Last week I overheard a friend saying that all the great design firms are in New York; I disagree. Let's think about ground breaking and innovative firms in Los Angeles. Who do you think are the most important, and have the brightest future?
Excellent question...........I think LA has excellent architects w/ the space to create. I think that looking into the future NY will become by default an architectural theory hub without the pragmatic viseral experience that you get from understanding an idea which becomes physical reality. LA has room to grow, we can take on many more layers of architectural information. But unfortunetly no names come to mind. Now, thats not saying much I understand, but I think that no names come to mind because there are so many different talents. In any case this is a great question and I can't wait to hear some answers with more meaning than this one.
I think that he's asking about the brightest future. By that I understand that he wants to know about firms that have been around for ten years or less. Mayne is going to retaire in about 15 yrs wether he wants to or not. But the way I understand the question is more focused towards up and coming talents.
They may not be the most cutting edge but I think they've got the best mix of flexible practice, self-building/craft, connection with LA history (Neutra, Schindler, Lautner), and very good design - Marmol Radziner.
Go to www.aplusd.org and look at the list of people included in the 34 Los Angeles Architects exhibit. Most of the "design" oriented known names are on there - I would also add Barbara Bestor Architecture...
Who else would you add then? There are lots of small offices but they are one or two person firms and there's not many I would consider to be ground-breaking, or innovative... not to fault them per say, the climate just isn't there in LA to do decent work (taste, building codes, etc.)
Sharon Johnston & Mark Lee, Graft, ?
I agree- it is hard to get things built here so i feel like if firms like Space Intl, Daly Genik, Pugh/Scarpa, johnston marklee, angelil graham, commune, et al can get things built then kudos to making a good effort.
i just have a real beef with that aplusd show because they dont say that all these firms had to pay $500 to even be in it-- i dont think that is a good way of curating a show... and you dont know who prefered not to pay to play.
Good point - though $500 isn't a lot for some good marketing and I would doubt that paying was the only criteria... I don't really know what innovative means in the context of LA, that was just what the poster was asking...
who is commune btw?
well, i think $500 is a bit much if on top of it you have to pay for the printing and mounting an stuff... that can run you up to $1000... and i dont know if that exhibit is the best use of marketing bucks. or i guess i assume that if you are in an exhibit you didnt pay to be there... but whatever.
anyway, commune is another collective- architecture/graphics, they just did the redesign of this restaurant AMMO on highland. its pretty nice, simple, sorta industrial. i cant remember their website off the top of my head, but the stuff is pretty nice.... google commune and you should be able to find it.
now i am begining to think there arent that many innovative firms out there!
Yeah, I just think out here it's almost meaningless because most clients don't want anything different, or can't afford it. We could be innovative as hell if anyone wanted to let us do what we want with huge budgets and the codes weren't so crazy. The firms that seem innovative - Escher Gune Wardena or Daly/Genik for example have been luckier/more savvy with their clients...
i agree, codes are a gigantic problem and drive the budget up so much that even if you had a client who wanted to do something cool sometimes they get priced out of the market.
its just really really hard to build in this city. we're doing our house on a budget and even then it feels so astronomical financially that its hard to do anything 'innovative'.
The other problem is people are so litigious, esp. in LA, that it's not worth it to try anything experiemental with materials - we try when doing work for ourselves, with mixed results (plywood floors worked out great - siding that is turned 90 degrees in some places has warped and popped off with recent rain), but we would never take the risk with clients. And if you're not building it yourself (we do design/build), good luck getting anything done custom or in an usual way for a budget. It is depressing...
But then we also have some young clients with money from the entertainment industry, and honestly we probably wouldn't have been able to start our own company if we weren't in LA, so it balances out.
Jan 19, 05 10:09 pm ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
What are the top LA design firms?
Last week I overheard a friend saying that all the great design firms are in New York; I disagree. Let's think about ground breaking and innovative firms in Los Angeles. Who do you think are the most important, and have the brightest future?
Excellent question...........I think LA has excellent architects w/ the space to create. I think that looking into the future NY will become by default an architectural theory hub without the pragmatic viseral experience that you get from understanding an idea which becomes physical reality. LA has room to grow, we can take on many more layers of architectural information. But unfortunetly no names come to mind. Now, thats not saying much I understand, but I think that no names come to mind because there are so many different talents. In any case this is a great question and I can't wait to hear some answers with more meaning than this one.
Paul
I think that he's asking about the brightest future. By that I understand that he wants to know about firms that have been around for ten years or less. Mayne is going to retaire in about 15 yrs wether he wants to or not. But the way I understand the question is more focused towards up and coming talents.
since when do architects ever "retire"?
They may not be the most cutting edge but I think they've got the best mix of flexible practice, self-building/craft, connection with LA history (Neutra, Schindler, Lautner), and very good design - Marmol Radziner.
Go to www.aplusd.org and look at the list of people included in the 34 Los Angeles Architects exhibit. Most of the "design" oriented known names are on there - I would also add Barbara Bestor Architecture...
well that aplusd list is iffy at best, you had to pay to be in that show so several firms are not represented
Who else would you add then? There are lots of small offices but they are one or two person firms and there's not many I would consider to be ground-breaking, or innovative... not to fault them per say, the climate just isn't there in LA to do decent work (taste, building codes, etc.)
Sharon Johnston & Mark Lee, Graft, ?
well who or what do you mean by innovative?
I agree- it is hard to get things built here so i feel like if firms like Space Intl, Daly Genik, Pugh/Scarpa, johnston marklee, angelil graham, commune, et al can get things built then kudos to making a good effort.
i just have a real beef with that aplusd show because they dont say that all these firms had to pay $500 to even be in it-- i dont think that is a good way of curating a show... and you dont know who prefered not to pay to play.
Good point - though $500 isn't a lot for some good marketing and I would doubt that paying was the only criteria... I don't really know what innovative means in the context of LA, that was just what the poster was asking...
who is commune btw?
well, i think $500 is a bit much if on top of it you have to pay for the printing and mounting an stuff... that can run you up to $1000... and i dont know if that exhibit is the best use of marketing bucks. or i guess i assume that if you are in an exhibit you didnt pay to be there... but whatever.
anyway, commune is another collective- architecture/graphics, they just did the redesign of this restaurant AMMO on highland. its pretty nice, simple, sorta industrial. i cant remember their website off the top of my head, but the stuff is pretty nice.... google commune and you should be able to find it.
now i am begining to think there arent that many innovative firms out there!
Yeah, I just think out here it's almost meaningless because most clients don't want anything different, or can't afford it. We could be innovative as hell if anyone wanted to let us do what we want with huge budgets and the codes weren't so crazy. The firms that seem innovative - Escher Gune Wardena or Daly/Genik for example have been luckier/more savvy with their clients...
i agree, codes are a gigantic problem and drive the budget up so much that even if you had a client who wanted to do something cool sometimes they get priced out of the market.
its just really really hard to build in this city. we're doing our house on a budget and even then it feels so astronomical financially that its hard to do anything 'innovative'.
i am totally depressed now.
The other problem is people are so litigious, esp. in LA, that it's not worth it to try anything experiemental with materials - we try when doing work for ourselves, with mixed results (plywood floors worked out great - siding that is turned 90 degrees in some places has warped and popped off with recent rain), but we would never take the risk with clients. And if you're not building it yourself (we do design/build), good luck getting anything done custom or in an usual way for a budget. It is depressing...
But then we also have some young clients with money from the entertainment industry, and honestly we probably wouldn't have been able to start our own company if we weren't in LA, so it balances out.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.