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Architecture & Design

Architecture has a long life span. What we build and create says multitudes about what we value. See the stories that are shaping the landscape of Los Angeles and beyond.

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Los Angeles Central Library
A Brief History of the Los Angeles Central Library
L.A.'s historic 1926 downtown library has survived calls for its demolition – and a still-unsolved case of arson.
Rialto Theatre | Thomas Hawk/Flickr/Creative Commons
S. Pasadena's Rialto Theatre: Its Past and Possible Future
The historic Rialto Theatre in Pasadena was once a prized community venue but in recent years has faced neglect. The Mosaic Church has leased the space causing community members to worry the theater will no longer be used for non-religious arts events.
Nairobi Skyline | Babak Fakhamzadeh | Flickr | CC 2.0
How Role Play Helped Solve a Key Problem in a Kenya Clinic
Human-centered design is a core part of the social design practice. See how role play helped uncover hidden problems that no interview or focus group discussion could expose. 
Pilgrimage Play (1922), Salome before Herod | Los Angeles Public Library
How Religion Gave L.A. the Ford Amphitheatre (and the Hollywood Bowl)
The 2017 season opening at the Ford Amphitheater will bring with it new renovations and additions to the space. With the renovation comes a renewed interest in this outdoor venue's unusual history. 
A local resident at the Poe Park Visitor Center participating in the community visioning activity. | Courtesy of VisionArc
How Visualization Helped A Community Center Empower Its People
Visualization is often used to make the facts of the world visible, but at VisionArc visualization is used as a way of making new interactions, discussions and actions possible.
Union Bank building thumbnail
When Union Bank Square Dethroned City Hall as L.A.'s Tallest Building
In 1966, 516-foot Union Bank Square ended City Hall's long reign as the tallest building in Los Angeles.
Rafael Smith, a designer at IDEO.org, mapping group decision-making processes with an organization in Southern India. | Danny Alexander, IDEO.org
A Simple but Powerful Tool in Social Design
Visual mapping can be an engaging method to add depth to any interview. It's a tool to break through taboo topics and uncover answers people couldn't otherwise articulate.
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Miles Davis and the Practice of Social Design
Like never before, designers are improvising. They’re finding un-inscribed rules in frames of reference as didactic as form fields, as motley as urban landscapes.
Ducha Halo designed by Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh
Why Designers Practice Social Innovation
When design as a discipline is applied to addressing complex societal challenges it inspires us because it exemplifies the tangible and fundamental humanistic quality of design. 
Yoshiro Makino / Courtesy of wHY and Marciano Art Foundation
A Masonic Temple with an Eccentric History Re-Opens as a Contemporary Art Museum
The hottest ticket in Los Angeles at the moment isn’t for a new restaurant, a pop concert or a sports showdown – it’s for the re-opening of a Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard.
Biltmore Hotel (thumbnail)
A Brief History of L.A's Grand Downtown Hotel, the Biltmore
The Biltmore was meant to confer "real-city" status on Los Angeles when it opened in 1923.
California-Pacific Triennial 2017 opening night | Ryan Miller OC Triennial
Pacific Rim Artists Are Given the Limelight at OCMA's California-Pacific Triennial
When the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) launched the California-Pacific Triennial in 2013, it became the first California museum to survey the work of Pacific Rim artists. Its tradition of highlighting artists in the region continues this year.
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