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Paris’s car-free day was not without controversy, not least because it wasn’t a totally carless day and was limited to only around one-third of the city. After a standoff with police, authorities were only able to make car-free certain parts of the city centre, stretching between Bastille and the Champs Elysées, and the outer Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, and only between 11am and 6pm. In the rest of the city, cars were allowed but at 20km an hour. — The Guardian
Paris, which had a mostly car-free day on Sunday, September 27th, experienced smog-free blue skies and a largely smiling populace, but it's not the first major metropolis to sort of go pedestrian. During a July weekend in 2011, famously car-centric Los Angeles shut down one of its main transit... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any... View full entry
The scaffolding is off the Petersen Automotive Museum on Mid-Wilshire, and even though the building isn't yet open to the public, the reactions have been passionate.
"The New Look of the Petersen Automotive Museum is Really Really Bad," trumpeted a headline in Curbed. (The story, by Marissa Gluck, went on to describe the building as "the Guy Fieri of buildings: obnoxious, loud, and, ultimately, sure to be inexplicably embraced by the public.")
— latimes.com
Los Angeles is enjoying its fair share of museum-related news these days:The Broad Museum opens its doors for a look beyond the veilArchinect's critical round-up of LACMA's Frank Gehry exhibitionArchinect's critical round-up of Los Angeles' Broad Museum View full entry
While you’re hypertensive in traffic listening to NPR, I have seen dolphins frolicking (and homeless men fighting over a shopping cart); I’ve smelled the taco trucks and heard all the languages of kids playing at morning recess. I sweat and shiver; I feel elation and real fear. In short, I feel alive. And so I ride. — Los Angeles Magazine
Despite its annoyances, difficulties, and outright dangers, Peter Flax's take on bicycle riding in L.A.—prompted in part by the city's recent decision "to create hundreds of miles of new protected bike lanes, shrinking some streets in the process"—combines a reporter's clear-eyed sensibility... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any... View full entry
the greater L.A. area sees more additional heat than any other region, in part because of how urbanized it is. [...]
Solutions include planting more trees and bushes, painting roofs white so they don’t absorb as much heat and using lighter colored concrete on streets and sidewalks.
— scpr.org
Los Angeles elected leaders announced Tuesday that they will declare a “state of emergency” on the growing homelessness problem in the city and commit $100 million toward housing and other services for homeless people. [...]
"If we want to be a great city that hosts the Olympics and shows itself off to the world,” Cedillo said, “we shouldn't have 25,000 to 50,000 people sleeping on the streets.”
— scpr.org
Related on Archinect:Los Angeles funds $213M policy to end chronic homelessnessLow-income housing in Los Angeles: A look at the past, present and futureIn Los Angeles, homelessness is becoming more visible View full entry
The 2015 Core77 Conference looks into the future of contemporary design in DESIGNING HERE/NOW. Happening at the Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles from October 22-24, the three-day event explores the ideas, relationships, and technologies that are pushing forward the boundaries of contemporary... View full entry
Frank Gehry, whose firm provided the work free of charge, spelled out his vision for a piece of property that extends nearly two blocks. The two-story structures will fit the neighborhood... offering a scale and a 'body language' that is residential in nature...[The] Children's Institute project is one of several signs that new services and amenities are coming to the neighborhood, which recently commemorated the 50th anniversary of the historic civil unrest that erupted in 1965. — Los Angeles Times
More recent Frank Gehry-related news on Archinect:Gehry's product designs to be honored by Museum of California DesignFrank Gehry opens up about the emotional side of his architectureFrank Gehry's renderings for L.A.'s Sunset Strip revealedGehry to prioritize hydrology in LA River revitalization... View full entry
Citing L.A.'s quest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles County transportation officials are seeking to fast-track two of Metro's most anticipated rail projects.
In letters sent Tuesday and obtained by The Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority formally asked to join a Federal Transit Administration pilot program that could accelerate construction on a subway to the Westside and a rail connection to Los Angeles International Airport...
— LA Times
Pending federal approval (and cash – $1 billion, to be precise), Metro hopes to pursue an "extremely aggressive" schedule, completing the Purple Line subway extension as well as the LAX "people-mover" by the potential opening of a 2024 Los Angeles Olympics.Currently, the Purple Line is scheduled... View full entry
On September 15, Ma Yansong, Founder and Principal Partner of MAD Architects (Beijing, Los Angeles), will speak at LACMA as part of their Distinguished Architects Lecture Series.According to the press release, Yansong will discuss several forthcoming projects including the Harbin Cultural... View full entry
Mountain lions, bobcats and other wildlife would have less chance of becoming roadkill if [California] adopts a plan to build a [165-foot-wide, 200-foot-long] landscaped bridge over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills...Urbanization has taken a toll on Southern California’s mountain lion population, spurring battles over shrinking territory and a depletion of genetic diversity because of inbreeding. — Los Angeles Times
Related on Archinect: 33-story endangered species picture showFancy $48M animal terminal to open in JFK Airport next yearChinese sinkhole develops its own eco-systemOur infrastructure is expanding to include animalsHummingbird Drones and other Bio-inspired Robotics View full entry
We suspect the city’s notoriously bad traffic and general “aloofness” of the people contributed to its low ranking, as well as its culinary scene, which was also ranked dead last in this year’s poll. — Travel + Leisure
When Travel + Leisure compiled a survey of the places its readers love to visit, it also collected data on the 30 locales they loathe. While Moscow, Russia tops the list of the world's unfriendliest cities, a significant number of the top 10 are located in the United States (including Los Angeles... View full entry
The elements of the Broad that have been most closely scrutinized or most often reworked, in fact, are the most uneven. It is only in the relative shadows — in the peripheral or easily overlooked spaces, or in the rooms added or enlarged late in the design process — that the architecture of the museum really comes to life. — latimes.com
More on The Broad on Archinect:What makes an artless museum?So what's new at the Broad?DS+R's Broad Museum set to open on Sept. 20, with a Feb. 15 previewIs The Broad Museum's newly unveiled facade living up to its renderings? View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any... View full entry
