The City of Los Angeles and Mayor Eric Garcetti have taken a bold step and appointed the first Chief Design Officer for the city. Because of the scale and pace of development of the city, Mayor Garcetti feels strongly about having a focus on the future while balancing the need for development and the importance of keeping the face of the city inspired. The challenges the city faces are vast; expanding the Metro system, Olympic infrastructure improvements and the desperate need to address the housing and homeless crisis. This is an area where the city has traditionally struggled.
Christopher Hawthorne was the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to March of this year. Before coming to the LA Times, he was architecture critic for Slate and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. He is the co- author of The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture. Hawthorne grew up in Berkeley and has a bachelor’s degree from Yale. His vision for the new role is to make the city more beautiful, inclusive and efficient.
From the the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Broad Museum, or the beautiful angles of a modernist home next to a striking building outfitted with the minarets of a temple, Los Angeles architecture is unique and inspiring. The wonderful weather and the beautiful people found in Los Angeles have long inspired breathtaking architecture and a great number of dreamers and eccentrics. Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright were among the visionaries who came to Los Angeles and left their indelible mark on this City of Angels.
In an era of increased public awareness about urbanism, it makes sense that the people driving the discourse should be in a position to change things for the better. Making that happen, however, is incumbent on mayors and other officials. Inviting critics to become part of the city-building process is the first step; listening to them and giving them real authority has to come next.
From the ADG Jobsite
Gorgeous entry doors
by Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting