urban greening

out of 33 design firms recently submitting entries for a new 32-acre state historic park on the not a cornfield site in downtown el lay, the entries from new york-based field operations, hargreaves associates of san francisco and mia lehrer and associates of los angeles have come out on top...and each with quite different proposals reports the latimes.

i definitely see the benefit in field operation's radical proposal, which includes relocating dodger's stadium to the not a cornfield site, in getting people to think outside of the box. the city needs progressive vision, as the latimes says, "to keep us from falling back into the kind of default planning mode that focuses on the short term."

however, on a sustainability front, i see more benefit in a plan such as hargraves' which makes a green statement for the city with it's low-slung structures covered with photovoltaic panels and a series of wetland habitats reaching out to the los angeles river.


mia lehrer's design calls for a similar elegant transition from urban to natural and symbolically utilized the leaf-shape of the site. lehrer's firm also benefits from the knowledge of the area from working on a new master plan for the l.a. river.

eventhough funding for the project is still up in the air, (the outcome of proposition 84 will have a big impact on this), the chosen team will ultimately make a huge statement for the city of los angeles. it is really exciting how much this competition has raised awareness and discussion about urban planning in los angeles, and has people visualizing great green possibilities beyond the current concrete jungle.

check out worldchanging for a great article about "remaking l.a.".