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cityLAb, times 10 celebrates the founding of cityLAB-UCLA ten years ago as it looks ahead to the next ten years. It advances architecture as a radical urban ingredient with impacts that can be orders of magnitude greater than any individual building, by "powers of ten."

For the past decade, cityLAB has been at the center of innovative thought about the architecture of the city, particularly in Los Angeles. By bringing together research and design, and through collaborations between the university, the architectural profession, citizens, and municipalities, cityLAB models a new form of practice where prototypical projects leverage design to open new possibilities for the urban fabric of Southern California and beyond.

Rather than a retrospective, this exhibition is projective; rather than a presentation of completed works, you see a laboratory of evolving experimentation. The three cityLAB themes of desk, neighbor, and place demonstrate how multi-year, multifaceted, unconventional architectural studies weave together to advance new design approaches. They allude to the intersections between the body, politics, and the environment, — guiding commitments for cityLAB’s practices. To pursue an even more expansive view of L.A.’s coming decade, six tactical proposals by young architects are featured.

While there are abundant issues confronting Los Angeles, architecture must pinpoint its targets. cityLAb, times 10 asks: What design ideas will spark public conversation about the future of Los Angeles? Is there an architectural portal to an unexpected future for the city?

Desk — The Future of Work

In a multi-year effort, cityLAB and UCLA graduate students in Architecture and Urban Design collaborated with Gensler Los Angeles, UCLA I.S. Associates, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to explore the Future of Work. In downtown Los Angeles and Southern California more broadly, research-based design proposals move beyond the ubiquitous glass box of the 1960s as well as the now predictable "creative office." From desk to building to city, sites of work are reimagined to be organized around teams, situated outdoors, enriched by interactive technologies, and more mobile at the same time that space for individual work grows smaller and less private. This investigation takes place during an era of urban resurgence in the city and increased mobility in contemporary life. Office work in Los Angeles has been sheltered by multiple versions of the mono-functional office building, both high and low-rise, with little architectural innovation in the past fifty years, making the desk the starting point for transformation.

Neighbor — Backyard Homes

Backyard Homes proposes an innovative, flexible, environmentally sensitive, and affordable set of architectural models for infilling the single-family residential zone in Los Angeles in order to increase the supply of housing. The tactics employed reflect both the city’s suburban residential tradition and the opportunities provided within individual neighborhoods, on specific sites, and for particular households. The approach straddles architectural and planning practices and the scales at which each discipline operates. By so doing, we can envision how a largely suburban city can evolve into a more sustainable, post-suburban metropolis. Whether called granny flats, accessory dwelling units, or mother-inlaw apartments, Backyard Homes can be built incrementally on lots where they make sense. Small residential projects provide opportunities for experimentation by young, local architects. Marginally more dwelling units per acre provides a means for preserving the benefits associated with suburban living while reducing carbon footprints and providing municipal services more efficiently. With nearly half a million single-family lots in the City of Los Angeles, Backyard Homes on even a small scale would address today’s critical housing shortage.

Place — Westwood Village Vision

Westwood Village, once the central hub of the Westside, was founded in 1929 along with the southern campus of the University of California. The Janss Investment Company developed the Village as a shopping district with a planned mix of retail use, distinct architectural character, and strong identity. Even as Westwood Village can be seen as a model of "smart," walkable, mixed-use urbanism with vibrant cultural institutions, it has experienced decline since its heyday. High housing costs contrast starkly with low commercial rents, vacancies, and ground floor turnover. cityLAB research looked behind the myths about Westwood’s problems to formulate two visionary scenarios: an L.A. neighborhood that could lead the way to a car-less, or at least "car-lite" future; or an arts and culture district that reactivates a dynamic, sustainable place. The recent formation of Westwood’s business improvement district, the coming subway line, and the growth of UCLA bring renewed attention and possibility to the Village.

Young Architects

Six original projects by young architects for L.A.’s coming decade embody innovative directions for design and research. While there are abundant issues confronting Los Angeles, architecture must seek proper targets. Times 10 asks: What design ideas will spark public conversation about the future of Los Angeles? Is there an architectural portal to an unexpected future for the city?

Project Credits

EXHIBITION TEAM

Exhibition Curator: Dana Cuff, Director of cityLAB - UCLA
Associate Curator: Yang Yang
Exhibition Coordinator: Aaron Cayer
Exhibition Design: Spinagu with Man-Yan Lam
Graphic Design: Will Davis
Event Manager: Herran Bekele
Development Coordinator: Jennifer Kondo
Exhibition Assistant: Josh Nelson
Zero Gravity Chair: AN.ONYMOUS

YOUNG ARCHITECTS

Reimaging: Gabriel Fries-Briggs, Brendan Shea, Nicholas Pajerski, Alison Rust
Yes, In My Backyard (And Everywhere Else Too): Legg Yeung, James Janke, Ryan Hong
First Office and Theo Triantafyllidis: Anna Neimark, Andrew Atwood
FIELD DAY: Marc Maxey, Ellen Donnelly
WELCOMEPROJECTS: Laurel Consuelo Broughton with Kevin Reinhardt, Brad Silling, Kodchamon Archimongkol, Cindy Yiin
Office Kovacs: Andrew Kovacs, Yessenia Juarez, Erin Wright, Israel Ceja, Peter Boldt, Jena Meeks, Naomi Steinhagen

JURORS

Edgar Arceneaux, Artist, Studio Edgar Arcenaux
Barbara Bestor, Architect, Bestor Architecture
Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, LADOT
Roger Sherman, Senior Project Director, Gensler
Peter Zellner, Architect, ZELLNERandCompany

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Neil Denari, Heather Roberge, Roger Sherman, David Rousseve, Kevin Daly, Jeannette Mundy, Kimberley Morrison, Linda Holmes, Philip Soderlind, Jacqueline Montes, Alberto Alquicira, Geovani Garcia, Dana Burkhalter, Anne Marie Burke, Dora Epstein Jones, Nicole Bertrand, Stephan Bica, Chase Galis, Jean Michel Hirsch, Sam Gherrity, Borja Lopez, Norris Palmer, Anahita Rajesh, Kira Waller

SPONSORS

Jim Suhr and Associates
David Dean Ebert Britt and Don Chadwick
Sarah Jane Lind, Founding Sponsor