1. ArchDaily
  2. California

California: The Latest Architecture and News

Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota

Perkins+Will’s Los Angeles studio has revealed a new dining hall and A-frame cabins for Camp Lakota, a campsite for the Girl Scouts of Greater LA. Located one and half hours north of the city in Frazier Park, the camp master plan proposal was made to create a camp of the future. Completed pro-bono by Perkins+Will, the aim is to support the Girl Scouts’ mission of empowering girls and young women. Perkins+Will reimagined the typical A-Frame layout and wanted them to be both practical and modern for the campers, but still a traditional tie-in to California cabin design.

Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota - Image 1 of 4Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota - Image 2 of 4Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota - Image 3 of 4Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota - Image 4 of 4Perkins+Will Design A-Frame Cabins for California's Camp Lakota - More Images

Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles

Swiss Designer Yves Béhar has partnered with Plant Prefab to create LivingHome YB1, a series of Accessory Dwelling Units to be unveiled at the Summit festival in Los Angeles. Designed to address California’s legislation, the ADU aims to encourage increased urban density while limiting the environmental impact of new construction. LivingHomes YB1 is the first in a line of structures made to rethink prefab and increase accessibility, livability, and sustainability.

Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles - Image 1 of 4Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles - Image 2 of 4Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles - Image 3 of 4Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles - Image 4 of 4Yves Béhar Unveils LivingHomes Accessory Dwelling Units in Los Angeles - More Images

OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles

OMA will be breaking ground on their new design for Wilshire Boulevard Temple's expansion next month. The groundbreaking for the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion is scheduled for November 11. The $75-million project was designed by OMA partners Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. The three-story expansion will include space for the temple congregation, surrounding neighborhood and supportive services.

OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles - Image 1 of 4OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles - Image 2 of 4OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles - Image 3 of 4OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles - Image 4 of 4OMA Set to Break Ground on Wilshire Boulevard Temple Expansion in Los Angeles - More Images

LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw

Grimshaw Architects and Gruen Associates have released updated renderings of the Metro station connecting Los Angeles International Airport to light rail. Expected to open in 2023, the $500-million transit hub will span across a 9.5 acre site adjacent to the Crenshaw/LAX Line’s maintenance yard. The design was made to create a fully inter-modal facility that will become a new point of arrival into the city.

LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw - Image 1 of 4LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw - Image 2 of 4LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw - Image 3 of 4LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw - Image 4 of 4LA Metro Releases New Renders of Airport Connector Station by Grimshaw - More Images+ 4

Amazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes

As the tech giant's first move into prefab construction, Amazon has invested in home-building start-up Plant PreFab. Known for smart home technology and sustainable construction, Plant PreFab is based in Rialto, California and is set to become the latest addition in Amazon's Alexa-integrated homes. As CNBC reports, Amazon's Alexa Fund invested in Plant PreFab for their prefabricated single and multifamily houses and their plan to use automation to build homes faster at lower costs.

Amazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes - Image 2 of 4Amazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes - Featured ImageAmazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes - Image 4 of 4Amazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes - Image 3 of 4Amazon Invests in Start-Up Company to Deliver Prefabricated Homes - More Images

BIG, Gensler, and James Corner Field Operations to Design Oakland Athletics Baseball Stadium

The Oakland Athletics baseball team have hired Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), James Corner Field Operations, and Gensler to lead the design process for their new ballpark and surrounding development in California. The new stadium will replace the Oakland A’s existing 51-year-old Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which the A’s share with the Oakland Raiders football team.

It has been reported by the San Francisco Business Times that BIG will lead the masterplan for the privately-financed ballpark, either at Howard Terminal or near the existing stadium, while Gensler will collaborate on the ballpark design. Field Operations will adopt the role of landscape architect for the development.

Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco

Studio Gang has released images of their proposed high-rise MIRA residential scheme in the heart of San Francisco. Currently under construction, the 400-foot-tall tower will contain almost 400 residential units when completed, 40% of which will be below market rate.

The scheme's design is centered on the evolution of the bay window element, a feature common to San Francisco’s early houses. The bay window is reimagined in a high-rise context, twisting across the full height of the tower to offer views across the city.

Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco  - Image 1 of 4Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco  - Image 2 of 4Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco  - Image 3 of 4Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco  - Image 4 of 4Studio Gang Reveals Twisting High-Rise MIRA Tower for San Francisco  - More Images+ 1

Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert

The experimental design group Space Saloon has completed their first workshop, LANDING, to create exploratory projects and installations that rethink design-build and hands-on education. Curated by Danny Wills and Gian Maria Socci, the mobile educational camp investigates perceptions of place to develop projects that make territories and environments legible. Studying material, cultural, and energy-based phenomena, students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the International Program in Design and Architecture at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok (INDA) came together in the high desert of Morongo Valley, California.

Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert - Image 1 of 4Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert - Image 2 of 4Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert - Image 3 of 4Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert - Image 4 of 4Space Saloon Rethinks Design-Build through a Workshop in California's High Desert - More Images+ 22

10 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb

ArchDaily and Airbnb were both founded in 2008, but for two very different reasons. Since then, ArchDaily has amassed a vast database of tens of thousands of buildings, located in cities and countries all around the world. Meanwhile, Airbnb has revolutionized the way in which we explore these countries, and use these buildings, even if just for one night.

While architecture lovers have occasionally been offered very limited experiences through Airbnb, such as a one-night stay on the Great Wall of China, or an architectural tour of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium courtesy of Kengo Kuma, it transpires that Airbnb’s listings contain some notable architectural gems available for regular booking.

10 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb - Image 15 of 410 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb - Image 31 of 410 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb - Image 47 of 410 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb - Image 42 of 410 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb - More Images+ 47

The Engineering Behind San Francisco's Safest Building

This article was originally published by Metropolis Magazine as "The Skyscraper's Innovative Structure is Changing the Game for Earthquake Design".

The most remarkable thing about 181 Fremont—San Francisco’s third-tallest tower, designed by Heller Manus Architects—is not the penthouse’s asking price ($42 million). Rather, it’s an innovative yet unglamorous structural detail: a viscous damper system that far exceeds California Code earthquake-performance objectives for buildings of 181 Fremont’s class, allowing immediate reoccupation after a seismic event.

Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California

Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - Featured Image
Welton Becket & Associates, Capitol Records, Hollywood, 1956. Image Courtesy of the Estate of Marvin Rand

Images of Los Angeles present an limitless city, whose roads sprawl far into the horizon and whose lights never seem to dim. But there is also intimacy to be found in the urban sprawl, not to mention a cutting-edge catalogue for design and architecture. In the new book, California Captured, authors Emily Bills, Sam Lubell, and Pierluigi Serraino show this side of Los Angeles through the lens of photographer Marvin Rand. Rand's spare and understated images of architecture helped define and spread the distinctive Californian mid-century modern style across the world - and introduced viewers to a Los Angeles beyond the lights. Read an excerpt from California Captured here after the break:

Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - Image 1 of 4Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - Image 2 of 4Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - Image 3 of 4Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - Image 4 of 4Chasing The Light: Marvin Rand's Photographs of Mid-Century Modern California - More Images+ 2

Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California

Morphosis has released images of its proposed Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) in California. The scheme hopes to create an “open and engaging urban presence within Orange County’s largest center for arts and culture” when it opens in 2021.

At 52,000 square feet, the museum will allow OCMA to organize major temporary exhibitions alongside spacious installations. The museum will contain nearly 25,000 square feet of exhibition galleries, representing a 50% increase on their current location in Newport Beach.

Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California - Image 1 of 4Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California - Image 2 of 4Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California - Image 3 of 4Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California - Image 4 of 4Morphosis Releases Images of Proposed Orange County Museum of Art in California - More Images+ 2

Studio Gang's Curved Mixed-Use Tower to be their First Project in Los Angeles

Studio Gang's Curved Mixed-Use Tower to be their First Project in Los Angeles - Image 1 of 4
Courtesy of Studio Gang

Studio Gang has released details of their first project in Los Angeles, a 26-story mixed-use tower designed in collaboration with local development partner Creative Space and European lifestyle brand MOB. The scheme places an emphasis on community spaces, with a curved form creating dynamic public plazas at street level, forming a link between Chinatown, the recently-opened LA State Historic Park, Union Station, and El Pueblo.

Located on 643 North Spring Street, the scheme will provide 300 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, and a 149-room hotel operated by MOB. Emphasizing the importance of community space and interaction, the residents and hotel guests will share a rooftop amenity deck with landscaped terraces on the second and third floor, as well as a gym, coworking spaces, rentable offices, pop-up stores, a rooftop swimming pool and bar, and space for outdoor cooking.

NEWSUBSTANCE's Coachella Pavilion Takes Visitors on a Journey of Light and Color

A post shared by Franky Lam (@frankylamchops) on

UK-based design studio NEWSUBSTANCE has debuted at the Coachella Valley Music & Art Festival with a seven-floor pavilion taking visitors on an “ever-changing journey of light, color and perspective.” The 75-foot-high (23-meter-high) pavilion named “Spectra” consists of a spiral form featuring an observation deck at its peak, projecting a rainbow band of color.

The dazzling color scheme is produced by the separation of light waves by their varying degrees of refraction, embodying the lively spirit of the Coachella festival. Through this manipulation of the physical properties of light, Spectra is capable of producing over 16 million colors.

Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival

Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi, known for his majestic wire mesh sculptures, has unveiled his biggest artwork to date for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Titled “Etherea,” the site-specific installation represents the culmination of Tresoldi's research in the music field, realized as three transparent structures taking inspiration from Neoclassical and Baroque architecture.

The Italian artist has established a reputation for wire mesh sculptures, having been named by Forbes as one of the 30 most influential European artists. The Etherea sculpture represents the artist’s investigation into architecture as a tool for contemplation, a “dedicated space where the sky and clouds are narrated through the language of classical architecture.”

Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival  - Image 1 of 4Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival  - Image 2 of 4Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival  - Image 3 of 4Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival  - Image 4 of 4Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival  - More Images+ 11

OMA Reveals Pavilion Design for Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles

OMA Reveals Pavilion Design for Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles - Image 1 of 4
The scheme will be situated beside a 1929 Byzantine-Revival sanctuary. Image Courtesy of OMA New York / Luxigon

OMA New York has released initial details of its design for the Audrey Irmas Pavilion, a new addition to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, California. The OMA scheme, currently seeking planning approval, seeks to “forge new connections within the existing campus and create a new urban presence to engage Los Angeles.”

Having won a competition for the pavilion's design in 2015, the OMA scheme represents the firm’s first commission from a religious institution and their first cultural building in California. Designed in collaboration with Gruen Associates, the Audrey Irmas Pavilion will form the newest addition to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. The scheme will serve as a multi-purpose gathering space in what Rabbi Steve Leder regards as “the city’s most diverse neighborhood.”

Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018

Results have been announced for the 5th Global LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction, with three women-led teams awarded the gold, silver, and bronze positions. The design competition asked participants to speculate on future methods of balancing environmental performance, social responsibility and economic growth, “exemplifying architectural excellence and a high degree of transferability.”

The competition attracted over 5,000 submissions from 131 countries. Having been regionally assessed by juries in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific, 55 successful proposals were entered for the global awards, where six winning schemes were selected.

Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 - Image 1 of 4Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 - Image 2 of 4Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 - Image 3 of 4Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 - Image 4 of 4Mexican Water-Managing Public Space Triumphs in Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 - More Images+ 62

City of Los Angeles Appoints Inaugural Chief Design Officer

City of Los Angeles Appoints Inaugural Chief Design Officer - Image 1 of 4
© Wikimedia user KennethHan licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Recently, long-standing architecture critic for the LA Times Christopher Hawthorne announced that he was stepping down to take up the position of chief design officer for the City of Los Angeles in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s administration. According to Hawthorne, the role will involve raising “the quality of public architecture and urban design across the city — and the level of civic conversation about those subjects.” This dramatic shift from the question: what is the role of the critic and architecture criticism in shaping civic architecture?