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Critics, including some influential environmental groups, would prefer to see naturalization of the river itself. But during a recent Zoom call from his Los Angeles studio, a grin crossed the Pritzker Prize winner’s face as he shared his plans to transform the forlorn industrial confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Rio Hondo in South Gate into an urban cultural park like no other. — Los Angeles Times
It's been relatively quiet around the ambitious Los Angeles River revitalization project since Frank Gehry's firm was selected to lead the master plan effort in 2015. Now the Los Angeles Times has revealed an update — although sparse in detail — which instead of the naturalization of... View full entry
SPF:architects (SPF:a) has just released new renderings for Rumblefish, a 400-foot pedestrian bridge spanning across the LA River and connecting Elysian Valley (Frogtown) to Taylor Yard, a 42-acre industrial parcel and former rail yard site at the center of the city’s river revitalization... View full entry
Regardless of the pricey remediation, the 41-acre property has long been considered a key element to the large-scale ecological restoration of the LA River. The city purchased the G2 parcel in March, paying nearly $60 million. — Curbed
The city’s bureau of engineering recommends engineering firm WSP, with Landscape Architect Mia Lehrer, for the transformation of the G2. WSP and Lehrer are collaborating with Mujeres de la Tierra, a non-profit public health organization based in Cypress Park, on the project. Part of Taylor... View full entry
It's here: our final interview from 'Next Up: The LA River', featuring Mia Lehrer of Mia Lehrer + Associates. Lehrer was a major driving force in the 2007 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, and has worked for nearly 20 years on projects related to the River—undeniably preceding any... View full entry
Steven Appleton and Catherine Gudis are some of Next Up's most active participants when it comes to physically being in the LA River. Appleton co-founded LA River Kayak Safari, which has lead over 6000 people on kayaking tours down the river. He's also a public artist, and has made work that... View full entry
Our second conversation from 'Next Up: The LA River' is with Marissa Christiansen, Senior Policy Director of Friends of the Los Angeles River. FOLAR, as the non-profit is known, turned 30 this year, and was founded on the mission to "protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the... View full entry
When Frank Gehry's office was first attached to the L.A. River's master plan and redevelopment, the river began attracting fresh attention over a project that had already been evolving for decades. This October, in an attempt to do justice to the river's complexity and history (and the... View full entry
The L.A. River's redevelopment is one of the most challenging, and exciting, projects currently underway in Los Angeles. Accounting for the River's 51-mile stretch, and all the neighborhoods it runs through, is a mammoth endeavor—and one that will necessarily involve contention and compromise... View full entry
For the latest installment of Archinect's live podcasting series, Next Up, we're focusing on the L.A. River, and the wide swath of urbanist concerns within its ongoing master planning efforts. It could be the project that makes, or breaks, Los Angeles. With a complex historical legacy and an... View full entry
“By accident, we’ve created the perfect habitat there. People don’t think about that because they think that this part of the river is ugly and concrete, but it’s a critically important habitat for these shorebirds.” [...]
As the city makes its decisions about the river’s future, it is called upon to be sensitive to all life that has managed to grow around it, despite its not-so-green surroundings.
— kcet.org
For more on the LA River's redevelopment:Will Gehry's L.A. River plan result in water savings?Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer, Oyler Wu appointed to design L.A. River Greenway in San Fernando ValleyWhat's happening with Frank Gehry's masterplan for the LA River?Before the masterplan gets underway... View full entry
Los Angeles wants to rethink its river. [...] And LA isn’t the only metropolis looking to reclaim its once-mocked waterway. Cities around the world are realizing that water can be a cultural and recreational asset, not something to hide or pillage, and it seems no waterway will be wasted for long. — wired.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer, Oyler Wu appointed to design L.A. River Greenway in San Fernando ValleyWhat's happening with Frank Gehry's masterplan for the LA River?A plan to clean up the River Spree around Museum Island in Berlin View full entry
Mayor Eric Garcetti's office released a statement yesterday announcing that Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Oyler Wu Collaborative, and civil and structural engineering firm Psomas will design the final 12 miles of the San Fernando Valley portion of the Los Angeles River Greenway. The... View full entry
River LA is less interested in giving a clear picture of what Gehry’s plan eventually may include than in tamping down charges that it has been born of secrecy — and worries that it may operate as a Trojan horse, a kind of high-design architectural cover, for rampant real-estate speculation [...]
A central goal of this master plan... will be to strike an effective balance between maintaining flood-control measures while opening up the river to new kinds of public access.
The two designers from Gehry's office leading research on the River's masterplan, Tensho Takemori and Anand Devarajan, emphasize that the approach now is about learning, not designing: “This is just meant to be information,” said Takemori. “There’s no designs, no proposals or anything... View full entry
Anthropologist Susan Phillips had spent a career examining the graffiti that covers urban walls, bridges and freeway overpasses.
But when she came across an unrecognizable collection made not of spray paint but substances like grease pencil and apparently left there for a century, she was stunned.
Phillips had uncovered a peculiar, almost extinct form of American hieroglyphics known as hobo graffiti, the treasure trove discovered under a nondescript, 103-year-old bridge spanning the LA River.
— NBC Los Angeles
More on graffiti:Detroit issues arrest for "vandal" Shepard FaireyNew Renderings of What Will Replace Grafitti Art Mecca 5Pointz EmergeGiant "calligraffiti" mural unites community in Cairo slumLeading street artists weigh in on the gentrification debate View full entry
“If we do it right,” Gehry said at an event in September, “we can really make the High Line look like a little pishy thing.” Given that Manhattan’s elevated park, at merely 1/35th the length of the river, has helped transform the surrounding neighborhood into a playground for the rich, residents of LA’s river-adjacent communities are right to be concerned. — thenation.com
The LA River development project previously in the Archinect news:Mayor Eric Garcetti on Frank Gehry's plans for the LA River: "a cooperative, collaborative, regional approach"Does Frank Gehry – or his firm – have what it takes to save the LA River?Gehry enlisted to masterplan LA River... View full entry
