Christopher Hawthorne, in keeping with his exploration of the ever evolving urban identity of Los Angeles, reached out via the L.A. Times to Michael Maltzan to see if the architect had any ideas about transforming L.A.'s freeways from noisy polluting agents into civic amenities. Maltzan has responded pro bono with an idea to place a 3/4 mile stretch of the 134 freeway into a tunnel which would not only reduce noise and annually absorb 516,000 tons of carbon dioxide, but double as a site for rooftop solar panels and vegetation walls.

Drivers in the tunnel would still be able to see their Pasadena surroundings through the lattice-like exterior, although residents near the just south of the Rose Bowl portion of the freeway would experience a significant traffic noise reduction thanks to the tunnel's acoustically insulated walls. As the L.A. Times notes, Michael Maltzan "describes the proposal, produced in collaboration with the Los Angeles office of the engineering firm Arup, as 'an environmental machine designed to enhance rather than replace the existing freeway.'"

Although neither Arup nor Maltzan have produced a detailed cost estimate for this environmental machine, the estimated energy savings from the solar panels, caught rainwater, and overall pollution reduction/urban beautification are into the millions.

As Hawthorne writes, "There are few bigger challenges facing contemporary Southern California than the question of how to maintain — or even better, redesign — our most muscular pieces of infrastructure, which were once synonymous with region-wide optimism but are now looking worn and inflexible."

Other incidents of Christopher Hawthorne telling it like it is:

• A critical look at Downtown L.A.'s ambitious plans for two new public parks
• "It looks like a dove. Or a carcass": Christopher Hawthorne on Calatrava's Transportation Hub
• Turn the 2 into housing (or a park or a solar array): Christopher Hawthorne's pitch for one of LA's most awkward freeways