After 14 years as the Los Angeles Times' resident architecture critic, Christopher Hawthorne is moving on to become chief design officer for the city of Los Angeles. Announced this morning, Hawthorne explained that "beginning next month, [he'll] be working in the mayor's office to raise the quality of public architecture and urban design across the city—and the level of civic conversation about those subjects." His position will be housed in the city's Office of Economic Development.
Created by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the position has been something he has openly proposed over the years as he's discussed the future of the city. In a story for the New York Times last year, Garcetti described the role as "a guru who can marshal the forces of the city and look at every bus stop, curb, utility box, every facade, every subway portal.” Beyond bus stops and subway portals, Hawthorne will collaborate on a wide range of public projects, oversee design competitions, and enlist talented architects to pursue civic projects within the city among other duties.
The announcement comes after a tumultuous year for LA's paper of record that ended, rather optimistically, with the successful unionization of the newsroom and a promising new owner. As for Los Angeles itself, the city is undergoing rapid transformation that would benefit from a certain type of thoughtful, aesthetic oversight. The recently passed Measure JJJ promises a stimulated, transit-oriented development, and the looming potential of SB 827 at the state level similarly implies a building boom for the city. Altogether, Hawthorne's move could not have come at a more pregnant time for the major metropolitan region.
To learn more about Hawthorne, listen to this archived episode of Archinect Sessions, "Powers of 10 with Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic at the LA Times":
2 Comments
Hope Hawthorne doesn’t forget about the little architecture when schmoozing with big wigs and talking about “climate change” etc
every city should have a chief design officer. Just hope the future CDOs actually know about design (like H, an educated and proven architecture expert) ... not sure if this trend is good for arch media (as if writers weren’t already cozy enough with city officials). Think it’s good in this case, but may be bad overall
I agree this is an encouraging possibility for the quality of design here. But this mayor (and the last one) are largely empty suits who love press conferences announcing big changes, with little follow-through on policy and implementation. Quite often its dogs and ponies and little else. We'll see, but I'm hopeful.
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