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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
River LA, formerly the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, has posted a video interview with Frank Gehry about his work on the LA River revitalization project. The nonprofit organization works to build public support for the project. “I think when I started it I had trepidation,”... 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
For decades, the concrete-lined L.A. River has been more famous for being a bone-dry iconic conduit for films like Terminator 2 than a major watery artery, but that may change: in a talk with Christopher Hawthorne on Monday, Frank Gehry mentioned that his design may just save the city significant... 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
We’re facing climate change, and our attitude about the natural world, natural resources has changed. What’s really come to an end is this kind of frontier mentality about the city—this idea of infinite growth and infinite expansion, and that the way to study the city is to look at the edges, where it’s gobbling up new territory. [...]
This idea that we can grow our way out of any problem and that we’re always a city that’s expanding and finding or even colonizing new territory—that has ended.
— LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne – boomcalifornia.com
Related on Archinect:"It looks like a dove. Or a carcass": Christopher Hawthorne on Calatrava's Transportation HubTurn the 2 into housing (or a park or a solar array): Christopher Hawthorne's pitch for one of LA's most awkward freewaysChristopher Hawthorne on repairing L.A.'s long-broken... View full entry
Bardell and Howe have been working together for the past decade and have started executing guerrilla-style living sculptures in the river, a project they call the River Liver Series. [...]
“One of the things that keeps us here is how exciting we think the next 10 years is going to be,” Howe says of L.A. “When they actually do this river revitalization, it’s going to be L.A.’s Central Park. Culturally, I think it’s the spot to be on the West Coast.”
— laweekly.com
Related on Archinect:Los Angeles River revitalization: prosperity for all or just a chosen few?Mayor Eric Garcetti on Frank Gehry's plans for the LA River: "a cooperative, collaborative, regional approach"Take a look at "6," an experimental documentary that memorializes the recently-demolished... View full entry
It has been more than 50 years since anyone has served time in the old Lincoln Heights Jail. The five-story building on San Fernando Road next to the L.A. River has been vacant for much of that time but now the city is launching its most recent effort to find new uses for the historic landmark as efforts are underway to restore the river and build new projects and parks along its banks.
The city is seeking ideas and concepts for the 229,000-square-foot complex...
— the Eastsider
In a RFI, the city stipulates that there are a number of hurdles that will have to be removed before reuse, such as possible structural renovations and removal of toxic substances.The city also put forth a list of new possible uses:Technology or creative office (e.g. biotechnology)Clean tech or... 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
When we finally see this river restored to its natural beauty, it’ll be thanks to the work of thousands of people over decades.
The work that Frank Gehry is doing builds upon this—looking at how we can stitch together these 88 cities of LA County, including the 15 different jurisdictions along the river’s 51 miles—some of the most diverse and interesting communities that we’ve ever known. [...]
people have put aside their differences and said: This is an opportunity to move forward.
— planningreport.com
Get caught up with more news on Gehry's ongoing redevelopment strategy for the LA River:A closer look at reasons why the Los Angeles River revitalization is taking so longDoes Frank Gehry – or his firm – have what it takes to save the LA River?"They should grow up": Frank Gehry to critics of... View full entry
These days, it’s hard to think clearly about the Los Angeles River. Once the lifeline of the city and, before that, the Tongva people, the river was paved in the early 20th century following a series of devastating floods and then – at least according to a well-worn narrative – forgotten by... View full entry
From a concrete ditch, the river is now, very, very, very slowly becoming that green, recreational space many supporters have imagined. But, the question is, what's taking so long?
As anyone who's ever set out to build in Los Angeles knows, things aren't always as simple as they seem. A vision becomes reality at a glacial pace, which can be a good or bad thing.
— kcet.org
In other LA River-related news on Archinect:Does Frank Gehry – or his firm – have what it takes to save the LA River?Will Los Angeles be seeing more housing development along its LA River?Feds Okay $1-Billion Los Angeles River Project View full entry
