THE NOW INSTITUTE
Address Phone Number The Now Institute Website The Now Institute Email
3440 Wesley Street Culver City, CA 90232 1.424.258.6209 www.thenowinstitute.org info@thenowinstitute.org
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THE NOW INSTITUTE //
THE NOW INSTITUTE is an urban planning and research center hosted at UCLA’s Architecture and Urban Design Department, with a focus on the investigation and application of urban strategies to complex problems in modern advanced metropolises and informal settlements. Led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect and UCLA Distinguished Professor Thom Mayne and Director Eui-Sung Yi, the Now Institute is an outgrowth of over 10 years of research initiatives in collaboration with A.UD’s SUPRASTUDIO, establishing a new territory that integrates academic and professional pursuits and spans cities across the United States and the world, including Los Angeles, New Orleans, Madrid, Beijing, Portau-Prince, and Cap-Haïtien. The Now Institute focuses on the investigation and application of urban strategies to complex problems in modern advanced metropolises and informal settlements, encompassing cities affected by challenges of resilience, culture, sustainability and mobility. The full spectrum of urban manifestations is engaged, accepted and observed. The Now Institute is embedded in UCLA Department Architecture and Urban Design with yearlong studios that provide students continuity for studying problems, and offer graduate researchers the opportunity to engage with the professional sphere to implement proposals. The results of these initiatives have included publications such as L.A. Now Volumes 1-4, Madrid Now; and the 720-page Haiti Now visual almanac; realized projects such as the Float House for the Make It Right Foundation; and consulting for cities and government entities, with the
Culture Now Project, the ongoing Cap-Haïtien studies and proposals, and the current UCLA Grand Challenges: Sustainable LA initiative. These projects have been received with much acclaim in the architectural community and beyond, stimulating discourse on current issues and encouraging civic and business leaders, developers, architects, urbanists, cultural producers, students, and the general public to rethink urban, cultural and contemporary conditions. Additionally, the Institute provides a platform for collaborating with diverse leaders and agencies, such as the RAND Corporation and the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, that integrates visionary research inquiry with the complexities and needs of real scenarios. L.A. NOW 1 2002
L.A. NOW 2 2003
NEW ORLEANS NOW 2009
L.A. NOW 3 & 4 2005
CULTURE NOW 2011
MADRID NOW 2006
HAITI NOW 2013
CAP HAITIEN NOW 2014
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THE NOW INSTITUTE // L.A. NOW 1 2002
L.A. NOW 2 2003
L.A. NOW
L.A. NOW 3 & 4 2005
L.A. NOW 5 2016
CULTURE NOW
NEW ORLEANS NOW HAITI NOW
MADRID NOW 2006
MADRID NOW
NEW ORLEANS NOW 2008
CULTURE NOW 2010
HAITI NOW 2012
BEIJING NOW
CAP HAITIEN NOW BEIJING NOW 2012 2013
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L.A. NOW // Volume 1
22-23
Conceived by Richard Koshalek and developed by Thom Mayne, L.A. Now 1 was the result of a collaborative design initiative bewteen UCLA Architecture, CalArts Graphic Design and Art Center Photography students to focus creativity on downtown Los Angeles and provide the foundation for its future development. The first volume, L.A. Now, offers a virtual snapshot of Los Angeles at the beginning of the twenty-first century. A rich amalgamation of recent data, text, graphic design, and photography, this book documents the city’s radical heterogeneity, hybridity, and fragmentation into foursections: Los Angeles, habitat, people, and money.
Year Project
Partners Outcome
2002 Urban cultural almanac of Los Angeles, proposals for housing and revitalization in various urban sites RAND Corporation, City of Los Angeles, Art Center College of Design, CalArts L.A. Now Volumes 1, Progressive Architecture Award (2006)
26-27
42-43
8
58-59
144-145
116-117
168-169
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L.A. NOW // Volume 2
Shaping a New Vision for Downtown Los Angeles Seven Proposals 38-39
From the research and analysis compiled in Volume 1 of L.A. Now, the next step step was a proposal for interpretive strategies that would accommodate the city’s fragmentation, heterogeneity, emergent orders and non linearity. The resulting projects, which targeted underutilized sites in the city like the L.A. River, LAX International Airport and the downtown core, have optimistic and ambitious aspirations, but they are not utopian in ideology. Operating with found logics, they engage tactics that promote fluidity, flexibility, and interaction of economic, social, and financial forces.
Year Project
Partners Outcome
2003 Urban cultural almanac of Los Angeles, proposals for housing and revitalization in various urban sites RAND Corporation, City of Los Angeles, Art Center College of Design, CalArts L.A. Now Volumes 2, Progressive Architecture Award (2006)
42-43
52-53
12
62-63
70-72
66-67
78-79
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L.A. NOW // Volume 3&4
A Case for Downtown Living Five Proposals UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design
Volume 3&4 expands on the proposals and speculations of series with a deliberate focus on underutilized urban sites in the city core, including the Arts District, Little Tokyo and the LA River in downtown Los Angeles. Proposals re-envisioned these sites as parks, networks for alternative schools and urban housing. The final volume of the series continues explorations on Los Angeles’ future, focusing on the Chavez Ravine. Centrally located and gifted with commanding high view of the city, the project proposes the relocation of Dodger Stadium to downtown and the infusion of a 30,000 resident community on the site that integrates and expands Elysian Park’s potential.
Year Project
Partners Outcome
2004 - 2005 Urban cultural almanac of Los Angeles, proposals for housing and revitalization in various urban sites RAND Corporation, City of Los Angeles, Art Center College of Design, CalArts L.A. Now Volumes 3-4, Progressive Architecture Award (2006)
212-213
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8-9
76-77
176-177
94-95
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MADRID NOW // 1-2
Year Project
Partners Outcome
2002 - 2006 Urban analysis of Madrid, proposals for housing, cultural program and transportation for 3 urban parcels City of Madrid Madrid Now, UCLA exhibition and book signing, 2007 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture exhibition
From 2006 to 2007, the Now Institute acted as consultant and advisor to the City of Madrid in an investigation on the Spanish new town model. Five prototype communities were developed from three urban parcels, which were analyzed for opportunities to inject specificity, diversity and identity for future residents. Following the presentation of findings to the City, the final research was featured in an exhibition at the 2007 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/ Architecture. The city of Madrid currently hosts a housing program called PAU (Programa de ActuaciĂłn UrbanĂstica) or Programs of City-planning Performance that was designed to provide high-quality, affordable housing for an increasing population of young couples with financial challenges. The procurement system is through a lottery system and no choice of PAU or building is given; it is a random selection that currently requires a long wait. The critique of the PAU system is multiple: The prescriptive parceling limits flexibility and integration with future commercial, civic and cultural programs that require different massing and siting. The low density negates the potential for high density development and exacerbates the horizontal growth of the city. The current strategy is indifferent and unresponsive to the local surrounding context and urban culture, thereby denying its ability to differentiate and iconize. Three sites were recommended by the city for exploration and intervention. Each of the sites held a particular problem and urban responsibility which drove the design strategy and development. One site became a hub for increased efficiency in transportation. Another became an offgrid urban farm community, while the last proposed options for an alternative high-density residential lifestyle.
17-18
21-22
20
22-23
74-75
67-68
78-79
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NEW ORLEANS NOW //
Year Project Partners Outcome
2008 - 2009 Regional analysis and strategic planning, design and construction of single-family home Make it Right Foundation, Clark Construction New New Orleans Macro Plan: NOLA 2050, Shenzhen Biennale exhibition, Float House prototype
Katrina Hurricane devastated New Orleans in August 2005. The Ninth Ward was hit the hardest, devastating residents and rendering their neighborhoods uninhabitable. A policy of relocation was met with resistance as residents attempted to salvage their homes and neighboorhoods. In 2008, a partnership with the City of New Orleans and the Make it Right Foundation resulted in the Float House, an innovative home typology for residents of flood-prone areas that is able to safely rise with waters during a flood. Until the 1890s, New Orleans was an estuary. As land developed, it was in order of its elevation from high to low. Not until the early 1960s were the lowest-lying areas of marsh and wetlands drained to accommodate housing. This type of development, coupled with the reality of rising water levels and a sinking land base, presents a serious threat to the city.The challenge for this project was immediately apparent: how do we occupy the land of the Lower Ninth Ward given its ecological condition? At the micro scale, we wanted to maintain the street culture of New Orleans—the interaction among residents that has traditionally taken place at the stoop level. At the macro scale, we wanted a house that would respond to changes in its surrounding landscape by engineering it to break from the city grid and switch to emergency mode, at which time it becomes completely selfsufficient. Designed in response to Ninth Ward residents’ needs, the Float House serves as a scalable prototype that can be mass-produced and adapted to the needs of communities world-wide facing similar challenges post-disaster. As a certified LEED Platinum building, the home uses highperformance systems, energy efficient appliances, and prefabrication methods to produce an affordable, sustainable house that generates its own power, minimizes resource consumption and collects its own water - making it able exist “off the grid” for up to twenty-one days. The result is a 1000 sqft house that is socially accessible, cost-efficient, and technically innovative in terms of its safety factor—its ability to float—as well as its solar performance and its ability to collect water. This new way of occupying the terrain between land and water will reposition coastal cities like New Orleans to be at home on the edge.
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CULTURE NOW // UCLA Suprastudio 2010-2011
Year Project
Partners
Outcome
2010 - 2011 Urban analysis of 17 declining American cities, proposals for revitalization in 8 selected sites, collaboration with 12 universities Atlantic City Urban Planning Dept, Cleveland City Planning Dept, Flint Cultural Center Corporation, City of Merced, South Alabama Regional Planning Commission, New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, Toledo Office of the Mayor, Tucson Planning and Development Services Dept Culture Now, The Culture Now Project website, 2011 Mayor’s Summit on City Design Keynote lecture
Initiated in the summer of 2010, Culture Now seeks to instigate a critical dialogue about the nature of art and culture in the American city. In the fall of 2011 the project expanded into a collaborative platform, call the Culture Now Project, supported by 12 other universities across the country. The Culture Now Project is an immersive investigation into the intersection of public policy, urbanism, contemporary culture and its spatial manifestations. This study of social, political, and cultural evidence immediately extends the dialogue across disciplines and encompasses institutional and political models of the public. The Culture Now Project reconfigures the traditional architectural view of the city, beyond the boundaries of built matter. To reactivate the complexity inherent in the city, we seek to define, establish, program, and implement the material and immaterial substance that drives contemporary urbanity and culture. The search for new possibilities also demands embracing the actual challenges, changes, and potentials of the architectural profession. The overuse and subsequent decline of urban environments is a common problem in many mid-size cities across the United States. Through the exploitation of industrial, social or ecological resources, cities shrink, production centers fade and environmental resources are tapped leaving foreclosed homes, abandoned warehouses and unclaimed land behind as tarnished territories desperate for repurposing. These contaminated sites, once definitive of a city’s development, now stand as the visual manifestation of urban exhaustion, an idea that permeates the city fabric and breeds anxiety about a community’s future. It is in these locations where opportunity resides and a cultural armature can intertwine with the social, political and economic mechanisms of the city to realize a new potential.
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104-105
114-115
108-109
126-127
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HAITI NOW // 12-13
Haiti Now was initiated after recognizing that the long-term development after the devastating 2010 earthquake of Haiti depends on an integrative and multi-layered strategy that considers the built, social and cultural fabric of the country. RELIEF, RECOVERY AND PLANNING After a region experiences disaster, a process of Relief, Recovery and Planning can re-establish a safe sustainable environment for all those affected. Relief is reaction — coordinating the inflow of products and services to meet emergency needs. Recovery is strategy —strengthening pre-existing local physical systems so a devastated region can stand again. Planning is prevention — long-term vision that anticipates solutions to latent problems.
76-77
CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION The identity and vitality of any nation lies in the distinct flavor, confidence and vibrance of its unique local culture. Cultural reconstruction is adopted by major players in the development world, including UNESCO. Thepriority for long-term development is to establish and highlight inherent cultural resources, and encourage the growth of auxiliary services and the regionally-appropriate industries that serve them. Year Project Partners
Outcome
2012 - 2013 Regional analysis, urban analysis of Port-auPrince, proposals for 1 urban and 1 rural parcel Ministry of Tourism, UNESCO Port-au-Prince, Université d’Etat d’Haïti (UEH), University of Fondwa, UCLA Center for Public Health and Disaster, Center for Black Studies Research Haiti Now: 1, UCLA exhibition, strategic plan/ masterplan of disaster-resilient village
CULTURAL OPPORTUNITY The fortification of culture yields the opportunity for the coupling of culture with strategically identified needs. One potential endeavor links Haitian arts and crafts culture with a strategy for improved access to basic education. A macro strategy for improved international recognition suggests the development of an eco-cultural tourist experience that credits Haiti’s fragmented rural infrastructure with protecting and preserving the Caribbean’s last remaining virgin beaches. CULTURAL RESILIENCE The ultimate aspiration of any post-disaster strategy is the maturation of the affected region into a resilient society. In Haiti, the absence of many typical commodities and services highlights the role of culture as a vital force in developing future resilience against disaster.
94-95
32
310-311
446-447
314-315
448-449
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CAP-HAITïEN NOW //
INTEGRATIVE APPROACH The North is arguably one of the regions in Haiti with the greatest potential for development for the recovery of the nation. As such, the entire region’s assets, resources, needs and integrative possibilities should be considered. Cross-sectoral approaches to development will integrate the assets and resources encompassing public agencies, private businesses and non-governmental organizations. COMMUNITY PROJECTS & PARTNERSHIPS A top priority for lasting change, local engagement in CapHaïtien has been and active and critical part in developing trusted relationships with those who benefit and are affected by proposed projects. Community organizations, leaders and youth are engaged and valued as local experts.
year Project Partners
Outcome
2013 - 2014 Macro and micro interventions in the North region, centered around Cap-Haïtien Government of Haiti Ministry of Tourism, UNESCO Special Envoy to Haiti, UCLA Center for Public Health and Disaster Cap-Haïtien Now (publication), project initiatives (concept through implementation); Strategies for infrastructure, vocational training, tourism and economic development
PONT NEUF BRIDGE / MAPOU RIVER REVITALIZATION & SHANTYTOWN UPGRADING Shada, a shantytown along the Mapou river edge in CapHaïtien, has exploded in population and over the past 30 years, resulting in informal encroachment into the river. At Pont Neuf bridge, urban infill via garbage and waste has facilitated vulnerable informal construction while degrading water quality and increasing risk of disease. The micro impact of river revitalization and shantytown upgrading will be considered to synergetically integrate with macro issues, including workforce development, vocational training, ecological conservation, improved sanitation and local idenity & civic pride. CULTURAL ASSET PROTECTION & INTEGRATIVE DEVELOPMENT The value of countless historical sites in the North is significant, which include the matchless Citadelle Laferrière, Sans-Souci Palace and collections of archaeological artifacts of indigenious peoples. These assets are also vulnerable to degradation and destruction without proper measures of protection and consevation. An integrative plan for healthy sustainable development and management is needed to best showcase the North’s resources and maintain their longevity for the Haitian people and the world.
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UCLA GRAND CHALLENGES // Sustainable LA - Thriving in a Hotter Los Angeles Five-Year Work Plan
Spurred by President Obama’s 2013 challenge to direct American innovation towards solving difficult contemporary issues, UCLA formulated the Grand Challenges program - ambitious campus-wide research endeavors that connect faculty, students, community members and leading experts across all fields to solve some of society’s toughest problems. UCLA’s first Grand Challenge: Sustainable LA – Thriving in a Hotter Los Angeles tackles sustainability in Los Angeles County through innovations in science, technology, and policy that will bring real benefits to Los Angeles and offer a model for sustainable cities worldwide. The latest UCLA research predicts that the Los Angeles of the future will be hotter and more crowded, with increased wildfire risk and reduced snowpack feeding local water supplies – all of which could significantly impact the economy, human health, and quality of life in the city. Addressing these issues, the Sustainable LA initiative developed a research-based Five-Year Work Plan to achieve three key goals in Los Angeles County by 2050:
Year Project
Partners Outcome
2013-2016 To integrate all strategies to make Los Angeles sustainable by 2050 through 100% locally sourced water, use only renewable energy and promote a healthy ecosystem. UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability LA Now 5. Report for policymakers
1. Power 100 percent of energy and transportation needs with renewable energy. 2. Obtain 100 percent of water supply from sources within Los Angeles County. 3. Enhance ecosystem health — specifically: increase native biodiversity; prevent extinction of native species; integrate development and nature to promote human health; and ensure every resident has access to a green space or natural area within ¼ mile. Building on fifteen years of interdisciplinary research into major issues facing Los Angeles, The Now Institute has played a critical role in shaping the Work Plan, contributing knowledge and guidance towards understanding the complex relationships and opportunities for transformation that comprise the urban fabric. The Now Institute is working to lay the groundwork for buildings that are more affordable, recyclable, and energy conserving, located in walkable, bikeable live-work neighborhoods that are more energy efficient, better suited to multispecies habitation, and which make the region a better place for all communities.
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ABU DHABI
SHANGHAI POPULATION
AREA
POPULATION
CO2 Emissions per capita: 62.3 Metric Tons 72% Energy Generation 18% Industrial Process 7% Demostic Waste 3% Agriculture
2448
23.8 million
NEW YORK
CO2 EMMISIONS: 57.3 M Metric Tons
AQI [63.69] ENERGY CONSUMPTION
sq mi
SYDNEY
AREA
8 .4 million
304.8
POPULATION
AREA
4.8 million
4,689
sq mi
OIL:
sq mi
80 barrels/yr/p (160 gas tanks)
203,835 barrels/day
ELECTRICITY:
DENSITY
(10,000 each)
DENSITY
[10,000 each]
51,195 kWh/yr/p (14630 iPhones charging/year)
47.1 billion kWh/year
46.2 inches/year
47 50
57
44 36 39
57
J
F
53
F
o
63 71
M A
7
78 78 78 62 8 6
52 51
41
3 2 2 2
M J
J
A
S
O N D inches
PER CAPITA
GDP
$353.9 billion
$14,870
WATER COMSUMPTION:
60%
39%
1%
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
MIDDLE-INCOME
20%
LOW-INCOME
60%
4
12.76 Million Tons/year
SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES CO2 GOAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
GDP
Clean energy occupy 30% of total electricity generation by 2020
CO2
1.1 BILLION TONS
Use of LED technology gives a 67% reduction in energy usage.
F
4 4 4
4
M A
J
M
J
4 4
4 4
4
A
O
D
S
N
1,023 people/sq mi TEMPERATE RAINFALL
78 78 77 72
[10 each]
51 49 49 44
o
47.8 inches/year
48 40 36 41 42 46 36 37 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 3
inches
J
F
GDP
$151,250
F
77 67 62 61 64 68 72 74
M A
M J
J
A
S
O N D inches
PER CAPITA
$213 billion
$44,375
82%
18%
0%
85%
15%
0%
SERVICE
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
SERVICE
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
HIGH-INCOME
MIDDLE-INCOME
9%
LOW-INCOME
49%
42%
[ $53,120-199,200]
[0-53,120$]
c
LONDON
MIDDLE-INCOME
LOW-INCOME
52%
27%
[$13,0000+] [$31,200-13,0000] [$31,200-] GINI INDEX:[0.332]
LOS ANGELES
SEOUL
SEOUL
AREA
POPULATION
AREA
POPULATION
3.4 million
344
8.4 million
607
10.4 million
CO2 EMMISIONS:
AREA
52 M Metric Tons
CO2 Emissions per capita: 13.33 Metric Tons 47.7% Transportation 37.5% Buildings 14.1% Industrial 0.6% Others
223.7
AQI [59.29] ENERGY CONSUMPTION
sq mi
sq mi
sq mi
HIGH-INCOME
21%
GINI INDEX：[0.535]
POPULATION
OIL:
4.76 barrels/yr/p
DENSITY
[10,000 each]
o F 84 82 79 75 63 54 43 63 68 67 60 50 41 32
TRANSPORTATION By 2030, city targets a 30%40% public transport by improving public transportation and pedestrain walking system.
*(yr/p:year per capita)
BERLIN
54
PER CAPITA
$1210 billion
[199,200+$]
BERLIN
70
5
3
J
20%
[Avg $1,2821 ] [Avg $5,780] [Avg$3,112] GINI INDEX：[0.474, CHINA] *Shanghai has never calculated its own Gini index.
(10 each)
(157 municipal trash cans)
WASTE:
44
35
26 28
13.8 Tons/yr/p
61
49
38 42
44.7 inches/year
1238.8Litres/Day per capita
BUILDING HIGH-INCOME
OCEANIC RAINFALL
(9 backyard swimming pools)
452,162 Litres/yr/p
Aming at 1.1 billion tons CO2 emission reduction By 2030.
SERVICE
27,578 people/sq mi
(8609 bus [CNG] trips, 1trip=20Mi)
16 billion m3 /year
63
3 2 4 3 3
NATURAL GAS:
173,913 m3/yr/p
9,722 people/sq mi HUMID SUBTROPICAL 90 90 89 82 RAINFALL: 77 73
(10 gas tanks)
DENSITY
(10,000 each)
DENSITY
(10,000 each)
50,844 barrels/day
ELECTRICITY:
6961 kWh/yr/p (3614 iPhones charging/year)
23.5 billion kWh/year
13,466 people/sq mi
9,812 people/sq mi TEMPERATE RAINFALL:
37 40
22.6 inches/year
47
29 29 34
56 40
66
73 75 74
66
48
55 59 57 51
2.1
2.7 2.22.3
F
o
56 44
45
40
36 34
OCEANIC RAINFALL
58 49 49 53
23.8 inches/year
40 40
42
45
65 70 50 56
74 73 59 59
F
o
67 55
60 50
1.7 1.3 1.6 1.5
2
1.8 1.5 1.7 2.2
J
inches
GDP
$135.2 billion
PER CAPITA
$39,200
2
2 1
J F M A M J J A S O N D
45
48 40
3
(10 each)
[10 each]
53
F
2 2
2 2
o
57 inches/year
35 21 26
(10 each)
2
1
M A
M
J
J
A
S
0.8 1.0 O
46
2
N
D
$790.85 billion $94,148
1.9
2.5
15.5 14.3
4.2 5.2
51
38
338.7 m3/yr/p 161,549 Litres/yr/p 442.6 Litres/Day per capita
0.74 Tons/yr/p
PER CAPITA
$21,456
39% 10%
0%
71.6%
27.4%
1%
83%
17%
0%
SERVICE
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
SERVICE
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
SERVICE
INDUSTRY
AGRICULTURE
MIDDLE-INCOME LOW-INCOME
50%
*[MI=$38K ] *[MI=$22K] GINI INDEX: [0.28] *(MI: Median Income. Data of income for Germany)
25% *[MI=$12K]
HIGH-INCOME
20% [$76,800+]
MIDDLE-INCOME
65%
LOW-INCOME
15%
[$34,512-76,800] [$20,533-34,512]
GINI INDEX: [0.377, United Kingdom]
HIGH-INCOME MIDDLE-INCOME LOW-INCOME
22.1%
60.1%
(8 municipal trash cans)
2.9 Million Tons/year
SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES CO2 GOAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
Decrease to 60% below 1990 level to 1990 level
CO2 -60% BUILDING
25%
(3 backyard swimming pools)
WASTE:
2.0 2.1
90%
HIGH-INCOME
(17 bus [CNG] trips, 1trip=20Mi)
WATER COMSUMPTION:
0.8
6.7
inches
GDP
$224 billion
NATURAL GAS:
3.4 billionm3 /year
26
J F M A M J J A S O N D
inches
PER CAPITA
GDP
43,000 people/sq mi F 81 84 85 78 HUMID SUBTROPICAL 73 68 64 53 51 65 71 72 63 RAIN FALL: 40 56 35 41
Increase usage of renewable energy from 20% to 40% by 2021
TRANSPORTATION
Buildings certified to meet -ZERO EMISSION VEHICLE LEED standards has grown -PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION from 9,000 to 1,800,000. -BIKEWAY SYSTEM
17.8%
[$89.811+] [$29,937-89.811] [$29,937-] GINI INDEX: [0.311] *(yr/p:year per capita)
c
42
WILSHIRE BLVD DEVELOPMENT // UCLA Grand Challenges: Sustainable LA
A case for social and environmental equity through a denser, more connected Los Angeles
Year Project
Partners
Outcome
2012 - 2013 Los Angeles County is projected to increase by 1.5 million more residents. The development of the 15.5 mile long Wilshire Blvd is an investigation into the potential of high density housing as an intelligent and efficient model toward a sustainable urbanism. UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, MIT, Harvard GSD, Rice U., Bill Fain LA Now 5. Report and article
As part of UCLA’s Grand Challenges: Sustainable LA initiative, the Now Institute is focusing on the iconic Wilshire Blvd. corridor. Connecting three cities and 13 neighborhoods, Wilshire Blvd. is a microcosm of the extreme cultural, economic, and physical diversity of Los Angeles. The corridor is an ideal “urban laboratory” for studying the interrelationship of density, demographics, transit, and access to resources in the city, and for exploring various planning scenarios that respond to and accommodate anticipated population growth, while encouraging positive transformation in terms of walkability, safety, and environmental responsibility. By analyzing Wilshire Blvd in comparison to significant streets in other global metropolises – including Barcelona’s Av. Diagonal and New York’s Broadway – the study examines real-world responses to growth and transformation that could offer alternative, more sustainable strategies to Los Angeles’ infamous urban sprawl. By 2050, the County of Los Angeles is projected to increase its population by 1.5 million people. In response to this 10.5% increase of the County’s population, the Now Institute advocates for the protection of our natural ecosystem by preserving the existing single family residential fabric and limiting the expansion of a suburban residential development beyond the current urbanized footprint. With the potential shift in lifestyle changes and emerging smart housing in Los Angeles over the next 35 years, the Now Institute proposes that a high density, interconnected, urban community will reinforce strategies in urban ecology and establishing green communities.
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Thom Mayne //
Eui-Sung Yi //
FOUNDING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR
Thom Mayne has been a committed educator in architecture for over 40 years. His firm, Morphosis, is engaged in broader social, cultural, urban, political and ecological issues, which he brings to his teaching and research at the Now Institute. Mayne’s distinguished honors include the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the AIA Gold Medal (2013). He was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009. With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of 26 Progressive Architecture Awards, over 100 American Institute of Architecture Awards and numerous other design recognitions. Morphosis works have been published extensively. The firm has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and 33 monographs. Mayne’s significant contributions to architectural education include the highly regarded L.A. Now and Madrid Now initiatives. Under Mayne’s direction, UCLA students won the 2005 PA Award for L.A. Now: Volume 3, 4. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between Mayne’s teaching and practice, evidenced in his commitment to innovative, affordable housing for the Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans developed with UCLA students. Currently, he holds a Distinguished Professor position at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, where he has taught since 1992. Founding Executive Director, The Now Institute
Director, The Now Institute
Founding Design Director, Morphosis Architects
Principal, Morphosis Architects
Founding Board Member, Southern California
Lecturer, Southern California Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc
Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc Distinguished Professor, UCLA Department Architecture and Urban Design Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities
Former Director of Graduate Program, USC School of Architecture Executive Committee Member, Docomomo International
Eui-Sung Yi is Design Principal at Morphosis Architects and Director of The Now Institute at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design. Yi’s position of Director with The Now Institute is a 10-year culmination of research initiatives and speculations with Thom Mayne on emerging urban issues confronting major metropolises and disasterstricken cities; collaborating with Mayne, Yi has led graduate research studios on LA, Madrid, and most recently, Haiti and Cap-Hatien. Significantly, his team received an unprecedented P/A Award grand prize for LA Now: Vol. 3, the first academic project to be recognized with the award. The issue of urbanism continues to thread and anchor all scholarship throughout Yi’s parallel academic and professional pursuit. Professionally, Yi has worked extensively in Asia and the US. His 20-year history with Morphosis began in 1992; from 1994-1997, he co-managed the Korean office of Morphosis, where his team oversaw the design and construction of the Sun Tower, the first high-rise office to be built in the country. Shaping the ground-breaking performance goals of the San Francisco Federal Building (2007), Yi wrote the report that advocated for the GSA to adopt sustainable green policies for all future projects. Currently, Yi is Principal for a new, aggressively-sustainable global headquarters building for Kolon Industries in Seoul (to be completed 2019). Presently, Yi serves as an Executive Committee member of Docomomo International, and was in charge of the 2014 International Conference in Seoul, Korea. Additionally, Yi has been an AIA National Speaker on Urban Design (Los Angeles) and Sustainability (San Antonio) for two National Conventions.
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ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP//
PARTNERSHIPS // CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
Rapid advances in technology have created greater areas of overlap among adjacent industries. As design problems become more interwoven and complex, a new collaborative approach is needed to both define and solve the issues facing the next generation of designers and industry leaders. The Now Institute represents the urban inquiry research arm of UCLA’s SUPRASTUDIO program, housed in the deparem. PARTNER NETWORK
“Within every great city thrives a rich cluster of creative resources. These resources— often hidden behind the walls of cultural and educational institutions— must somehow get involved in the critical issues that confront cities today and in the future. Their expertise and creativity must engage with ideas that can benefit the greater society. Leading educational institutions must, in essence, become civic leaders to shape the future in a tangible way.” -- Richard Koshalek, L.A. Now Volume 1 “Industry often uses the language of architecture to speculate on the future of their fields.
Columbia Cornell Harvard University of Kentucky University of Pennsylvannia Pratt MIT Princeton Rensselaer Polytechnic Rice University
Syracuse Tulane University University of Michigan Art Center College of Design California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) RAND Corporation Mayor’s Institute on City Design Beijing University of Technology Inha University
SUPRASTUDIO serves as a new platform in architecture education to work with outside partners who come to our program as catalysts and partners in research and development. Together, our students, professors, and larger group of consultants and collaborators work to anticipate where a particular partner’s field is headed, and how design can plug in to address future areas of growth. The model relies on cross-disciplinary integrative thinking which allows for synergetic research and development of new ideas and proposals. Previous sponsors for the SUPRASTUDIO include Toyoto and Walt Disney Imagineerings. Academic partnership has included a network of 13 institutions, as well as research thinktanks like RAND and other public partners.
SUPRASTUDIO works with these partners in collaborative research, and opens up the future possibilities for architecture, from the outside in.” -- Hitoshi Abe, Chair, UCLA Architecture & Urban Design
The Now Institute, as part of SUPRASTUDIO IDEAS, A.UD’s advanced post-graduate architecture program, is UCLA’s dedicated urban planning and research center for collaboration with urban professionals and academia. SUPRASTUDIO is a research platform in architecture education that advances experimentation and cross-discipline collaboration among professors, students, and industry partners to expand the boundaries of architectural practice. The program is a one-year post-professional course of study that leads to a Masters of Architecture degree. Throughout the year, students work on a dedicated research topic to build a continuous and in depth line of study. Under the umbrella of UCLA, a premier global research institution, SUPRASTUDIO fills a current void in architecture education by providing a dedicated program and satellite campus for advanced applied research for the future of architecture and urban design.
The Now Institute offers urban research, planning and design services for the benefit of cross-sectoral partners, including governing authorities, cultural institutions, community groups and international non-governmental organizations. Embedded in UCLA’s SUPRASTUDIO, the university’s premier cross-disciplinary R&D program located at the Department of Architecture and Urban Design, The Now Institute seeks to approach the complex problems in our urban environment through engagement with diverse and intelligent partners, which in the past have included the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, UNESCO, the Make it Right Foundation and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Representatives of visionary organizations with interest in the consequences and potentials of integrative urban solutions are encouraged to contact info@ thenowinstitute.org for more information.