07.15.04 - 09.09.04

Architectural Designs for the City of Los Angeles

Photos: Steven Kanner

Rarely does a city have the opportunity to show off its collective architectural efforts in a public space with models, drawings, photography and sketches. The A+D Museum of architecture and design in Los Angeles has provided the grand space for just such a display of recent significant public designs for the City of Los Angeles.

The range of projects in this exhibit, set to open with a reception in Mid-July, is a sample of the breadth and scope of public investment in the improvement of the City. Each design represents an opportunity for a renovation of a piece of the City, and for positively impacting the daily life of people in neighborhoods across the City.

The 23 projects in this exhibit were designed by City staff in the Bureau of Engineering, and by local and national architects from small and large firms. City staff managed all of the projects. The majority of these projects addressed the City’s commitment to sustainable design. All of the projects met strict budget and schedule parameters, and all were built by contractors who won the construction contracts by providing the lowest bids for the work.

This exhibit was designed to reflect the diversity of City projects in terms of size and variety of uses. Included are: a major expansion and renovation of the Griffith Park Observatory; libraries; a childcare center; police stations; recreation centers; an air treatment facility; an expansion of the Convention Center; an arts center for children; an animal care facility; a soccer field concession stand; and police stations.

In a time when funds for public projects are carefully allocated, it is important to explore the City’s work on these very significant projects. The large number of libraries built in the City is a result of the voters’ approval of library bond funding. Other projects included in this exhibit are also a direct result of the citizens voting for funding propositions. Other projects are funded through general tax dollars, grant funding, and federal and state funding allocations.

For new City buildings, the Bureau of Engineering is the primary delivery organization for the City’s Public Works Department. The Bureau has resident architectural, landscape and engineering staff, who provide full service consulting for the design and construction of public projects. The Bureau also provides project management staff to work with consulting architectural firms to deliver some of the public buildings shown in this exhibit. The City, as the client on behalf of its residents, directs the design work for many significant architectural commissions.

City Architect Deborah Weintraub says, “We are honored to celebrate the collaborations that have produced these designs, and to support the A+D Museum in their effort to create a public dialogue on architecture and urban design.”

Architectural firms and organization represented in this exhibit are: The Architectural Division of the Bureau of Engineering; Barton Phelps & Associates; Johnson Fain Architects; Tetra Design; GA Design; WWCOT Architects; Koning Eizenberg; Paul Murdoch Architects; Kanner Architects; DMJM; Richard Matteson Architect; Hodgetts & Fung; AC Martin Partners; LMN Architects; Fields & Devereaux; Hardy Holzman Pfieffer Associates; Friends of the Observatory; and Pleskow Rael.