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To ease Los Angeles’ crushing housing shortage, the city needs a lot more new homes, especially affordable ones. Yet the City Council has been sitting on two community plans that would make it easier for developers to construct housing and boost the number of low-income units in downtown and Hollywood. What’s the holdup? Politics and scandal. — Los Angeles Times
One of the plans, the Downtown Community Plan, which aims to add 100,000 new homes to Los Angeles’ downtown core through 2040, was put on hold after an audio recording surfaced revealing three council members making racist and offensive comments about their colleagues and constituents. Two of... View full entry
The ongoing makeover of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has reached an important step as Urbanize LA is reporting that construction falsework is now in place for the $750 million new David Geffen Galleries by Peter Zumthor. The rest of the falsework should be installed by... View full entry
SWA Group has announced plans to transform parts of America’s biggest container port, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA), in a project aimed at increasing connectivity in the public access realm. “The San Pedro Waterfront is on its way to becoming a truly world-class destination, and we believe... View full entry
New Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass is wasting no time dismantling the regulatory process that’s long been held up as the source and exacerbator of the city’s intertwined homelessness and affordable housing crises. Declaring that the “time for useless regulations is over,”... View full entry
There is another cause of overcrowding and homelessness. It is mansionization, the demolition of older, smaller, less expensive houses by real estate speculators who quickly replace them with spec McMansions: boxy, shoddily built houses that max out the permitted building envelope. — City Watch LA
The disincentive to build multifamily and affordable housing is made worse by the popularity of these easily repeatable home designs, which also cost more to construct while taking up more space and using more water and electricity. Certain communities around L.A. County have developed effective... View full entry
Heather Flood has been appointed Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University. Described by the institution as an “inspiring leader and designer, as well as a passionate advocate of design education,” Flood’s appointment is effective as of December 1, 2022. “I’m grateful to... View full entry
The historic hotel, with its haunted reputation and 600 rooms, reopened in December 2021 as a privately funded permanent supportive housing project. With most of the rooms reserved specifically for those in the bottom 30% of the area’s median income, it’s open to any [...] with a government-funded voucher. Many viewed the project as a promising new model in L.A. because of its size and flexibility.
And yet, a year later, two-thirds of the Cecil remains unoccupied.
— Los Angeles Times
The rare privately-funded $80 million conversion project for the influential Skid Row Housing Trust is one of many case studies on the issue of vacant single-room occupancy (SROs) in Los Angeles. The city housing authority’s Section 8 director thinks an absence of in-unit bathrooms and... View full entry
Another milestone has been reached in the ongoing Automated People Mover (APM) project at Los Angeles International Airport after the last structural steel elements near the historic Theme Building have been installed. The 180-ton final piece serves as a base for the new viewing pavilion and... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to Boston-based Peter Rose + Partners, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Los Angeles this week, where we find Walker Workshop. Founded in 2010, the firm has grown a rich portfolio of residential homes which the team describes as "warmly minimal with... View full entry
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has announced updated plans for a Studio-MLA and Frederick Fisher and Partners-led expansion that is now taking shape for the year 2024. New renderings of the 60,000-square-foot project appear to add interior details to the previous announcement... View full entry
One of Los Angeles’ most significant cultural landmarks, Simon Rodia’s monumental Watts Towers sculpture, finally re-opened last month after a five-year multimillion-dollar restoration effort spearheaded by LACMA. The project was overseen by the museum’s Senior Conservation Scientist... View full entry
An updated version of HKS and Hood Design Studio’s musically-inspired CMNTY Culture campus in Hollywood has been shared after the results of an initial study for the project were published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning recently. Urbanize LA has details on the promising... View full entry
If you are a recent architecture graduate and looking for entry-level career opportunities in the greater Los Angeles area, check out this curated selection of available positions from Archinect Jobs. To look up specific job titles from the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to New York City-based Marvel, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Los Angeles this week, where we meet Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney (EYRC) Architects. Since its founding in 1979, the firm has grown from its LA residential roots... View full entry
In Canoga Park, a groundbreaking ceremony held on November 7 by City and County officials marks the official start of work on a new entry pavilion to the Los Angeles River Greenway.
The new pavilion will consist of two buildings, framing an entrance to the river greenway, each featuring public restrooms. The new structures will support a shade canopy displaying public art. Other components include picnic tables, bike racks, and a drinking fountain.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
The pavilion is the spearhead of the new “kit of parts” LA River revitalization master plan that was adopted by the county in May and includes the $1 billion-plus Taylor Yard G2 site and a total of 22 other new projects spread along the 51-mile-long course stretching from the San... View full entry
