the future of work: architecture firms re imagine los angeles

‘hydrogenic city’ by cityLAB-UCLA as a part of newsweek’s ‘the future of work’
image courtesy of cityLAB-UCLA

what will los angeles look like in 2030? UCLA’s cityLAB, international practice gensler,
and california-based michael maltzan architecture have envisioned the future of the city
in all categories of urban evaluation, including the way we live, work, commute, and play.
here is a summary of what they see:

image courtesy of cityLAB-UCLA

‘the future landscape of los angeles will hinge on transforming single-family homes
and strip malls into denser places for people to work, live, and play. angelenos can
no longer afford utilities, infortion, food production, and transportation systems to be
isolated and single purpose. instead, they must become part of a much-expanded,
more productive public sphere.’ -cityLAB

in response to the housing shortage that has been affecting los angeles since the 1970s,
cityLAB proposes a way to infill the pre existing single family zone, which takes up 85%
of the city’s residential land. ‘backyard homes’ presents a practice in which separate dwellings
are built in the yards of willing families’ properties. the slightly higher density will allow
for additional community amenities as well as provide a solution to the housing crisis currently
facing the city.

‘hydrogenic city’ looks into the hybridization of transportation and the preexisting infrastructure
of water in the city. by intersecting the two, the resulting landscape enhances the commuting
experience through additions such as mist platforms, urban beaches, and aquatic parking lots.

‘target town’
image courtesy of cityLAB-UCLA

‘target town’ recognizes that 1 out of 10 angelenos work in retail trade. on this premise,
cityLAB sees a rehabilitation of big box malls into a community based space where public
uses and amenities are provided for. retail is no longer about simply transaction, but a social
driver in community-building.

cityLAB also proposes deployable buoyant pools to the saltan sea to provide for agricultural,
ecological and recreational opportunities. these individual zones are able to hold different level
of salinity which allow for a range of application, such as aqua culture, water resource creation,
as well as services for recreation.

‘vertical expansion’ by michael maltzan architecture
image courtesy of michael maltzan architecture

‘it is undeniable that los angeles is a city of constant change. long characterized by its postwar
urban sprawl, the city is changing its identity again as the optimism for endless expansion is now
gone and replaced by a new optimism for an innovative model of urban integration. the future
is not only about reinventing what it means to live, work, or play in the city, but must also answer
the question, where does optimism reside? a future los angeles, transformed by density, will alter
today’s predominant subdivision, tract-home, and automobile monoculture into a more multicultural,
multimodal, interconnected, and sustainable model city.’ -michael maltzan architecture

to combat the urban sprawl of los angeles, michael maltzan architecture looks at building
on top of pre-existing infrastructure as opposed to demolishing it. living units will be built
on top of offices and retail, creating new opportunities such as green space and recreation
in these interstitial spaces.

‘open space’
image courtesy of michael maltzan architecture

letting go of the 9-5 model where work is a distinct and separate activity in an individual’s schedule,
the future los angeles will interlay work and living into one collage of activity by transforming
the workplace into a type of social bridge. encouraging interaction between floors and different areas,
the previously disconnected workstyle will become a more dynamic, urban experience.

‘multimodel transportation’
image courtesy of michael maltzan architecture

‘multimodal transportation’ looks at los angeles’ monoculture of the car and aims to intersect
the highway with the L.A. river. a potential bridge design which allows access to the water
combines the two different trajectories, becoming a form of infrastructure that supports
a full range of culture, transportation and society.

recreation in terms of the beach and the park is a distant destination for most living in los angeles.
to promote a more full day experience, michael maltzan architecture’s ‘hybridized landscape’
disperses these recreational spaces by creating centers in the midst of working and living spaces.
a park will host a series of activities in separate zones, such as a wi-fi plateau, an amphitheatre,
a horticultural bridge–all of which blur the boundaries between workplace and playspace.

‘hybridized landscapes’
image courtesy of michael maltzan architecture

‘in the future, life, work, commuting and recreation will not be experienced as distinct
activities but will blend into one lifestyle. increased mobility and ubiquitous access to
bandwidth for increased global connectivity will optimize use of los angeles’s temperate
climate to further blue the line between inside and outside. this will expand the spatial
boundaries within which multiple activities can occur simultaneously. individuals will
be freer to roam, liberated from the traditional relationship between task and place.’ -gensler

on living, gensler sees an increasing amount of technology and virtual space in the home,
resulting in a type of open-source landscape. the single family home will become a building
block that will be interwoven into an urban landscape to serve different pockets of space.

‘virtual space’ by gensler
image courtesy of gensler

with the expansion of video conferencing, wifi, and large area networks, the practice of work
will be applied to a much broader area outside of the traditional office boundaries and will be
seamlessly integrated into each individual’s particular lifestyle. this will reduce the net office
area and transform the physical office space into a collaborative and social centre.

‘mega-centers’
image courtesy of gensler

unlike other hub-and-spoke series, los angeles hosts a congregation of always changing centers.
to organically adapt to this shifting need, ‘GPS-enhanced mobility’ proposes an expansion
of shared transportation networks such as zip cars, scooters, and rent-a-bikes. the result is
a user-driven commuting system where buses are liberated from fixed routes.

image courtesy of gensler

recreation will focus on the re purposing of pre-existing structures, especially in the local
centers where people can easily walk to. programs such as strip malls will become a shared
space that facilitates social interaction, becoming more like an extension of the living room
in the community.

for more information on any of the projects, check out newsweek‘s interactive feature.