Design and Architecture

California state and city leaders are taking the lead in cleaning up the environment, with initiatives designed to help cities speed towards their emissions reduction goals in buildings and transportation. But some critics are asking, just how green are electric vehicles? Would greater energy reduction be achieved through car-unfriendly land-use planning?

As LA homes get smaller they are also getting bigger. Can they keep on growing? DnA explores large luxury houses, and finds out who is building them, who is buying them -- and why amenities matter. Plus, Tower of Voices in Pennsylvannia memorializes, with wind and chimes, those who went down with a fight on United Flight 93.

These days, if you want to play a video game, there’s a good chance you’re doing it at home… on your computer or a console like Xbox or PlayStation. But starting this weekend you’ll have another option: a futuristic version of an arcade in the Arts District of downtown L.A. It’s called the Two Bit Circus Micro-Amusement Park.

DnA’s series This is Home in LA continues with a look at architect-designed homes and the continuing influence of midcentury modernism. We visit a dramatic, Case Study inspired house that's ruffling feathers in South Hancock Park; and we ask if design media have turned Modernism into a homogeneous style that's dampening creativity. Jenn Swann reports on American Legion Post 43's Art Deco home in Hollywood, now being turned into a movie theater in a bid to bring in a wider audience.

A controversial plan to develop thousands of acres cleared a major hurdle this week in Los Angeles County, securing approval from the region’s planning commission. The idea is to convert 12,500 acres of open space into a new housing community. But not everyone is on board with the plan.