I've been away at a two-week design charette for work (it's complicated why I'm here... let's just leave it at the simple fact that I'm here) and haven't really had the chance or the energy to update properly.
I figured a good way to solve this dilemma is to post the blog entries I've had to write for the charette.
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Sunday, June 15
Being one of the few participants from Los Angeles, it's strange re-introducing myself to the city. It was only a month ago when I was one of the many Angelenos trapped in traffic on Alameda, trying to get to over the 101-overpass during rush hour. My challenge is to overcome my familiarity with the project area and force myself to see this city again with a fresh set of eyes.
I've been enjoying the questions that arise from my international cohort, especially after our site visit-- they've made me question my own LA quirks and habits and wonder what other possibilities there are for us. Selfishly, I am more excited than ever about the project. Of all the participants, I may actually have the chance to experience the fruits of everyone's labor and enjoy the newest Freeway Park sometime in the future.
Monday, June 16
One of the panelist captured it perfectly: it's a no-man's land. The expanse of sidewalk and street between the edge of the Civic Center and the beginning of Chinatown is desolate. If ever I forgot that Los Angeles was and is a desert, that strip of concrete was a good reminder. In the car, it's a quick drive through a slightly winding road, with an interesting-enough view. On foot, it's dry, hot, and never-ending. I tried to imagine who walks on this street. While we did our site visit, I didn't see too many people. One woman was parking her car on the street to avoid paying the $20 for two-hours of parking at the Cathedral. A few tourists were heading back to their car after an afternoon of sightseeing. Add a few Chinese grandmothers and that was about it. It's exciting to imagine the possibilities of the site, but it's also hard to think about who would use it...
Tuesday, June 17
The last two days have been intensive, as the project managers attempt to get 24 non-Angelenos familiarized with this city. The variety of speakers and viewpoints have been great-- better than I expected, in fact. They have managed to capture the underlying history of the region, one that is not always just nor particularly nice to think about. But the question, of course, lingers in my mind, "What is everyone actually getting out of this and what are we still missing?" We have yet to really probe into one another's minds to see what elements were picked up from our panel discussions and what were left out. I imagine that our individual filters will be revealed as we begin to sketch out our visions for the project site. I begin to wonder about my own filters and what I choose (or don't choose) to keep in my memory bank for future uses.
Wednesday, June 18
While the project scope itself is extremely interesting, it is equally fascinating to observe how people think. The afternoon and evening was spent in groups, intensively thinking about the vision of the project. We each got caught up in our own ideas and inspirations, trying to pull in the other group members to consider our respective visions. What seemed so simple to others, were incredibly complicated and abstract for me. When I see an issue or an opportunity, my mind immediately moves to "what could this be used for?" rather than "how could this look?" I think about who could the site serve now, while others think about who could it possibly serve in the future. I've been fortunate enough to have a group who is willing to work through all the different processes and thoughts to form interesting (and what I think are balanced) interpretations on each of these disparate things.
Thursday, June 19
The stress is mounting and you can see it in the personal interactions. More people are stepping outside for breaks, there's a good amount of stomping about the studio, and you the sounds of frustration are audible. A deadline looms and it just doesn't feel like it's enough time. Strangely, I feel calm throughout all of this. Perhaps it is recognition of the fact that this is a "visioning" stage-- an opportunity for ideas to be a little incomplete so more people can become involved in the creation. Or, it could be that my skill sets don't really put me in a position to be doing the mad-cap scramble to prepare all the sketches for Friday's presentation. Either ways, I am looking forward to our first real interaction with the stakeholders-- I'm interested to see what they have to say and what they think would benefit Los Angeles.
Sunday, June 22
My weekend was spent in two very small, very quaint towns: Carpenteria and Avalon (on Catalina Island). While I appreciated my time there, I wouldn't want to have downtown LA to be this way. These towns are... well... towns. People move there to have the small environment, where everyone knows each other, everyone has been to school together since they were 5 years old... People move to downtowns for very different reasons. I like the disarray, the chaos! As I think about it more and more, I don't want to use the 101-freeway to capture the nostalgia that people have about downtown. Highly urban areas are about something different (to me, at least). They change, radically, within short periods of time... this should be captured in the use and the design of our park. We will never be the city we were 50 years or ago or even 5 months ago. I think we need to be prepared to defend this point to the potential nay-sayers come Friday.
Suffice to say, I'm excited for the rest of this week.
Monday, June 23
And the week begins.We are still trying to define our "big" concept. The designers attempted to design the most democratic plan, pulling in the elements of each previous design to build something that, theoretically, should have worked to make something grand. What we were left with, unfortunately, was a plan that didn't have the innovation of the others. The elements got lost amongst one another. I have moments of frustration where I feel like we're designing something without fully understanding where we are and who we are doing this for. We say we are considering the Los Angeles of the future, of the next 100 years, but we have no sense of who they will be.
There is a constant push from the visitors to our studio to think about who we can draw in to use the park, without any encouragement to think about the current communities who would greatly benefit from some sort of public space. The site was selected because there is a viability in it already with 50,000 residents who are park-poor, low-income, and have typically been left voiceless in these types of matters. We've left our final ideas with a team of three to see if without the distraction of 21 other voices and opinions they might be able to return us to the grand vision we once had. Perhaps in the relative quiet of their workgroup they will remember all of the elements and all of the people here as they create a plan.
Tuesday, June 24
The days are blurring together. Three more days before the final presentation... At this point, there is nothing more to believe than the simple fact that we will somehow pull it off, because with this group of people, it would be impossible otherwise. We have split into teams, based mainly around skills. In a form of organized chaos, it's hard to tell what people are doing and if they are working at the appropriate pace, but by the time of evening pin-up, everyone has something to show for themselves.
Do I believe that the final design will be something that fits for Los Angeles? I don't know. But then again, is there anything that will ever fit for Los Angeles? With competiting opinions about who should live in LA, no one can agree about what this design should do and who it should serve. Is it about the new potential residents or is about serving those already here? Is it about creating something iconic or about creating something functional? Is it about infusing new ideas or respecting the existing ones that create the current urban fabric? Of course none of these questions should be considered in a binary plane, but what do the alternatives look like and how can they meet each other?
I'm trying to hold onto every moment when I am inspired to move away from my old views of Los Angeles and integrate them into the final presentation, because I hope, that is what will inspire the policymakers, the stakeholders, and especially the protectors of LA's nostalgia will embrace this design.
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