I am preparing a seminar on the contemporary Los Angeles architecture scene and was wondering what I should be focusing on... Should you have any poignant ideas as to what some interesting issues would be, I'd love to hear them
for example:
1. the recent renovation of downtown movie theatres for screenings of old films
read banham's 4 ecologies of Los Angeles. It's a bit old but would be a good starting point. and traffic/architecture should really be vehicular transportation/architecture.
i've always felt one of the key features of LA was that it was primarily grown in a period where cars were prevalent.
the sprawl is also really sort of interesting. the pattern and density is very different than say the sprawl found in east coast metropoli.
Art as a tool for gentrification. i.e. downtown arts district, NOHO arts district, "loft living" specialists. etc.
The hottest issue in LA is this:
LA has hit it's geographic limits and what's occuring is a ripple effect of adaptive conditioning which is adding yet another layer of density to the city. If I had to write it in haiku form it read like this: sprawl, sprawl, sprawl, hit edge; go up. So a way to market this new layer of density, and to make it look attractive for people to live closer to each other in a denser context it marketed as "artists lofts" or "loft style living". To use the "ripple" effect as an analogy I need to be a bit clearer; let me explain. I saw LA sprawl without worries about being too far from the center of the city until about two years ago. Way out to Irvine, Palmdale, Fontana, Calabasas or even Simi Valley, but I think there is a collective reasoning that says: if you have to drive over an hour without traffic to get to your destination you are too far from the center of LA. Therefore I belive do to this "collective consciousness" if you will; we are seeing this second layer of density throught the city which is being marketed as "lofts, lofts and lofts" which are basically buildings that are being re-adapted for residencial use.
you could look at why the LA "urban space" besides downtown is only created by shopping malls (the grove, 3rd street promenade, century city), that's the place where people gather and a fake urbanity is created with n relation to the real city, which most people don't even notice...
for traffic and arch, just look around I am sure you'll find something ;-)
concerning the safety issue: is it just a coincidence that walt disney hall, caltrans, cathedral OLA etc. are all blocked off from the street by unpenetrable walls... also have a look at the accelerated school by marmol radziner...
Hot, Hip of Just Interesting in the LA arch scene?
I am preparing a seminar on the contemporary Los Angeles architecture scene and was wondering what I should be focusing on... Should you have any poignant ideas as to what some interesting issues would be, I'd love to hear them
for example:
1. the recent renovation of downtown movie theatres for screenings of old films
2. A POE of Gehry buildings
3. The glamourizing of West Hollywood tract homes
4. The urbanization of Los Angeles sprawl
Please, anything--what intrigues you about LA?
Who is your audience? Undergrads? Grad students? Professionals? Dilettantes? It could help you decide on your subject matter....
The audience ranges principally from 18 on up--a very general audience, not necessarily people acquainted with the architecture profession.
shopping and architecture
traffic and architecture
safety and architecture
I like those themes, but do you have any concrete neighborhoods or buildings for me to further examine that bespeak them?
downtown renovation, development and the homeless.
or if that's not upbeat enough downtown's revitalization (a la disney, OLA cathedral, etc.) always gets the mojo going.
rehabilitation that brings more balance and life to currently commercial or industrial districs, in downtown (esp. South Park), and on Hollywood Blvd.
read banham's 4 ecologies of Los Angeles. It's a bit old but would be a good starting point. and traffic/architecture should really be vehicular transportation/architecture.
i've always felt one of the key features of LA was that it was primarily grown in a period where cars were prevalent.
the sprawl is also really sort of interesting. the pattern and density is very different than say the sprawl found in east coast metropoli.
Art as a tool for gentrification. i.e. downtown arts district, NOHO arts district, "loft living" specialists. etc.
The hottest issue in LA is this:
LA has hit it's geographic limits and what's occuring is a ripple effect of adaptive conditioning which is adding yet another layer of density to the city. If I had to write it in haiku form it read like this: sprawl, sprawl, sprawl, hit edge; go up. So a way to market this new layer of density, and to make it look attractive for people to live closer to each other in a denser context it marketed as "artists lofts" or "loft style living". To use the "ripple" effect as an analogy I need to be a bit clearer; let me explain. I saw LA sprawl without worries about being too far from the center of the city until about two years ago. Way out to Irvine, Palmdale, Fontana, Calabasas or even Simi Valley, but I think there is a collective reasoning that says: if you have to drive over an hour without traffic to get to your destination you are too far from the center of LA. Therefore I belive do to this "collective consciousness" if you will; we are seeing this second layer of density throught the city which is being marketed as "lofts, lofts and lofts" which are basically buildings that are being re-adapted for residencial use.
you could look at why the LA "urban space" besides downtown is only created by shopping malls (the grove, 3rd street promenade, century city), that's the place where people gather and a fake urbanity is created with n relation to the real city, which most people don't even notice...
for traffic and arch, just look around I am sure you'll find something ;-)
concerning the safety issue: is it just a coincidence that walt disney hall, caltrans, cathedral OLA etc. are all blocked off from the street by unpenetrable walls... also have a look at the accelerated school by marmol radziner...
here's an article on urbanization of sprawl and another on malls and the grove.
On the Accuracy of Star Maps
How about puncturing some of the great myths about Los Angeles?
-LA has no downtown
-LA is not dense
-LA has no multi-family housing
-LA has no planning
-LA has no history
-LA is not like other cities
Any one of those could be skewered using architectural examples.
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