griffith Park fire and offered it as a gift to the city. Surreptitiously assembled in parts, the teahouse was inaugurated yesterday morning for a select group of the artists' friends and associates.

The invited guests were sent clandestine notes that led them, as if on a scavenger hunt, to the wooden structure at dawn. There, green tea and cookies were offered and a ceremony was performed. An opera signer sang in the distance.

Apparently, this isn't the first time the group – who isn't named – have created a work of guerrilla architecture. And if the safety-and-regulations angel on your shoulder is balking at potential liabilities, rest easy. According to the LA Times report, the structure was designed with help from professional woodworkers. The artists pegged the wooden structure to an existing concrete and rebar foundation, which...