Design and Architecture

LA has a massive housing problem. There are a number of initiatives to resolve the homeless crisis and the creation of more affordable housing. But, do any of these solve the basic problem in LA, which is resistance to the construction of new housing?

Facebook has tweaked its design to give users clearer control over their information. Can these changes help the social media giant become “friends” again with its users? The Bombay Beach Biennale has come to the Salton Sea. How do the locals feel about the influx of art and opera? And CalArts marks the 50th anniversary of the “House of Dust,” a house inspired by a computer-generated poem.

California is beginning to allow the testing of self-driving cars with no humans at the wheel. Critics say the technology is not ready for the roads, but supporters say autonomous vehicles will make streets safer. And Christopher Hawthorne is leaving his post as the Los Angeles Times’ architecture critic to take up a new job as the city of LA's first-ever Chief Design Officer. What does that job entail exactly?

As Uber investigates last week’s fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona involving a self-driving car, the company has decided to pull its application to test self-driving cars on California streets. What does this mean for California's plans to continue testing autonomous vehicles?

The final episode of DnA’s Bridges and Walls examines the "fourth border,” the Southland’s seashore. Undersea fiber optic cables connect the world, but why is Hermosa Beach a popular landing site for them? What price do we pay for our digital connections? And we'll consider an alternate route for traffic-weary Angeleno commuters: a ferry service between the beach towns.

Traffic is so awful that dreaming up alternative transit routes is now an LA pastime. And for those sitting on the 405 or PCH, one idea that is being floated -- excuse the pun -- is the idea of ocean-based transit.

Los Angeles has fallen out of love with freeways. Or has it? Freeways were once liberating bridges between communities. Now they are polluting, rush-hour parking lots that form walls within LA. DnA looks at the health impact of living near freeways, a proposed new freeway in the High Desert and what freeways might look like in the future.

Construction broke ground today on the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The museum is located in LA’s Exposition Park, and will house the art collection of "Star Wars" creator George Lucas. It’s a big arrival for the neighborhood, and it comes in the form of what looks like a giant silver spaceship -- with gardens.

There are walls that impact the communities they contain, but are naked to the eye. On today’s “Bridges and Walls” episode we explore three examples of invisible walls: the boundaries that mark gang territories; zoning codes that divide communities; and the West LA eruv, a ritualistic fence that allows Orthodox Jews to perform certain tasks on Shabbat, the traditional day of rest.

It’s happening all over the US -- a phenomenon known as dead mall syndrome. A mix of overbuilding of malls in recent decades coupled with dramatic changes in retail habits has caused the demise of many malls. Some however are getting a new lease of life, as something else. And that’s what’s happening to the Westside Pavilion on Pico at Overland in West LA.