Design and Architecture

Geoffrey von Oeyen completed a dream house for his brother, only to see it destroyed by the Woolsey Fire two years ago. As he nears completion on the rebuild, he reflects on living in the wildland-urban interface. Also, Janna Ireland is on a mission to tell stories about Black people and their creativity. She talks about her new photo book of buildings by the architect Paul Revere Williams. 

Roman Mars has spent 10 years using his radio show “99% Invisible” to reveal the everyday quirks and delights of cities. Now he’s co-written a book called “The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design.” Mars talks with DnA about tales from LA, writing for print v. radio, and whether he secretly yearns to be a designer.

Americans are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. A coliving project in Hollywood was designed to remedy it. Then came a pandemic. Ten months after its opening, DnA explores the design of Treehouse with creative director Sean Knibb, architect Jeff Soler, and reporter Adriana Cargill. Some residents also share how the project just might be what the doctor ordered at a time of extreme isolation.

Ventilation has become a life or death issue as as experts find that COVID-19 infections increase in poorly ventilated interiors. DnA looks into the extreme measures being taken to improve air conditioning and asks whether outside air is cheaper and healthier. D.J. Waldie has a writerly gift for divining the “sacred ordinariness” in the fabric of Los Angeles. In his new book “Becoming Los Angeles: Myth, Memory, and a Sense of Place,” Waldie reckons with himself and the region in a post-George Floyd world, while illuminating details of LA life, from telecopters to the tiles at Union Station.

California has around 21,000 licensed architects, and 300 of them are Black. SoCalNOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) hopes to change that through its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Challenge. SoCalNOMA President Lance Collins also talks about decolonizing architecture education and finding an African American architectural language.  Computer engineer William English made the mouse a reality. His son John reflects on his father’s work, how William English felt about Apple’s version of the mouse, and how the mouse got its name.

The restaurants on Santa Monica’s Main Street took a huge hit from the COVID-19 shutdown. So the city government, restaurant owners and nearby residents hatched a plan: get rid of parking and give over the space to diners. In doing so, they created European-style al fresco dining, and took on the primacy of the automobile in Los Angeles. They also presented restaurants with a design challenge: how do you make a patch of asphalt with heavy concrete barriers into an attractive destination?

XPRIZE is offering $1 million to designers of a protective face mask that people will actually want to wear. Also, many buildings and neighborhoods are designed in a way that help cause chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Richard Jackson, pediatrician and city design consultant, talks about why well-lit staircases, green roofs, bike lanes, and pleasant sidewalks matter, especially in the time of coronavirus.

Statues of slave traders and Confederate leaders are being toppled or defaced during protests following the killing of George Floyd. How does that feel to a conservator who has worked on some of them? Andrew Baxter installs and restores sculptures and monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia. He talks about his craft, the criticism he has received, and his growing “awakening” about whether symbols of racism should go.

Redlining, restrictive covenants, urban renewal, and building freeways through  communities of color are all ways Los Angeles was shaped by structural racism. Now gentrification is a challenge. Real estate development consultant Judith Taylor explains how race has shaped place, and the work she is doing to bring equity and local investment into new development in South LA.

Big tech companies have remade the workplace in recent years with creative offices designed to stimulate disruption. Now Google and Twitter are telling employees they can keep on working at home — indefinitely. What does that mean for the workplace as a hub of ideas and socializing?

LA City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell talks about his plan to incentivize telecommuting after stay-at-home orders are lifted and other ideas for a greener, cleaner LA. Also, futurist Liam Young says there’s a path toward a slower pace and deeper humanity. 

The pandemic has brought many people pain and anxiety. To Wouter Vanstiphout, a professor of “design as politics,” it has also brought clarity about the weaknesses in the “shiny global city” and its culture, economy and values. Vanstiphout asks if cities based on tourism, fossil fuels and hypercompetitiveness can survive the coronavirus.

Pandemics can bring about innovation, especially in design and architecture. Sam Lubell talks to DnA about changes that may come to buildings and urban design in response to COVID-19.

You are working at home. But is your home working for you? Kelly Wearstler has some tips to improve your interior, at whatever scale.

Kelly Wearstler has held reign in interior design since arriving in Los Angeles in the 1990s. She’s now teaching an online MasterClass. Her tips for improving one's space might be timely for people sheltering in place.

LA’s construction sites are still a hotbed of activity, deemed an essential service. Could they become hotbeds for COVID-19 too?

The CDC is recommending that all Americans should wear cloth masks or other face coverings if they go out in public — amid new concerns that infected people with no symptoms can still spread COVID-19.

LA was once a destination for people who wanted to get away from crowded East Coast cities. The ideal was a single home with a yard and a car in the driveway.  But over the last few decades, planners, designers and activists like Aaron Paley (co-founder of cicLAvia) have worked tirelessly to transform the Southland into a more social place, where people use mass transit and gather in streets and parks.  

As hospitals, clinics and other community organizations face a shortage of masks during the COVID-19 outbreak, homebound sewers have stepped up to help, from DIY crafters to fashion companies. Are homemade masks helpful to medical staff?

In a normal year, many Angeleno designers and showroom owners would be packing their bags soon to head to Milan for Salone del Mobile, the massive furniture fair. But now Italy is on lockdown, and the fair has been postponed, along with High Point Market in North Carolina and numerous other expos, fairs and festivals.  Salone and High Point, originally scheduled in April, have moved to June, assuming quarantines have lifted.  How are Los Angeles designers and showroom owners responding? 

Would you choose to rent or own a condo in a multifamily building, or own a single family home? If you are an Angeleno with the means, it is likely that you would choose the latter. After all, a house is a means to personal freedom, outdoor space, control over design choices, and accumulating wealth. That deep desire for a house and yard -- and the protection of that type of home -- has been promoted since the founding of Los Angeles. But now it may be getting in the way of upzoning the region. Can we make multifamily dwellings the new California dream? Frances Anderton talks to Christopher Hawthorne, LA’s Chief Design Officer, about reaching the “missing middle” with innovative ideas about the design and financing of homes.

Paula Benson says she is “a nightmare to watch a film with.” That’s because she’s always pausing the screen to check the decor, ponder who designed the furnishings and where to get them. 

Why does an architect have to be like a “camel in the desert?” Daniel Libeskind explains why in a conversation about his new book “Edge of Order.” He also shares thoughts about maintaining hope following trauma, not working for dictators, and why everyone should tap into their inner architect.  Modernism Week in Palm Springs continues through Sunday with tours, talks, and a trip down memory lane to the heyday of Sunset magazine. Victoria Bernal recalls a childhood as a member of the “Sunset family” and says why the West needs a magazine that shares wisdom on everything from home design for California’s geography to how to “fish with a tire iron.” And, can you cure bad sound with good sound? Kate Mishkin takes a sound bath at 1 Hotel and finds that “this is the exact right time for sound baths, because we are living in a society that's increasingly anxious and loud and chaotic.”

Desert X started in Coachella Valley, and now it’s in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia. Los Angeles artist Lita Albuquerque shares why she chose to participate amidst a furor back home, saying she couldn't miss being in the country at a "historic moment" of dramatic change, especially for women.  Frieze LA is back for a second outing, bringing a bonanza of art fairs. But not all artists are excited about it. Aaron Axelrod says Frieze contributes to rising housing costs and is making the LA art scene "a little more snooty and less fun." Art critic Jonathan Griffin says the entire art community benefits from the blue chip fair.

The movie “Parasite” is favored for many Oscars, including production design. Director Bong Joon Ho talks about telling a story of class through architecture, saying he gets “pathologically excited and euphoric” when he finds a good space. Eui-Sung Yi, LA-based Korean-American architect, reflects on living in a semi-basement and why Korean-American designers love Bong’s movies. And how is it that very bad movie villains have such great homes? Designer and author Chad Oppenheim talks about the highly alluring “lairs” of movie villains, from James Bond’s nemeses to Nathan Bateman and Dr. Strangelove.

Two new projects are putting their own design or architectural twist on LA landmarks. We visit the famed Bradbury Building in downtown -- a popular location for shooting films such as "Blade Runner." There’s a new tenant here: the coworking space NeueHouse. Avishay Artsy recaps the history of the Bradbury, and Frances Anderton talks to the company's CEO and the designer about moving into such a storied LA building. And we visit the Beverly Center at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Its  new tenant is The Webster. We talk to the fashion retailer's founder, along with the designer, about brick-and-mortar retail in the internet age, and why place matters.

Remember Cross Colours? The LA-based urban streetwear line was a hit in the early 90s, with bright, bold designs and uplifting messages about unity. Now the label is back, and the California African American Museum is celebrating with a retrospective that shows its impact on the mainstream fashion industry. Plus, Forever 21 may not last forever. But the demand for cheap clothing has not gone away. Fashionopolis author Dana Thomas tells DnA about the human and environmental costs of fast fashion, and how we can slow it down.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are stepping back from the British Royal Family. Will they become new Hollywood royalty? We look at the role Los Angeles may play in their lives, from shaping the couple’s influencer project to a being a possible new home. New homes built in California must have solar panels. What does this mean for cost and design? We’ll get some clues from Epic, the new home of Netflix in Hollywood, that integrates solar panels into the facade of the building. And, does one of the Southland’s most comfortable cities need to worry about its well-being? We talk to the woman in charge of Santa Monicans' quality of life.

Syd Mead envisoned vehicles, streetscapes and gadgets for Blade Runner, Tron, Aliens and many other films. He died December 30 at age 86. DnA pays tribute to this “visual futurist” who anticipated, and inspired, new technologies and the discipline of world building. And used clothing is a hot fashion trend. But for some young shoppers, vintage means... the '90s. KCRW's Tyler Boudreaux reports from ThriftCon.

Your smartphone is addictive. Do you need to “Marie Kondo” your apps, put down the phone altogether, or use it as a “drug” dispensary? DnA takes a tour of hidden LA bars that ban phones, talks with a computer scientist who recommends “digital minimalism,” and meets an app entrepreneur who wants to relieve anxiety with “digital drugs.”

Singer-songwriter Dar Williams has spent years on the road and along the way she learned a lot about America’s small towns and what makes them thrive. She talks about her book, What I Found in a Thousand Towns, and plays songs that relate to those themes. 

The La Brea Tar Pits has a new design team that won’t uproot the mammoth family from its lake of tar. DnA talks to architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi of Weiss/Manfredi about how they plan to maintain the “thereness” and “spectacle” of the prehistoric site while making it more open and attractive to visitors. Once upon a time, tract homes were seen as bland and boring, and then came Cinderella Homes. We’ll hear how a 1950s fantasy trend in suburban design made Southern California homeowners’ wishes come true. Could the “Great Stone Mother” become home for the destitute? LA County is looking to transform some of the properties it owns into affordable and supportive housing. One possible site is the old General Hospital at LAC+USC Medical Center.

How do you make your own architectural statement on a street filled with eye-grabbing Eric Owen Moss buildings? Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee talk about bringing “decorum,” pillowed tilt-up concrete and hidden outdoor rooms to their subtle remodel of UCLA’s graduate art studios on Hayden Avenue in Culver City.  And we learn about the massive, sometimes illegal, global trade in used stuff and where it winds up after we've tossed it out. Fun fact: The Japanese hoard as much as Americans.

A dramatic decision by a little-known planning agency may impact how much new housing goes up in your city. The board of the Southern California Association of Governments, or SCAG, voted recently to allocate more housing in coastal, job-rich cities in Southern California rather than in rural areas. That means over 3,000 new units for Beverly Hills, which had planned to build three. DnA talks to the mayors of Culver City and Beverly Hills about their different approaches to new housing construction, and asks if car-based land-use in the Southland is coming to the end of the road. And ‘tis the season for holiday craft fairs. So why does West Coast Craft, new to LA this year, insist it is not a craft fair? DnA talks to WCC creative director Paulina Nassar about the "West Coast aesthetic," the intersection of fine art and craft, and WCC's place in a fairly saturated craft marketplace.