09.16.04 - 10.06.04
The A+D Museum is pleased to announce its presentation of L.A NOW: VOLUMES 1-4. Conceived and directed by Richard Koshalek, President of Art Center College of Design, and Thom Mayne, professor of UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, the ground-breaking L.A. Now project captures a "snapshot" of Los Angeles at the beginning of the 21st century with the intent of encouraging civic and business leaders, developers, architects, students and the general public to rethink the city and plans for its future.
Organized as an interdisciplinary design initiative to focus creativity on downtown Los Angeles and provide a significant foundation for future development in the central core of Los Angeles, L.A. Now is the first in a series of “wall-less classroom” initiatives to bring new thinking to current issues in architecture, design, art, and culture outside of the classroom. L.A. Now is also the first collaboration between Art Center, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and provides a model of how a city’s native talent can benefit the community at large. L.A. Now brings together the work of architecture students from UCLA and SCI-Arc; graphic design students from CalArts, and environmental design, photography, and film students from Art Center, and others all of whom participated in the extensive research, documentation and design initiative. Of the endeavor, President Koshalek says “Westrongly believe that cultural and educational institutions have a significant role to play in the city.” He adds, “Resources of expertise and creativity are often hidden behind walls of institutions, and these resources must engage directly with ideas that benefit the greater society and address the considerable challenges that confront cities now and in the future. Leading educational institutions must, in essence, become civic leaders to shape the future in a tangible way.”
Internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based architect Thom Mayne of the firm Morphosis acted as “tutor” and design leader of the initiative. Thom Mayne has sustained an interest in large-scale planning issues throughout his career. Through his architectural practice, he has consistently participated in planning projects around the world including Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York and now, Los Angeles. The LA Now project was influenced by and partially borne out of Mayne’s experience as a participant in the International Foundation for the Canadian Centre for Architecture sponsored competition for the design of cities and the redevelopment of New York City’s Westside. Continuing his interest in large scale urban planning projects, Mayne recently participated in an international competition to design the Olympic Village in support of NYC 2012 Olympic Bid. In May, 2004, Morphosis was announced as the winner of this prestigious competition to design the Olympic Village and represent New York City in its bid for the 2012 Olympics. Mayne, in conjunction with the New York based developer, Related Companies, and a consortium of architects and consultants, also recently won the Re-Imaging Grand Avenue competition in Los Angeles—a large scale master planning and development project that has the potential to redefine the Civic Core of downtown Los Angeles. The continual reflexive relationship between Mayne’s teaching and practice enhances and fortifies the pedagogical and public aspirations of the LA Now projects. Therefore, at UCLA, the LA Now project establishes a new territory, or middle ground, between Mayne’s academic and professional pursuits. Just as the medical, scientific and engineering schools enjoy a symbiotic and indivisible relationship with their professional counterparts, Mr. Mayne believes that the architectural community could benefit from this kind of synergy between its academic and professional realms and, through his work with LA Now is attempting to advocate and forge just this kind of vital relationship. The LA Now research studio attempts to rectify this gap and enables him, the school, and the city to investigate topics of interest at a scale and complexity that would not be attainable in an autonomous and conventional model.
The L.A. Now initiative began in Summer 2000 with a review of comprehensive documentation and radical representation of contemporary Los Angeles by Morphosis. From the Fall of 2000 to the Spring of 2004, three generations of architectural design teams at UCLA first worked as “information architects” then synthesized a wide range of data and documentation on the city’s built and natural environment. In addition, they developed provocative comparisons with other cities, states, and countries. With a firm understanding of the city, the students then addressed areas within the historic, central core of Los Angeles – the geographical and symbolic center for the city. During eight academic terms, the students fully developed fifteen speculative architectural proposals, all of which will be on view at the A+D exhibit.
The architectural proposals of L.A. Now were connected to reality and analyzed for plausibility through the participation and feedback of nationally renowned architects, major civic and political leaders, and the city’s most prominent developers, headed by Nelson Rising, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catellus Development Corporation. These advisory groups reviewed the speculative designs in depth and discussed planning issues as well as pragmatic concerns in advisory sessions and design juries. Rising said: “Developers and city builders need to develop a visionary sense in terms of the future. We must consider a more comprehensive view of our cities because of the growing complexities of traffic, housing, and environmental concerns, among many other issues.”
"The L.A. Now initiative demonstrates the immense talent we have in our city,” said Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn. "This collaboration of students and professionals presents a wonderful opportunity to share Los Angeles's rich history and plan for our bright future."
The 4 year-long initiatives generated a number of tangible results benefiting professionals and students in the field of architecture and design, civic leaders, developers, and the general public. In addition to the creation of the first complete 3-D computer model of the contemporary downtown core and Elysian park, L.A. Now presents research, film, photography, and architectural proposals in a four-volume fully illustrated catalogues first published in late 2001. Organized by Anne Marie Burke and Eui-Sung Yi, the A+D Museum’s presentation of LA Now: Volumes 1-4 provides the second general public presentation and in-depth overview of both the research and resulting urban proposals of LA Now. A series of special programs are planned in conjunction with this exhibit.
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