The event takes place at the Standard Downtown--yes, on the astroturfed roof, somewhere between the pool and the bright red waterbed pods--from March 31 to April 4. Six bloggers from around the world have curated the event and will be furiously covering it: ArchDaily/Plataforma Arquitectura, BLDGBLOG , City of Sound, Subtopia , Mudd Up!, We Make Money Not Art and we're sure plenty of other architecture scribes will be pecking out coverage as well.
All the events are free and open to the public, so we encourage you to drop in any night between 5pm and 10pm (if you swing by during the day perhaps you'll catch some of the bloggers in swimwear, lounging with their laptops). If you can only make it down there for one day, might we suggest Saturday, April 4, when DnA's associate producer Alissa Walker (that's me!) will be speaking on a panel about design and the media with writers from the Architects Newspaper and Curbed LA, as well as Greg J. Smith and Christina Ulke, followed by the closing party. And of course, if you can't make it, check out the sites of any of the featured bloggers, who we're sure won't miss a thing.
~Alissa Walker
As I've passed mundane buildings in LA made dynamic and exhilarating by gigantic billboards for Pepsi or ipods or the latest movie, I've often wondered why many Angelenos have become so upset at this supergraphic decoration.
Has my European, Reyner-Banham-and-Andy-Warhol-loving delight in pop culture and the messy vitality of commerce clouded my ability to understand people's outrage? Well, today in the LA Times, architecture critic Chris Hawthorne nails it; his great piece identifies why there's such a furore (loss of control over our dysfunctional political system) and the distinction between the good (Sunset Strip, buildings-as-billboards like Gehry's Santa Monica parking garage and April Greiman's Vermont-Wilshire mural) and the bad (digital signs that illuminate people's bedrooms, not to mention, I would add, gorge huge amounts of energy, unless they are solar-powered).
As a maturing city, LA has discovered the Old European need to preserve its heritage and fight against distasteful development. On the plus side, this means some classic buildings are being saved from the wrecking ball; on the downside, it bespeaks a desire for respectability that I hope does mean a loss of the visual thrills of car culture that have made this region so strangely alluring.
The Sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury once suggested that the only way to get car-loving Angelenos out of their automobiles and onto public transit was to have Walt Disney design the system, because only he knew how to make people-movers a fun-filled, fantasy ride. Well, the results of a competition for ideas for LA infrastructure (co-sponsored by SCI-Arc and the Architects Newspaper) have just been released and it looks like the spirit of Walt lives on. These schemes may not be practical (in view of the multi-agency, deeply political process that actually produces public transit) but they certainly make mass transit enticing. How can you not be seduced, for example, by this magnetic levitation train system, by third prize winner, Osborn (headed up by Michael Pinto and based in LA), that calls itself Mag Luv? For more on the goals of the competition, whose jury included architects (Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss), planners (Gail Goldberg) and transportation designers (Geoff Wardle), listen to Sam Lubell on last week's DnA.
Billions of dollars of funding for infrastructure projects -- roads, bridges, greening buildings -- will be flowing to the state. What will that money buy? Ideally, what should it buy?
Two upcoming events address that question: first, on Saturday, March 21, starting at 2:00PM, winners of the SCI-Arc-Architects Newspaper infrastructure competition will be announced. The competition encouraged entrants to develop solutions within the parameters of LA County Ballot Measure R but to “dramatically rethink the relationship between transit systems, public space and urban redevelopment." Entries focus on specific rail extension projects and larger-scale, inter-related transit planning challenges. The competition jury included Thom Mayne, Principal and Founder of Morphosis Architects; Aspet Davidian, Director, Project Engineering Facilities, LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Neil M. Denari, Professor, UCLA, and Principal, Neil M. Denari Architects; Cecilia V. Estolano, Chief Executive Officer of CRA/LA; Gail Goldberg, Director of Planning, City of Los Angeles, Roland Genik, Urban Planner and Transit Designer; Eric Owen Moss, Director, SCI-Arc, and Principal and Founder of Eric Owen Moss Architects; and Geoff Wardle, Director of Advanced Mobility Research at Art Center College of Design. Hear from the jurors about their picks. Projects will be up through March 28.
Then on Monday evening, March 23, I'll be part of an event at Woodbury University. It's part II of two panels on infrastructure visions for the country and it's part of their "New Prosperities: Contemporary Ideas for the Future of Urban Centers in the American West" lecture series put together by professors/architects Peter and Hadley Arnold. I'll moderate a panel with lively thinkers, John Kaliski, Urban Planner; Ellen Neises, landscape architect; Eric Olsen, architect; and Mark Shorett, urban planner with Arup in San Francisco. I'll also make a presentation myself, on the profound personal and urban benefits of walking kids to school. This may sound mundane but I promise you, it is not. The panel is free and open to the public, and starts 6:30PM in the Ahmanson Main Space, Woodbury University
, 7500 Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, CA (map and directions). And tacos will follow!
Los Angeles is seeing a sudden upsurge of digital billboards and supergraphics lining freeways, boulevards, and the sides of buildings. Thousands of ad stands are popping up along sidewalks. Is this the future of advertising or another form of visual blight? Are billboards just part of a healthy urban landscape? And, as Los Angeles considers a new sign ordinance amid a blizzard of lawsuits, how do we ensure everyone plays by the rules?
Join the Westside Urban Forum on Friday, March 20, 2009 to hear from all sides of this highly charged topic facing Los Angeles. WeHo Urban Designer, John Chase, will moderate a discussion with John Kaliski, Jane Usher, Paul Prezja and Paul Rohrer.
When: Friday, March 20, 2009 , 7:00am Registration, 7:45am-9:00am Program
Where: The Regency Club, 10900 Wilshire Blvd., 17th Floor, Los Angeles, CA
Members: $30 ($10 for full-time students with ID)
Guests: $45 ($15 for full-time students with ID)
More info here. Online registration is closed.
Boffi and LA Forum present a panel discussion: "DoubleVision: Identity vs. Perception" devoted to an exploration of convergent and divergent points in architectural, industrial and product design practices.
The discussion previews an exhibition entitled "Two Legends of Italian Design", which celebrates and chronicles the parallel histories of Ducati and Boffi.
Featured are new and vintage Ducati motorcycles alongside visionary Boffi kitchen and bathroom designs;
When: 6:30 - 8:00pm, Wednesday March 18.
Where: Boffi Los Angeles, 1344 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Reception to follow 8:00 - 10:00pm
It was reported today that housing starts jumped 8.2%, making their biggest gain in more than two years.That's good news for an industry that's seen big layoffs in architecture, engineering, and construction, acutely so in Los Angeles where residential construction is a backbone of the economy, as well as a vehicle for some of LA's most influential architectural exploration. We'll discuss the challenges facing LA architects and designers on today's show and find out how many are finding creative ways to survive the economic slump. We'll also hear from about how an enforced slowdown may not be such a bad thing for an overbuilt region. Must dash now to tape WWLA and will add more soon. But make sure to listen to the show; it's inspiring.
Join James Rojas for a discussion on his installation, “Santa Monica Off the Grid." The model is a non-motorized transportation plan designed around the Subway to the Sea and Expo Light Rail.
Date: Saturday, March 14 at 6:00pm.
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Location: 18th Street Art Center
1639 18th Street
Santa Monica, CA. 90404
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