Wednesday, January 27, 2016

A Review of Design Review

Friday, January 22, 2016

The rapid pace of development in Southern California has erased countless well crafted buildings and replaced them with structures unbecoming a great city. Design Review, by which the public sector becomes the arbiter of taste, has become a popular way of combating this trend -- and controlling the entire development process.

On the one hand, design review ensures that someone is paying attention. On the other hand,design review by its very nature can force projects into a homogenized design aesthetic, dictated not by architectural vision but rather by community standards. And it is often enforced by planners who have little or no architectural training.

Is design review our last hope to get developers, public officials, and stakeholders to rally around good design? Is this the best way to allay the public’s fears – often well founded – of unsightly developments, which can ruin neighborhood character? Or is the process too onerous and antithetical to the creativity that has long thrived in Los Angeles?

Our panel of two architects and an urban designer, moderated by a critic, will address these questions and more.
  • · Ric Abramson, AIA, Principal Workplays studio*architecture
  • · Michael Folonis, FAIA, Principal, Michael W. Folonis Architects
  • · Stephanie Reich, AIA, Urban Designer, City of West Hollywood
Moderator
  • · Greg Goldin, Curator, Journalist, A+D Architecture and Design Museum