Design and Architecture

There are big changes coming to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

LACMA took a step closer this past week to getting rid of four old buildings and constructing a brand-new building by a renowned Swiss architect.

On this episode of DnA on ATC, Frances Anderton tells Steve Chiotakis what the project’s reduced footprint means for LACMA’s so-called “expansion.”

A candidate's political logo may not get your vote, but it's meant to get your attention. We take a deep dive into the design of campaign logos and look at how the many Democratic candidates are trying to distinguish themselves through color, font and letter size. And, the Bauhaus turns 100. How did a maverick German art school change the world?

If you have driven by the intersection of Sunset and Western over the last few years you may have noticed a yellow-wrapped, half-finished big box. It’s been dormant for so long the yellow has faded to almost white. This is the Target store that was under construction and then had to stop - because the company didn’t get the right permits for the site. On this episode of DnA on ATC, Frances Anderton tells Larry Perel that it looks like the abandoned Target may finally be completed. But what happens to “Target Husk,” the online persona who has channeled the feelings and opinions of the incomplete big box store for the last four years?

Almost every residential development in downtown aims to attract pet owners, and doggie businesses outnumber those aimed at children. We’ll hear how dogs helped bring DTLA to life and are now impacting the design of buildings. Art from the black power era comes to the Broad, bringing Kool Aid-colored paintings, assemblage, Byzantine-styled portraiture, raised fists, and a room devoted to Betye Saar. The curators tell DnA their powerful exhibition is aimed at filling the “lacunae” in people’s understanding of the visual arts in the era of civil rights and soul.

If you’ve ever had to search for a place to rent, you know the phrase: “no pets allowed.” This can be a dealbreaker, especially if you’re homeless and would rather stay on the street than give up your beloved companion.

This week LA County supervisors took steps to help. But isn’t a ban on pets hard on all renters?

On this episode of DnA on ATC, Frances Anderton talks with Steve Chiotakis about how pets create a sense of home.

MOCA’s new director Klaus Biesenbach plans to restore “luminosity” -- and, maybe, water -- to the Grand Avenue building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Arata Isozaki. Also, if you own an abandoned building or a vacant lot in Los Angeles, the city wants to talk to you about putting supportive housing there. And, an abandoned big box store in the heart of Hollywood has developed sentience. It posts to Facebook, and tweets. We’ll talk to "Target Husk."

The Pritzker Prize for 2019 has been awarded to Arata Isozaki, the 87-year-old Japanese architect with a career ranging from brutalist libraries to an inflatable purple concert hall. His most famous building is LA’s MOCA, or Museum of Contemporary Art, on Grand Avenue. However, the 1986 structure atop Bunker Hill, a collage of geometric forms buried mostly underground, has never been a huge hit with the public. But MOCA’s new director Klaus Biesenbach sees poetry in the design -- likening the complex to a “sunken pool” -- and promises to restore its “luminosity” and bring greenery to its arid plaza. He even hopes to incorporate a reflective water feature into the basement entry area, thereby making his sunken pool metaphor real.

Frances Anderton talks to KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis about it, on DnA on ATC.

Your smartphone is addictive. Do you need to “Marie Kondo” your apps, put down the phone altogether, or use it as a “drug” dispensary? DnA takes a tour of hidden LA bars that ban phones, talks with a computer scientist who recommends “digital minimalism,” and meets an app entrepreneur who wants to relieve anxiety with “digital drugs.”

In a bid to raise funds for mass transit improvement, LA’s Metro board will vote tomorrow to study a range of strategies that include congestion pricing and taxing ride-hailing services. But what Metro really needs to do, many Angelenos say, is make the mass transit experience better through added security, more reliable service and urban vitality around the stations. Frances Anderton talks to KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis about Metro’s plans, on DnA on ATC.

Angelenos hate traffic but aren't flocking to mass transit. Will congestion pricing and fees on ride-hailing services change their minds? Metro’s board is about to vote on a package of revenue-raising, congestion-reducing measures, and listeners tell DnA what would entice them onto buses and trains. Frank Gehry turns 90 on Thursday. But that’s no reason to stop working. We look back, and forward, at his career, in a conversation peppered with anecdotes and zingers.