Newsletter, January 1989

L.A路Forum for Architecture and Urban Design

3.454 West First Street Los Ange les, Cal ifornia

90004

LA

Forum Newsletter.

A little background on the presenters in the "Out There, Doing It" lecture series: Fronk Israel, who will open the series on January 30, recently exhibited his work at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The exhibit will travel to San Francisco this Spring. His Propaganda Film Studio in Hollywood can be seen from the vantage point of a coffee bar that is open to the public. AKS Runo is made up of Bahraim Shirdei, Andy Zogo and Bill7Oylor. They designed the original area plan for the West Coast Gateway Competition and were finalists in the Olympic Garden West Competition. Eric Kahn and Ron Golan make up the Central Office of Architecture.

Their pamphlet "Recombinant Images" will be published by the Forum in February.

Steve Johnson used to work for Morphosis, and Jim Favaro is a Rome Prize-winner who recently taught at USC. Together, they are working on several residential projects. Michele Saee is also a graduate of Morphosis. Recent completed works include the West Los Angeles branch of Angeli, Ecru clothing store on Melrose and the Design Express on La Cienaga (on the way to the airport). Ron McCoy, who teaches at SciArc and is working路with Venturi Rauch and Scott Brown on their UCLA Medical Center project, just won a Citation from Progressive Architecture for a house he designed in Marina del Rey. Norman Millar, formerly of A2.Z in Portland, is also working on several residential projects. Neil Denari was a finalist in the West Coast Gateway Competition. He is currently showing his

work in Frankfurt and is preparing an exhibition in New York. Neil lectures and enters competitions around the globe.

Peler NoIJ and Wes Jones of Holt, Hinshaw, Pfau & Jones's Challenger Memorial was on the cover of the Progressive Architecture Awards Issue - they won an honor award, their third from that magazine. Based in San Francisco, they have now opened a Los Angeles office and looking forward to expanding in Southern California.

The Forum welcomes Michael Pitfas, Ann Zollinger and Natalie Shivers to its Board.

We have also formed an Advisory Board.

Members include Fronk Gehry, Richard

Keating, Tony Bill, Craig Hodgetls, Richard Weinstein, Michael Rotondi, Fronk Israel, Tom Hines, Abby Sher, Julia Bloomfield, Elyse Grinstein, Pamela Burton, Peter de Breffeville, Fred Fisher, KlJrt Forster and Robert Harris.

As.mentioned above, the Central Office of Architecture is preparing "Recombinant Images路 for publication as Forum Pamphlet #4.

Currently in the works are pamphlets on computers and architecture (which will be distributed as a Macintosh diskette), boulevards (by Forum Board member Doug Suisman) and maps.

Sugg.estions, proposals and completed pamphlets are still welcome.

The Forum apologizes for misspelling R.M Schindler's hallowed name

Forum

Craig Hodgetts is finally designing the new home of the American Cinematheque.

After proposals for the Pan-Pacific Auditorium and several other sites, the 路Cinematheque has now been incorporated into the Hollywood Promenade development at Hollywood and Highland.

John Jerde, who made Westwood so much richer with the Westside Pavilion, and whose Olympic fragments are still cherished potholders in many LA. homes, will design the whole glitzy shebang.

Next door, East Coaster David Schwartz will discipline us with a two-block scheme for a thousand units of housing and some commercial space in a style one observer has called "not so much classical as GoldenAge-of-Hollywood -you know, sort of Art Deco." Developers? The irrepressible Bass brothers of Texas, late of the S&L bailout and the Board of the National Trust.

OFFICERS: Christian Hubert, Pr"siclenr Aaron Betsky, Vb Prlls/clelll Ann Zollinger, Sf/Cr"raryffrllsur/lf

NEWSLEnER EDITOR: Aaron Betsky Natalie Shivers

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Shelly A Berger Aaron Betsky Benjamin Caffey Christian Hubert John Kaliski Michael Pittas Natali. Shivers Doug Suisman Ann Zollinger

IOARD OF ADVISORS:

ADDRESS

Tony Bill

3454 West First Street

Julia Bloomfield

Los Angeles, California

Pamela Burton

9 0 004

Peter de Bretleville Fred Fisher

PHONE

Kurt Forster

(213) 389 - 6730

Frank Gehry Elyse Grinstein Robert Harris Thomas Hines Craig Hodgetls Frank Israel Richard Keating

RANDOM NOTES

Newsletter.

While postmodernism reigns over the redevelopment of Hollywood, West Hollywood is turning the corner into ReModernism - note the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica, for instance. Roger Sherman and Edmund Chang are finally at work on the Civic Center scheme they defended in front of the Forum nigh a year ago. New Primitivism is fragmenting itself to be more effective: Josh Schweitzer and David Kellen of City Restaurant fame broke up. Now David Kellen has designed a crumbling mesa taco stand on Robertson, and Josh just finished a new L.A. Eyeworks in South Coast Plaza and is turning a building on La Brea formlerly owned by Charlie Chaplin into another "reasonably priced" restaurant.

Michael Rotandi Abby Sher Richard Weinstein

The Big Boys are also on the move: after Kahn, Pedersen and Fox did a Post modern

Panel design for Coast Savings, they moved on, and are now proposing a Neo-Pravda scheme for a thirty-story tower on Hope Street. Then again, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill long ago caught the constructivist bug, and are now designing a fragmented gridnumber for Library Square. Their NeoMorphosis work on Wilshire in Beverly Hills will soon be joined by an Arquitectonicad~si gned Bank of America.

This commercialization of the avant garde is not too shocking when your realize that Benneton has opened a Neo-d'Urso emporium on Melrose.

Our candidates for missed design opportunities: the Santa Monica Mall, South Hope Street, Hollywood, La 8rea (they're opening an $8 million car dealership there soon) , Miracle Mile, the Olympic "Garden District" and every median strip which could house mass transit which might actually mean something.

But we're open to suggestions.

And if you really want to make a difference, participate in one of the Urvan Design Charrettes sponsored by UDAC and the City Planning Department.

These charrettes involve you in five days of intensive interviews with the community and a survey of the local resources.

The result is a 60 to 90 page report and, one would hope, some useful design alternatives which break through the economic and bureaucratic morass in which both sponsoring organizations are themselves still mired.

The first charrette looked at Van Nuys, and next up is Barnsdall Park, with Watts and the Center City to follow.

Contact Emily Gable at 485-2470 and become responsible.

TOWARDS DESIGNED PUBLIC SPACE IN L.A.

by ,John K;:'ll,skl

I recently saw a news spot on the plight of

the individual project is planned and even

dimension of Los Angeles which has too

of a well-defined and consistent public

the Salvation Army as they attempted to

after it is finished., this abandonment of

often been too dependent on the goodwill of

agenda which takes full account of the

solicit funds during their annual holiday drive.

public spaces causes on-going difficulties in

private interests. In this city the nature of

needs required of the individoal.

The Salvation Army is a fairly benign group

our understanding of the right of use and

public life and the public's perception of and

as solicitors go. Who can't recall images of

meaning of the spatial order of the city.

access to this public life is too controlled by

It is my belief that the ultimate quality of the

Santa Claus' ringing bells on frosty streets or

Are the gardens, plazas, malls and paseos

interests which only answer to themselves.

design of our urban environment will be

trumpeters playing carols for pennies. This

of the modern public/private partnership

One could easily interpret the slow growth or

created by the reinvigoration and reinvention

is an 'enduring image of the American scene

truly public, or are these modern day

growth management issue as an attempt by

of'the ideal of public space. At least part of

as wholesome, if not as saccharin, as a

gathering spaces subtly, symbolically and

disgruntled citizens to redefine the meaning

this reinvention will be dependent on the

Norman Rockwell painting. Trad~ionally, the

negatively private?

and form of the public realm. Because of

ability of government to once again assume

Army played on the street corners of our

this movement, we at this point well

a constructive and creative leadership role in

downtown areas. However, as shoppers left

At present, we rely increasingly on the

understand the issues dear to middle and

the process of the design of the city. The

downtown for suburban malls, the Army

private developer to plan the urban

upper middle class int~rests, but we have not

form of public space must be based on the

followed. But now several Southern

environment. A consequence of this relianc

been able to develop adequate tools to hear

acceptance and inclusion of more voices in

California malls, property rights in one hand

e is a tendency for the development

the voices of those who speak softly or those

the design and development process. The

and an anti-solicitation mandate in the other,

community to have the first crack at defining

who don't have the time to speak at all as

role of government is to ensure that

have had the Salvation Army evicted from

the scope of public benefits with terms that

they struggle to make ends meet.

equitable participation is realized and that

their premises and even, when they refused

they can understand. This is natural and not

to leave, arrested.

necessarily wrong. Still, if the broadest

In his book Good City Form, Kevm Lynch

public purpose. The role of architects and

concept of urban design quality is to be

defines development. tram the point of view

developers is to concentrate on the physical

These actions are indicative of a broader

attained, the ability to define the purpose,

of the individual. "Development,,路 he

expression of these aspirations. If one wants

evolution of the meaning of public space and

function, feel and meaning of public space -

says, "is a process of becomillg more

to assure one's self of a well designed city.

the scope of public life away from traditional

and the need to ensure access to these

competent and more richly connected ...

one must not only hire the best developers

notions and images of urbanism and urban

spaces within the bounds of the rights of

an increasing sense of connection to ona's

and the best architects. but one must also

form . While the incident is extreme, other,

both the individual and the community

environment in space and in time... "

ensure an open public design and

more subtle examples abound which

cannot be left to the development

Clearly, this definition is based on an

development process.

illustrate the privatisation of the public space

community - alone.

understanding of the needs of the individual

and life of the city. City agencies are

the form of the city serves an essentially

human being. If development is to mean

constantly under pressure to assemble large

This last statement contains my

something more than the convenient

parcels- of land or superblocks to facilitate

preconception that once outside of our

marriage of the art of construction with the

efficient redevelopment. One of the results

respective domestic and by definition private

craft of land-use speculation. then the

of parcel consolidation is the vacation of

situations, we enter a world which is and

incentives directed' towards the d~veloper

existing pl:Jblic streets and right-of-ways. As

should be public and accessible. It is this

will have to be based on the establishment

RANDOM EVENTS Lectures

Exhibits

Lecture/Discussion with Johnson/Favaro * Lectur./DiKussion with Franklin D. Israel * and Michele Sa..

This Schindler House, 835 N Kings Rd For reservationslinformation call 938-6928 oe 389-6730 Monday, January 30, 7:30 pm

The Schindler House, 835 N Kings Rd Monday. February 27, 7.:30 pm for reservations/information call 938-6826 or 389-6730

"Archi~cture/Shaping the Future:"

"The Craftsman in Architecture:" Lecture by James Krenov

Symposium with Ricardo Legorreta, Fumihiko Maki, Richard Meier, and Richard Roger.

SciArc Main Space Wednesday. March 8, 8 pm

UCSD Mandeville Center For ¡information,call 6190534-3400 Saturday, February 4, 9-5 pm

"Buildings and Projects:" Lecture by James Stirling

"QMA Projects:"

UCLA 39 Haines Hall Thursday, March 9, 8 pm

Lecture by Rem Koolhaas UCLA, Dickson 2160, February 9, 8 pm

*

"Word, Buildings Machines:" Lecture by We, Jones

Ledure/Discussion with AKS Runo and Central Office of Architecture The Schindler House, 835 N Kings Rd for reservations/information call 938-6826 or 389-6730 February 13, 7:30 pm

SciArc Main Space Wednesday. March 22, 8 pm

* and Lecture/Discussion with Ron McCoy Norman Millar The Schindler House, 835 N Kings Rd for reservations/information call 938-6826 or,389-6730 Monday, March 27, 7:30 pm

Lecture by Margaret Hetfand SCiArc Main Space ' Wednesday, February 22, 8 pm

"Misshapen Chaos of Well-Meaning Form: Criticism and Deconstruction:" Lecture by Diane Ghirardo UCLA, 1102 Perloff February 23, 8 pm

"Designing and Building for Earthquakes in Southern California:" Workshop sponsored by the L.A./ A.I.A. Biltmore Hotel For information call Don Geis or Karen Smith 202-785-2324 Friday-SaturdayFebruary 24-25

"Body / Anti-body:" Lecture by Elizabeth Diller SciArc Main Space Wednesday. AprilS, 8 pm

*

lecture/Discussion by Neil Denari, Wes Jones and-Peter pfau The Schindler House, 835 N Kings Rd for reservations/information call 938-6826 or 389-6730 April 10, 7:30 pm

"Ughtweight Structures in Australia:" Vinzenz Sedlak UCLA Gallery 1220 January 25 • February 8

"Art Nouveau in Munich: Masters of Jugenstil" LACMA, Through February 19

"Marmo: The New Italian Stone Age." Exhibit of stone and marble in architectural an..d decorative design.

California Museum of Science and Industry March 9 - March 25

Installations by Mario Merz MaCA February 26 - June 18

"Recent Competitions:" Michael Pyatok UCLA, Gallery 1220 February 10 - February 28

"Temporal/Ephemeral:- Installation of works by Ann Hamilton, Richard Deacon, and John Woodall T.C., Through February 26 "Recent USC Architecture Faculty Work" USC Helen Lindhurst Architecture Gallery and Harris Hall 125 February 6 - February 25

"Architects':" New work created especially this exhibit by Wiliam Adams, Ron Arad, Aaron Betsky, Rebecca Binder, Robert De Young, Mark C. Dillon, James Ehrenclou, Steven Ehrlich, Julie Eizenberg, James Evanson, Gregg Fleishman, Tom Grondona, Henry Gutman, Coy Howard, Bob Josten, David Kellen, Hank Koning, Heather Kurze, Susan Lanier, Jerrald Lomax, Steven Lombardi, Paul Lubowicki, Robert Mangurian, Morphosis, Eric Moss, Antoine Predock, John Randolph, Ron Rezek, Michele Saee, Ted Tanaka, Adrain Thean, Bruce Tomb, Simon Ungers The Gallery of Functional Art, 2429 Main SI., Santa Monica Through March 6 "Photography in Great Britain 1839-1920" LACMA, through March 19

* . Forum Event =

PRECIOUS PUBLICATIONS.. ::. ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

THE GETTY PUBLICATIONS PROGRAM Under the guidance of editors Julia Bloomfield, Kurt W. Forster and Thomas

F.

SAH/SCC CALL FOR PAPERS

The initial text to be publihsed include works

The Southern California Chapter of the

by Claude Perrault, Le Camus de Mezieres,

Society of ArChitectural Historians is

Friedrich Gily, Claude-Nicholas Ledoux, Otto

soliciting proposals for papers to be

and the Humanites has developed a

Wagner and Hermann Muthesius. The first

presented at its Annual Meeting in May,

publications program comprising three

publication, Otto Wagner's Modern

1989. Papers addressing any aspect of

different series: 路Sketchbooks and Albums,"

Architecture, based on the expanded 1902

architecture in the United States or abroad

"Issues and Debates," "Texts and

text of this work, is now available. The

are invited. Student presentations and

introduction, written by Dr. Harry Mulgrave.

papers devoted to Western or California

examines Wagner's theories in the context of

topics and local preservation issues are

Reese, the Getty Center for the History of Art

Documents."

The "Sketchbooks and Albums" series will

19th century theory. and explores the

encouraged. These presentaions .should be

reproduce works that have never been

connection between Wagner's Polemic and

primarily anaiy1ical in content rather than

published as a whole or are of a limited

German debates on ecleclicism, materialism.

merely descriptive.

availability. The focus will be on documents

and modernism. The Getty is subsidizing the

of the 15th through 17th centuries, which will

costs of production of the book to keep it

Proposal may be for either a 20-minute

be accompanied by new scholarly texts

affordable ($29~ 95 cloth, $14.95 paper) .

paper or a subjet the author has extensively

describing their historical and cultural

researched or a 1O-minute work-in-progress

context. Essays, either commissioned by the

report. Proposals should be typewritten

Getty or resulting from scholarly workshopos

(maximum 400 words in length) with the

and symposia, will be the subject of the

author's name and address in the upper right

"Issues and Debates路 series. One of the

hand corner and chould state the paper's

intentions of the series is to record

scope, argument and method. Deadline for

discussions taking place at the events as

submission of proposals is March 1, 1989.

well as post-event critical assessments.

Send two copies of the proposal to Kenneth

Neglected, forgotten, or unavailable texts on

Breisch, SciArc, 1800 Berkeley Street,

the subjects of art, architecture and

Santa Monica, CA 90404.

aesthetics will be published in the "Texts and Documents路 series. Selected texts, primarily from the 18th through mid-20th centuries, will be translated into ~nglish and accompanied by critical scholarly introductions.

OUT THERE DOING IT A series of lectures and discussions by independent practitioners in los Angeles

Membership in the Forum is open to any interested individual. The $35 annual fee entitles members to 'free . admission to Forum events, to receive the bi-monthly newsletter, and to purchase other Forum publications at reduced rates. Members are encouraged to participate in planning Forum activities. Please check the appropriate categorry below if interested.

January 30: Franklin D. Israel

nI JII.:

February 13:

.d;" II :

AKS Runo ; Central Office of Architecture

February 27: Johnson/Favaro; Michele Saee

I".phou :

March 27: Ron McCoy; Norman Millar

April 10: Neil Denari; Holt, Hinshaw,.Pfau & Jones All lectures will be held on Monday evenings at 7:30 pm at The Schindler House, 835

I am in.....11ed in participating in the following activities: publications planning and development fundraising lectures and discussions reading groups and research social events

North King's Road, West Hollywood.

For men infonnation contad:

Admission is free to Forum members -

Christian Hubert, (213) 389-6730 or Aaron Betsky, (213) 938-6826

RUT seating is limited, so PLEASE CALL to reserve places. Non-members are invited to attend on a space-available basis, with the exception of the January 30 event, which will be for members and new members only. Admission for non-members: $7.50 per event.

PLEASE RESERVE otherwise we can't guarantee admission.

Call Aaron at (213) 938-6826 or Chris at

THE FORUM NEEDS TO KN9W

(2.:13) 389-6730.

Help us collect archibabble. construction news. designer events, and loose ends of architecture.

Help write the Forum Newsletter.

Call Aaron Betsky. Newsletter Editor. at (213) 938-6826.