Chief design officer for LA City Hall; Los Angeles Times
Architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times and Adjunct Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College; creator of the on-going speaker series "Third Los Angeles," celebrating what he calls the city's profound reinvention.
"5 over 2": Rethinking the box In the boom years of the last century, Los Angeles developed homes that were specific to the region, the culture and the economy. These include revival-style homes, bungalow courts, garden apartments and dingbats. Now we are in the midst of another LA building boom. But are we producing homes that are distinctively Angeleno? Yes, say some and it might take the form of cool, multifamily apartment buildings that creatively tweak a generic building type. Author and historian DJ Waldie posed this question to DnA: “what is that characteristic form for Los Angeles today? We have accessory dwelling units. We have tiny houses. We have fantastical mega mansions. But among all those forms that are being built now, what is the characteristic Los Angeles house?” Historian and USC librarian Ruth Wallach says there is a contemporary archetype and you can find it in 5 to 7 story blocks of residential over parking and commercial on or near major streets across the Southland. She describes it as “that Bauhausian type of modernism of plain facades and ribbons of windows. They're rectilinear. There are plain facades. Sometimes there is color to kind of provide a variety. And then there is a lot of glass.” Mariposa 1038 in Koreatown. Photo credit: Paul Vu. These buildings seem similar and often bland because they are all built of a construction type nicknamed “5-over-2.” In the fifth episode of our series “This is Home in LA: From the Tent to the Gigamansion (and everything in between),” DnA looks at this this typology and finds that some designers are making it special, so special that for some residents it’s a preferred alternative to the LA dream of a single family home. “It's two levels maximum of type 1 construction, which is concrete, so formed in place. And then up to five levels of Type 3 construction, which is a fire-rated or fire-treated wood system,” said Scott Parker with the architecture and urban planning firm Studio One Eleven. This form, he says, “gives you a not-high-rise construction and it gets you to seven stories, which sort of maxes out the economic return on investment. And you can do it very efficiently and cost effectively.” Parker cites a building by his firm, Domain in West Hollywood. Its six stories of market-rate, one-, two- and three-bedroom units over ground level stores and offices, with swimming pool and roof deck, featuring International style rectilinearity and splashes of color. But, they added a twist. “Formosa Cafe is literally across the street. You could sit at the Formosa Cafe and look at the Hollywood sign. This building would block that. So what we did… is actually carved a hole in the architecture itself and framed the Hollywood sign so you can still sit, have your coffee or lunch and look up and see the Hollywood sign,” Parker said. The “5-over-2” is the architectural equivalent of the 1960s-era dingbat apartments, says Alan Pullman of Studio One Eleven. “It's denser than what we did before. But like the dingbat, it's a kind of archetype. And the building code dictates so much of this building that it leaves the designer with just tweaking the edges. Eighty five percent is already done based on the… International Building Code,” Pullman said, adding,“people really complain about it as this generic kind of architecture. I've heard it called ‘fast casual’ architecture.” A classic dingbat apartment building in Los Angeles. This generic kind of building is one that LA’s new Chief Design Officer, Christopher Hawthorne, says he’s thinking about. “I'm really interested in looking at that formula, that collection of recipes that come out of various city requirements and thinking about how it can be tweaked to promote better architecture, because that's really what shapes the architecture of most of what is being produced by private development,” Hawthorne told DnA. While the city works on tweaks, some private developers are already tweaking the formula. You can find an example in Koreatown, at an apartment building called Mariposa 1038. DnA recently joined a group of residents for drinks on the roof. “I've always thought of roofs as being the most active space conceptually, because it allows opportunities for people to come and sit and hang out and communicate,” said Lorcan O’Herlihy, the architect of the building. Taj Stansberry, Sophia Chang, Jonathan Schkolnick and Jonathan Chia are among a group of designers, filmmakers and photographers who were drawn to the building and now call it home. They appreciate the communality of the design layout, the open balconies and shared roof garden, as well as the thoughtful sourcing of light. “What Mariposa 1038 really offers is architecture. And even today this morning when I woke up in the bedroom and we have a certain type of lighting that hits the room. I was like, ‘I'm so happy to be here,’” Chang said. “It is my home. Yeah. You want to come back here,” said Stansberry. “It's a great place to create, and you don't feel like a hermit here. You just feel like you're at home.” O’Herlihy has garnered a reputation for distinctive-looking condo and rental apartment buildings that maximize liveable interior space and shared open areas, like rooftops. “I'm always intrigued about having an opportunity to meet people who are living in the buildings I do, because this is why I do it. It's about the people who are living here and I'm always thinking about, through the design process, how to create an environment that's uplifting, that's inspired, that in a sense gives you a place of not only a home but also a place where you look forward to coming back to, and also helps to inspire you,” he said. A view of the rooftop of Mariposa 1038. Photo credit: Paul Vu. The architect also played with the four sides of the Mariposa 1038 block. He pushed in each to make curving walls. Then he added overhangs for shading, balconies and sharp black and white detailing. All of these special features added construction costs and lengthy waits at the planning department for approvals. The market-rate apartments range from $2600 to $3600 for one or two bedrooms. And the building is currently full. Sitting on the roof of Mariposa 1038, drinking rose with a group of dynamic Angelenos, enjoying the spectacular view, you get a taste of the new architecture that’s emerging to house the new Los Angeles lifestyle. It’s “fast casual” but when it’s done thoughtfully it can be a new version of the LA dream. The one in which you don’t actually own a home but you have a home that still embraces the outdoors and the big LA sky, and that is still modern in spirit. “We know that in the early years the patrons of architects were people living on hillsides and hiring architects to design these individual houses. Whereas I'm convinced that the new patrons... are intrigued about building multifamily or larger housing complexes in urban environments, infill projects which is all throughout Los Angeles. So this building represents that new culture of Los Angeles,” said O’Herlihy. Mariposa 1038, an apartment building in Koreatown designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects. Photo by Paul Vu.
LA gets its first-ever chief design officer Longtime Los Angeles Times architecture critic, Christopher Hawthorne has left the paper to take a new position, at the invitation of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, of Chief Design Officer for the city. In his last column for the Times, he wrote about his aspirations for this position, emphasizing a “a clear central focus: the public realm,” as well as initiatives such as supporting young talent through design competitions, enabling better quality of housing and amplifying the design presented to us by the 2028 Olympics. He starts this job on April 16. DnA spoke to Garcetti and Hawthorne about these goals — and the practicalities of achieving them in a city of complex politics. The top of LA City Hall.
What would a redesign of Los Angeles look like? Los Angeles is redefining itself as a city. So what should it look like? That’s one question -- among many others -- on the mind of Christopher Hawthorne. He’s leaving his job as architecture critic for the LA Times to join city hall as its first ever design chief.
Does SoCal need another freeway? President Trump on Monday announced a $1.5 trillion plan to upgrade our infrastructure. Only $200 billion will come from the federal government. That money is supposed to spur local investment. Perhaps some of that money will end up in LA County, where a new freeway is being planned in the high desert. It’s supposed to connect Palmdale and Lancaster with Victorville and Apple Valley in San Bernardino County.
What made architect John Portman's buildings stand out? The Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown LA has been featured in several movies and TV shows. Its big open atrium and glass elevators have been the fictional site of chases, disasters, and presidential assassination attempts. They’ve been features of hotels and office buildings all over the world. The architect of the Bonaventure, John C. Portman, died Friday in Atlanta. He was 93.
The controversial project to rethink Detroit architecture Zago Architecture designed "A New Federal Project" as a conceptual approach to settling 68,000 refugees in Detroit. The project is part of "The Architectural Imagination" at A+D Museum in Los Angeles Photo by Avishay Artsy Behind the mute buildings that form the backdrop to our lives you can find heated debate -- about what those buildings should be like and who they should represent. Those questions lay at the heart of the controversial exhibition The Architectural Imagination . It first appeared in the US Pavilion at 2016's Venice Architecture Biennial, directed by Alejandro Aravena. It then went to Detroit and now it is on display at the A+D Museum in downtown Los Angeles. The exhibition was curated by Mónica Ponce de León, dean of Princeton's architecture school, and Cynthia Davidson, a writer and editor at an architectural theory journal called LOG. The pair picked 12 design teams -- three from Los Angeles -- from over 250 applicants and gave each team one of four sites on which to conceive a speculative programs. They directed the designers to "think imaginatively, not worry about budget. Don't worry about costs, don't worry about building regulations and zoning. Imagine what might be possible," Davidson said. This resulted in some highly imaginative schemes -- including a cluster of civic buildings to support a Syrian refugee resettlement program by Andrew Zago and Laura Bouwman; a tubular, blob-like Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge and Innovation on the site of the defunct Packard Plant by Greg Lynn; and a Zócalo in place of a strip mall by Pita & Bloom that drew its decorative inspiration from layers of peeling paint in the decrepit relics of industrial Detroit. Pita & Bloom's project "THE NEW ZÓCALO" is a proposal for the Mexicantown area of Detroit and is part of "The Architectural Imagination" However, the show drew a backlash from those, says LA Times Christopher Hawthorne, who felt "this was opportunistic. . . taking advantage of a struggling city and. . . imposing these visions of overwrought formal visions" on struggling neighborhoods. Davidson points out the reaction has been mixed -- and recalls Detroit's Planning Director Maurice Cox telling her "we had changed the conversation in Detroit."
Developers aim to fast-track big projects in LA Los Angeles is still in the midst of a major affordable housing shortage, yet residents will consider a measure in March that would temporarily halt big residential developments. It’s called the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative. Before voters weigh in, some developers are rushing to get their projects approved in places like downtown’s Arts District.
Inside the LA River Master Plan It seems like people have been talking about revitalizing the LA River forever in order to turn those miles and miles of graffiti-lined concrete into a more usable public space. Now, it seems like it’s really starting to happen, though not everyone is happy. The design team working with architect Frank Gehry has launched a new website with information about a new and improved LA River - it’s called the LA River Index.
LACMA's Redesign in Venice The 2016 Architecture Biennale is underway in Venice, Italy, and its director, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, has focused the exhibition, "Reporting from the Front," on architecture in a time of rising economic inequality. So what is a model of Swiss architect Peter Zumthor's proposed replacement for four buildings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art doing in the show? Christopher Hawthorne explains.
Riding the Expo Line The last time Los Angeles residents were able to take a train to the beach, it was the Red Car in 1953. But on May 20, Angelenos will be able to board an Expo Line train in downtown LA and take it to downtown Santa Monica, just blocks from the pier. The extension was delayed for decades over safety, environmental and funding concerns. But now Metro, the train's operator, is hailing this and other subway extensions as a "transit renaissance" for the region. Is LA moving toward a less car-dependent future? LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, train operator William Smith, and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti Photo: Rob LaFond
Remembering Renowned Architect Zaha Hadid World-renowned architect Zaha Hadid passed away suddenly Thursday after suffering a heart attack at a Miami hospital. She was 65 years old. News of her sudden death shocked the architecture world. We’ll talk about the life and work of the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize.
The Los Angeles Development Fight Now we look at the issues animating the development debate with the incoming campaign director for the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative and the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times. They assess whether Los Angeles is ready to live in a more urban city or whether it still wants the single-family homes and two- and three-story apartment buildings of yesteryear.
Which Way, LA? The Question that Won't Go Away 23 years ago, the fires of the Rodney King riots were burning and the sirens wailing when KCRW first asked, WWLA? We've been through fires, floods, earthquakes and massive social, cultural and economic change. While this is the last program titled WWLA? the question still needs to be asked. We talk with a group of important and thoughtful people about what LA has become and about the challenges to be faced in the future…as we continue.
Is Los Angeles Still a 'City of Quartz?' In 1990, Mike Davis wrote City of Quartz, insisting that Los Angeles was not a west coast utopia, but a dystopia instead. Two years later, the Rodney King riots seemed to make him a prophet. His book is still used as a text for understanding LA history, even though Davis failed to predict the city's massive immigration. What did he tell us about economic inequality, race politics, the role of developers and architects — and community relations with the LAPD?
Making L.A.: The Built Environment One hundred years ago, Los Angeles was barely a city at all. Over the last century, it has blown up into a giant metropolis. And during all this rapid growth, L.A. has continued to struggle with an inferiority complex, questioning its own identity and place in the world. Are we a world-class city? Can we match those older and more sophisticated cities of the Northeast? Do we have great cultural institutions? We tackle some of these questions and more in our new series, Making L.A., which will examine how we can make L.A. more liveable. This is part one. Downtown Los Angeles Photo by Steve Devol
Who Is Leaving Los Angeles Because of Housing Prices? Housing has become so expensive in the LA Area that beaches, warm winters and cultural diversity aren't enough anymore to keep a lot of people from moving away. We hear from some who have struggled with staying and talk with regional thinkers about the loss of both young people and economic diversity.
George Saunders: Lincoln in the Bardo (Part I) Lincoln in the Bardo dramatizes a grieving President Lincoln as he visits the grave of his beloved son Willie, who died at age eleven. In the novel, the buried dead believe they're not dead -- "they're sick and refer to their coffins as "sick boxes."
In 'Speechless,' Scott Silveri combines comedy, family & disability Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show Speechless on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."
Previewing James Comey's blockbuster testimony Former FBI director James Comey testifies Thursday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but his opening statement has been released. In it, he says he felt pressured by Donald Trump to declare loyalty to him and publicly clear him of any wrongdoing in the Russia investigation.
Industry insights and lessons learned from memorable guests We have interesting guests on The Business, and sometimes our conversations are too long to fit into one show. This week we give you stories that were too good to leave on the cutting room floor, including some sharp insights on making it in the industry from David Mandel, David Simon, Shawn Levy and Matt Reeves.