Oyler Wu, The Graduation Experts, Design Another Pavilion for SCI-Arc
Looking up at Storm Cloud (Clifford Ho)
After creating their 2011 and 2012 graduation pavilions for SCI-Arc, Oyler Wu has once again produced a striking structure LA-based school, this time on the occasion of their 4oth anniversary. Dubbed the Storm Cloud pavilion, the structure salvages the existing steel from the 2011 Netscape, which served as the school’s graduation pavilion two years ago. Looking at Storm Cloud, one can hardly tell it shares much of the bones that made up the older pavilion.
Los Angeles’ First Complete Street On the MyFigueroa Corridor Close To Moving Ahead
Proposed elements include separated bike lanes, improved crosswalks, new lighting, and enhanced plantings. (Courtesy MyFigueroa)
It’s been about a year since the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (DOT) took the reins over MyFigueroa, a project that hopes to remake the 4-miles in and around Figueroa Street from LA Live to Exposition Park, near USC. But things are quickly wrapping up, because the $20-million Proposition 1C funds it was awarded need to be spent by 2014. On April 9, DOT hosted a community meeting in downtown LA to unveil updated designs for this crucial connective corridor, which when finished, would be the city’s first implemented complete street.
Fourteen architecture students will be thinking BIG this spring as the NewSchool of Architecture and Design (NSAD) in San Diego teams up with Bjarke Ingels Group to offer a design studio led by Kai-Uwe Bergmann (pictured), partner and director of business development at the world-conquering firm. Starting in April, students will explore the impact of freeways along key sections of the coast, with San Diego acting as an urban laboratory. They’ll also be asked to propose uses to make freeways like the I-5 more community-friendly. Working directly with Bergmann, the budding architects will also get an immersion in the firm’s “Yes is More” and “Hedonistic Sustainability” philosophies. “When we explored themes with BIG for this NSAD studio, from the start their interest was in something that would have an impact, such as dealing with large urban systems, patterns or infrastructure,” Kurt Hunker, NSAD director of graduate programs said in a statement.
AEG Funding Pledge Makes Redesign Of LA’s Pershing Square More Likely
Pershing Square as it looks now. (David A Galvan / Flickr)
Once considered downtown LA’s central park, the problematic 4.5-acre Pershing Square may soon be slated for a few welcome changes. Councilman José Huizar of District 14 recently told LA Downtown News that sports and entertainment company Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has committed $700,000 seed funding to re-think the 164-year-old park. The money is part of a community improvement package AEG had agreed to in order to create a football stadium in Los Angeles.
Architecture For Humanity Begins Recovery Work On East Coast
Devastation in Breezy Point, Queens (CNBC)
As the northeast is slowly getting back on its feet, non-profit Architecture for Humanity is already commencing its plans for rebuilding and recovery. While it’s still early, the organization, which is partnering with AIA chapters in the hardest hit regions, is starting first with impact assessment. Generally working in hard hit areas around the world, this is the first time their New York chapter has had to respond locally, pointed out Jennifer Dunn, New York Chapter Leader. AFH is not only looking to re-build, but to re-build better. “We don’t just want to help build back the coastline but create more resilient communities that can withstand future disasters,” said co-founder Cameron Sinclair in a statement.
Architecture for Humanity is looking for support in the form of donations or volunteers. Donations can be made online here, while volunteers should email volunteer@architectureforhumanity.org. Flood repair strategies are posted here. Further updates will appear on the Architecture for Humanity website as soon as they are available.
Last Weekend to Check Out Heather Flood’s Kinetic Wonder Wall in Los Angeles
Wonder Wall, a kinetic piece by Heather Flood (Courtesy Heather Flood)
Before the show closes on Monday, head over to the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s COLA Visual Arts Awards Exhibition to view artist/architect Heather Flood’s Wonder Wall, an intriguing application of graphic design principles in 3D construction. Inspired by the visual color effects of the tartan—a plaid cloth where interweaving thread colors give way to the appearance of a new blended color— Flood turned strips of perforated colored aluminum into a gyrating wall of mesmerizing color.
Wonder Wall is composed of interlocking vertical and horizontal anodized aluminum strips that gently rotate. Rendered in high-contrast colors (blue, yellow, and green), the piece tricks the eye for a moment to reveal new colors where the aluminum strips overlap, similar to the visual play where weft and warp threads cross each other at right angles in tartans.
“I’ve always wanted to work on a project where I could really explore the visual effects produced by a graphic means of construction,” said Flood. She is looking to extend the concept into her architectural practice, perhaps as an architectural facade, enclosure, or fencing system. The exhibition features seven other talented local artists, so make sure to visit this weekend.
Pop-Up Shipping Container Retail & Community Center by Ilan Dei Brightens Venice
(Edie Kahula Pereira)
Known for his bright, modernist pieces, Venice designer and fabricator Ilan Dei gets up close and personal at his eye-catching pop-up on 1650 Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Made out of three converted shipping containers rendered in brilliant colors with an emphasis on indoor-outdoor living, the installation exudes an inviting appeal even on this busy, uber-trendy street. “1650 Abbot Kinney has been an empty lot and a site for pop-ups for many years. I drive or cycle by everyday to and from our design studio,” said Dei, who quickly pounced when the site became available.
Women Rule A+D Museum’s Annual Come In! Exhibition
Noesis, installation art by Amy Jean Boebel. (Kenneth Johansson)
Femmes are front, center, and all around in Los Angeles’ Architecture and Design museum’s third installation of its summer series, Come In! Usually a fun-filled event, this year’s exhibition strikes a chord in an industry often criticized for not being more gender equal.
Issue aside, this year’s Come In! Les Femmes exhibit offers a look into the unique perspective of 25 women from varied art and design disciplines. As expected, in dealing with gender, one can’t escape the occasional critique of women’s roles in society and this exhibition is no exception. By juxtaposing blissful bridal images with symbols of domestic drudgery like irons and cookware, graphic designer Petrula Vrontikis asks us to contemplate the thin line that divides princess from domestic peasant in what she calls, “Brides = Maids.” Meanwhile, rather than using a standard canopy, installation artist Amy Jean Boebel fashioned a charcoal aluminum wire mesh into a giant frilly top in “Noesis.” Inside, a television set broadcasts the changing roles of women through the years. Apparel was also architect Doris Sung’s starting point. Inspired by age-old corsets, Sung creates a sculpture made out of thermobimetal that contracts and expands according to ambient heat.
One Day You Might Zip 600 Feet Through the Air at Venice Beach
Venice Zip Line rendering. (Courtesy Hans Walor)
If all goes well, Venice Beach’s latest attraction could be you, screaming in delight across a 600-foot long zipline. In consideration since May, a proposal to build a temporary zipline by the beach has been slowly making its way through the public process.
As proposed, the zipline would be in place for a three-month trial period. Operated by Canada-based Greenheart Conservation Company, the zipline could potentially generate revenue for the city. Part of the profits would go toward improving maintenance in public restrooms and trash clean up along the boardwalk.
A Mobile Sound Booth Disguised as a Silver Orb for Los Angeles
(KCRW)
Angelenos might soon see a “silvery orb” roving around their neighborhood. Don’t worry, it’s not an alien visitation, it is radio station KCRW’s newest portable sound booth for Sonic Trace, a new media and radio series project that charts the Mexican and Central American immigrant experience in Los Angeles. After a few weeks of deliberation, KCRW chose California-based Mat-ter Design+ Build Studio’s La Burbuja as the winning entry. Translated as “the bubble,” the design is a highly reflective orb that encloses its subjects in “a non-space that is elegant but not intrusive,” said Hugo Martinez, who co-founded the studio with Christin To.
San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Set to Sparkle with Massive Lighting Display
Video rendering of the Bay Lights (courtesy TBL)
“What if the West Span [of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge] wasn’t a bridge and instead were a canvas?” asked Ben Davis, founder of creative agency Words Pictures Ideas and man behind the The Bay Lights (TBL) some time ago. That question soon became the foundation for San Francisco’s latest high-tech public art project that’s got even Silicon Valley abuzz. With the support of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and major Silicon Valley bigwigs, TBL is planning to put up an ethereal light show 1.5 miles wide and 230 feet high covering the west span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.
Is That A House On Top Of Your Building?
Yes, that is a cottage hanging off the side of a building. (courtesy UCSD)
At first glance, visitors might think that the house from Disney’s Up managed to crash land atop UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering building. What they’re actually staring at, however, is Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s latest installation, Fallen Star, a 15-by-18-foot New England cottage suspended off the edge of the seven-story Jacobs building at a disconcerting 10-degree tilt from the building’s flat roof. Suh said that the installation recalls his own experience of moving to the U.S. to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. He felt “as if he was dropped from the sky.”
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