Design and Architecture

Construction cranes are omnipresent in downtown LA. But a couple of upcoming projects really have people talking. A long delayed Frank Gehry project across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall is moving forward. And renderings of a Jenga-like tower at Pershing Square, with cantilevered swimming pools jutting out from all sides, got a lot of buzz.

What will the high-rise office space of the future offer? Maybe fresh air from a hole in the curtain wall, the piped-in sound of trickling water and the smell of the seashore? These are what you’ll find in downtown LA’s “Workplace Innovation Lab.” Will workers want it? And, Otis College of Art and Design turns 100 this year. The school is looking back, and forward, at a big party this weekend that will have input from its military alumni.

Today is Halloween, but there’s a holiday starting tomorrow that’s also become a full-blown LA celebration: Day of the Dead. As the tradition becomes mainstream and retailers cash in, some Latinos are anxious that it’s becoming a “Mexican Halloween” and not a commemoration of their dearly departed ancestors.

For the past century, LA has pushed rainwater and polluted urban runoff out to the ocean. Now it's trying to capture and clean that water in infrastructure that is also an attractive public space. Measure W on next Tuesday's ballot raises taxes for this vision, but others disagree. And while Day of the Dead has become a full-blown LA celebration, some Latinos are anxious it’s becoming just another commercial holiday.

Measure W hopes to capture water from downpours. How about simply pulling it from the air? A local design team has just won the prestigious Water Abundance Xprize competition, with a retrofitted shipping container that promises to draw H2O from the atmosphere. Ninety-eight teams entered the competition and LA's Skywater/Skysource Alliance, led by architect David Hertz with inventor Rich Groden, won.