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“When they came out of the quarters they could see it was fully engulfed,” fire department spokeswoman Katherine Main told the paper. “It was a building under construction in the framing phase. Almost 1 million square feet and a city block.” — RT
Freeway signs melt and windows in adjacent buildings burst in the intense heat. Two buildings near the burning construction site are damaged and freeways are closed for hours.The fire which burned down an unpopular (among the architects) apartment complex a 7 storey wood construction in its final... View full entry
When Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looks at L.A., he sees the city shaped by immigrants. Landmark buildings in Koreatown that adapt and evolve with a new generation. Houses in Arcadia that allow Chinese homeowners a proud, conspicuous place in a new country. Street life across the region that takes its cue from the way Latino neighborhoods blur the line between public and private. — latimes.com
The median per capita income in Los Angeles is $27,900. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment—and, frankly, this sounds low to us—is said to be about $1,400.
You can do the math. It's very difficult to keep a roof over your head in this town.
Yet another analysis has confirmed this. The folks at Rent.com looked at median rent and median income in America's largest cities and concluded that L.A. is one of the five worst places in the nation for renters.
— LA Weekly
Michael Rotondi joins us in-studio this week, for a special conversation with Orhan Ayyüce about architecture education and Rotondi's Los Angeles roots. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken also discuss ol' fashioned southern contextualism in Charleston, South Carolina, in response to Clemson University's... View full entry
A hundred and some years ago, an aesthetic force called the City Beautiful movement professed the theory that grand public buildings, lovely civic palaces, could inspire Americans to become good citizens. [...]
Since the 1960s, though, it seems as if great civic architecture has become an embarrassment. Politicians who love to cut ribbons find it hard to justify paying for beautiful on top of functional. The result is a style I call Sunbelt Stalinism [...].
— latimes.com
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2014Say hello to another edition of Archinect's Get Lectured! As a refresher, we'll be featuring a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. If you're not doing so already, be sure to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
The AIA Los Angeles chapter hosted a festive night of celebrations for their 2014 Design Awards, which honors architectural excellence by L.A.-based architects. The eventful awards ceremony took place at the Bradbury Building, the Million Dollar Theater, and Grand Central Market — three historic landmarks in Downtown Los Angeles. — bustler.net
A total of 21 firms and 14 Presidential Honorees received awards. In addition to the Design Awards and Presidential Honorees, the awards program included the Next LA Awards (unbuilt work).DESIGN AWARDS + Presidential HonorsAbove: HONOR: Emerson College by Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles... View full entry
Calling the cost of housing one of Los Angeles’ biggest challenges, Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday announced a goal for 100,000 new homes in the city by 2021.
In a speech to business leaders at UCLA, the mayor outlined a plan to increase funding for affordable housing, subsidize development around transit stations and cut the red tape that many developers say drives up the cost of building in the city.
— LA Times
The Board of Supervisors has approved a road map for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as it plans a $600-million makeover that would tear down and rebuild most of its Miracle Mile campus [...].
If there are no serious bumps in the road ahead, the plan would yield a streamlined, curving 410,000-square-foot new museum building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor that would open in 2023, spanning Wilshire Boulevard with an enclosed bridge that doubles as gallery space.
— latimes.com
Previously View full entry
Friday, October 31:New Plan for Architecture School at Wright Foundation: Facing the loss of its accreditation in 2017, the school is considering independent incorporation in order to continue operating.Thursday, October 30:Archinect's Lexicon: "Anthropocene": Recognizing that "Architecture... View full entry
Architect Michael Rotondi will receive the Richard J. Neutra Medal tonight from the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The Richard J. Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence was established to recognize the contributions that Neutra made to the practice of architecture in research and design. The Medal awards individuals for their dedication to the research and development of new environments in everyday life. — bustler.net
Rotondi, who is currently principal of RoTo Architects in Los Angeles, distinguished himself in architectural education when he co-founded SCI-Arc in 1972 and then later succeeded Ray Kappe as the school's director. Rotondi also previously worked in Morphosis with Thom Mayne in 1975.Learn more... View full entry
Los Angeles' vast freeway system is incomplete — at least by the standards of its architects. In the 1940s, freeways were sketched through Santa Monica Boulevard, along Melrose, Highland and La Brea avenues, and near the Griffith Observatory. Many of L.A.'s freeways were built during the 1960s, but a combination of a freeway revolt, skyrocketing costs and a failure to increase the gas tax doomed the expansion of the freeway system during the 1970s. — LA Times
Whew. View full entry
When we last checked in with Eli Broad’s eponymous downtown museum, its fall 2014 debut had been pushed back to some time in 2015. Today it was announced that the institution will open in fall 2015, although no precise date was given. [...]
The multi-story building, designed Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is still in the midst of construction. When it opens it will join two MOCA facilities and the Japanese American National Museum, making the northern end of downtown something of a museum hub.
— lamag.com
Previously:Los Angeles cultural boom gives city’s artists spaces they can call homeEli Broad’s Art Showcase in Los Angeles, Still Unfinished, Sues Over DelaysEli Broad's art museum, designed by DS+R, to open in late 2014 and will offer free admission View full entry
Acadia 2014 was presented this year at the USC School of Architecture in Los Angles from October 23-25. The term "Design Agency" was the cornerstone term of discourse through out the conference. It would be considered from different angles, including but not limited to: materiality, fabrication... View full entry
Day one at Acadia 2014 found us in the 2D world. Day Two in reality. Day Three was to be somewhere in-between those. It found us dealing with Temporal and Data Agency. Temporal dealing with time and Data with evaluation. A mixing of the two worlds was at play. We weren’t here nor there... View full entry