Dear DnA readers,

I hope you are doing as well as possible in light of the convulsions in Washington, and, of course, the destruction in LA, which prompts the following reflections, resources and a design competition!

The End of the World, again

Southern California is “where the end of the world is not only promised but regularly delivered,” wrote the LA Times in 1995. 

That was the early 1990s when the litany of disasters seemed endless: civil unrest, fires, floods, and a major earthquake.

They were tracked by the KCRW show Which Way, LA?, hosted by Warren Olney and launched following the civil unrest in 1992 (I later became one of his producers). Its first few years were spent hashing out, day in, day out, the causes, challenges, and outcomes of the catastrophes of the early ‘90s, both natural and human-made. With radical openness to multiple perspectives, WWLA gave voice to stakeholders including grieving victims, community activists, elected officials, civic leaders, and many more.

I learned then that crises bring out the best in Angelenos, who meet the moment with extraordinary levels of action and generosity. They also reveal ineptitude and fault lines — in infrastructure, in management by our devolved leadership, in economic well-being and power; and they lead to the forging of new centers of power, and shifts in the city fabric. The then Community Coalition founder Karen Bass found her political calling following the acquittal of the police officers who beat up Rodney King when she led the charge to close the surfeit of liquor stores in South Los Angeles; Republican mayor Richard Riordan earned the respect of Angelenos when he got the 10 freeway up and running in record time following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Many LA architect designing boutique restaurants and single-family homes were stirred by the tumult of the period into engaging far more with the urban realm.

Now we have experienced another biblical-scale disaster and we are at the outset of
“recovery,” whatever that is going to look like. The challenges are immense — in terms of clean-up, costs, rupture of communities, and competing collective and individual goals, not to mention the pressures from politics, policy, and planning.

Elected officials are rushing to secure financial aid and expedite rebuilding, high profile business and sports leaders have been deputized by Governor Newsom to help; they include Casey Wasserman, who was already busy with the other big job: hosting the LA 2028 Olympic Games! Meanwhile, the Mayor sees her former rival Rick Caruso reappear as a savior of the city, taking advantage of her inopportune travel and much-criticized early response, to launch a foundation, formed of banking, development and construction industry heads including Gensler's Andy Cohen.

At the grassroots, new groups are stepping forward, some focused on preventing the hijacking of their burned-out neighborhoods by private equity; some are concerned with the preservation of local character and architecture; some are full of ideas for how to rebuild with less flammable materials and less costly construction systems (mass-produced instead of custom?).

Then there are those witnessing the extent of the destruction, and asking: really, can we do this anymore? Is it finally time to stop pushing development into the hilly Very High Fire Severity Zones (VHFSZ); and instead concentrate it in the safer flatlands, close to burgeoning mass transit? The fire insurance industry has wasted no time in answering that question, with a big jump in rates. 

Shaye pool (Beverly Hills) 1995. Photo by Tim Street Porter.

Help from Designers and Architects

Many people in the design and architecture community are offering pro bono support, fundraisers, and talks. Here are some of them:

AIA/LA has launched its several-hundred-member strong Los Angeles Wildfire Task Force.

The Altadena Rebuild Coalition, founded by homeowners in Altadena and SocalNOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects), is working to preserve Altadena’s historic Black community and cultural legacy, and "ensure an equitable, resilient recovery for every resident impacted by this disaster."

A group of young architects largely based in the Altadena/Pasadena area has launched The Foothill Catalog, an eye-catching site explaining its plans to develop repeatable, pre-approved home designs that are affordable and "regionally-appropriate" for people wanting to rebuild their houses.

Another group of architects, on the Westside, has issued this Los Angeles Guide to Assisting Residents Rebuild. Half of them are parents of students at Palisades High School, where 300 homes were lost just to families of 11th graders, says a team member. They offer hints and tips on clean-up and debris removal, permitting, community outreach, and links to city and county services.

The office of Oonagh Ryan Architects has also shared this thorough and elegantly designed breakdown of costs and design options for people considering rebuilding.

SCI-Arc will host a public conversation on Thursday, February 6th, starting at 4:15 PM, about lessons for rebuilding learned from Australia. One of the speakers is Erik Ghenoiu, Head of the SCI-Arc Resilient Futures Task Force; he recently spoke about losing his Altadena home, despite fireproofing it, on Press Play.

Aah! Image from Oonagh Ryan's Rebuilding Los Angeles.

Love Letters to Los Angeles

Henrybuilt home design company is offering A Love Letter to L.A., a group show and wildfire relief fundraiser, with images capturing "the light, texture, and essence that define this extraordinary city" by some of LA's top photographers including Tim Street-Porter (see his Shaye Pool picture, above). It opens with a public reception on Tuesday, February 18th (5:30–8:00 PM), at Henrybuilt Los Angeles Showroom, 806 Mateo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021. Up until March 28th.

Finally, there is the collective pain we all feel at the shared landmarks that have gone. At  Heart of Los Angeles, an event I co-produced with FORT: LA, we memorialized lost houses — by Gregory Ain, Eric Owen Moss, Ray Kappe, Richard Neutra and more — and favorite public places such as Will Rogers house, Malibu Feed Bin, Moonshadows, Nature Friends Clubhouse, Scripps Hall.

Out of that has come a competition: Healing the Heart of LA: Design for Memory, Resilience, and Recovery. It calls for architects and designers to reimagine one of Los Angeles' architectural treasures lost to the fires, with a design that serves as a "love letter to heal the heart of LA" — "honoring historical legacies, fostering community integration, and promoting sustainable futures."

Winners will receive a cash prize, and the designs will be publicly exhibited. Do enter or encourage your designer friends or students to do so. Let's all mend the heart of LA! Now, read on for Design Things to Do.

Design Things To Do

VISUAL WORLD: Auto Design in LA
In-person and Zoom Program
Saturday, February 8th, 11:00 AM
In-person: Neutra Office Building, 2379 Glendale Boulevard, Silver Lake

Auto Design in LA is the topic under consideration this Saturday when lively writer/broadcaster Victoria Lautman sits down with John Frye, ArtCenter grad, Honda production designer, and artist who conceptualizes "Heavy duty vehicular industrial design for alternate realities."

This is part of Lautman's VISUAL WORLD series, hosted by the Society of Architectural Historians, and takes place at the Neutra Office Building in Silver Lake. "How and why Los Angeles became a crucial hub for automotive design will be just one aspect of the free-ranging discussion," say the organizers.

Click here for details.

Port of Long Beach, berth 17, cargo rig, 2047, from Fryewerk

Architecture Uncorked #2
Saturday, February 8th, 5:00 PM–6:30 PM
Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

FORT: LA offers part 2 in its new series in which chit-chat about architecture is combined with victuals. I'll talk with an invited guest about the latest in the rebuilding phase following fires, and I will interview Heather Goers, a preservationist who has been researching the life and work of pioneering architect Jean Roth Driskel, FAIA, who made her mark on Los Angeles from the late 1940s until her death in 1971. She apprenticed under prominent architects such as A. Quincy Jones and later gained renown in her own right for her residential and commercial commissions.

The part you've all been waiting for, however, comes at the end: a wine tasting, led by India Mandelkorn, writer, expert on LA streetlamps, and wine connoisseur.

Click here for details.

The Jean Roth Driskel home in South Pasadena, Image courtesy Heather Goers.

Roots and Branches: A Tree’s View of Santa Monica 
Santa Monica History Museum, 1350 7th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Through December 2025

What a lovely title for an exhibition. Santa Monica owes its civic well-being in part to its abundant tree canopy — the city has an urban forest of over 35,000 public trees across more than 250 species (including the pesky Ficus!).

That's not to say the relationship with our glorious arboreal friends (and the species that dwell within their roots and branches) has always been smooth. The new exhibition at Santa Monica History Museum "delves into the intricate connections between trees, urban development, and the cultural and environmental history of Santa Monica" and finds out "how nature and humanity have coexisted — and often clashed."

Click here for information.

Trees in Ocean Park, Santa Monica. Photo by Frances Anderton.

Helmut Lang: What remains behind
February 19th–May 4th, Open: Wednesday–Sunday: 11:00–6:00 PM
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 19th, 2025, 6:00–8:00 PM
MAK Center, Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood, CA

Desert X Artistic Director Neville Wakefield brings his curatorial eye to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in West Hollywood, with What remains behind, a solo exhibition of works by Helmut Lang, the Austrian-born former fashion designer, now fine artist. Rudolph Schindler's house, says the curator, "provides the spare, proto-minimalist frame for a series of freestanding sculptures" in which "the visible and the invisible are put in direct play."

Click here for information; RSVP here for the opening reception.

Image courtesy MAK Center.

Modernism Week!
February 13th–23rd
Multiple Locations, Palm Springs

Modernism Week, the annual festival of mid-century modern architecture, art, interior and landscape design, and vintage culture, is back next week with a staggering 500 events. They include the usual fun stuff — open-top bus tours, cocktail parties, and home tours (including one of the most stunning very small houses, Albert Frey II) — along with some custom events for this year, including many that are low-cost and free, such as...

Breeze Blocks are Back! The breeze block screens that add coolness, light, shadow, and decorative effects to desert modern homes are lovely at any time but especially interesting right now. Following the LA fires, some designers have been pondering why we don't build more homes in concrete block. Come check out the new "Breeze Block Garden" in Palm Desert.

Poolside Gossip Launch Party and In-Store Book Signing with Trina Turk and Nelda
Linsk. Join two of Palm Spring's grande dames at Trina Turk's boutique for her 30th anniversary “Poolside Gossip” collection, inspired by the iconic Slim Aarons photos.

Howard Smith–Rediscovering A Lost Black Modernist. This "Stories Untold" is fascinating, about Howard Smith, a Black artist who wound up in Finland during the Cold War and rose to prominence for his artwork, textiles, and ceramics, produced by some of Scandinavia’s biggest design firms during the heyday of post-war Modernism.

Ticketed events include a keynote given by Raymond Neutra, son of Richard Neutra, on "Survival Through Design" and how he hopes the Neutra legacy can be applied to help solve modern-day design challenges. I'll lead a Q&A after his presentation.

Also, An Evening with the Daughters of Design: Bertoia, Eames, and Saarinen. Susan Saarinen, Carla (Eames) Hartman, and Celia Bertoia, two daughters and one granddaughter of those design icons will “compare chairs and childhoods” with an
educational and entertaining presentation.

And there is much, much more... click here for details.

Image courtesy Modernism Week

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