LA's Missesd Opportunity For Innovative School Design

The Los Angeles Times architecture critic chastises the massive Los Angeles school district for not using its historic building boom to improve the architecture and planning of new schools.

1 minute read

October 4, 2005, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"Within the facilities division of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), "McConnell and Mehula have created a back-slapping, can-do spirit that views architecture from a cultural remove, if not with active suspicion. The newly hired director of design management, Jeffrey Brickner, is a former construction-industry executive whose office walls are lined not with images of new schools or architectural icons but with pictures of the We-Ko-Pa golf course in Fountain Hills, Ariz., and a framed copy of Sports Illustrated announcing Joe Paterno as the 1986 Sportsman of the Year.

Even some architects who continue to work for the district say they have sensed a growing backlash from facilities officials in the last couple of years against high-profile firms and progressive design.

...os Angeles architects have long been famous for an ability to produce memorable architecture on the cheap. But only a tiny group of firms has so far figured out a way to meet LAUSD's slender budgets while avoiding the strip-mall look."

FULL STORY: Lessons unlearned

Thursday, October 6, 2005 in The Los Angeles Times

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