Santa Monica Civic Center Parks - Sustainable Park Workshop

Tomorrow at 1pm, the design team for the Santa Monica Civic Parks project will be hosting an educational workshop on sustainable park landscapes.  The talk will focus on, among other things, how native plants and ecologies in Southern California work, and how they can inform and participate in the Santa Monica Civic Park project.  More on the workshop from the project's website below:

As part of the series of workshops to engage the Santa Monica community in the design process for two new Civic Center parks, an educational workshop on sustainable park landscapes will be held on January 29. Members of the park design team under the leadership of James Corner Field Operations will make in-depth presentations on sustainable landscapes and discuss opportunities for the new parks. (pdf announcement)

Speakers: 
Bob Perry, professor, author and preeminent expert on ecology, water conservation and California native plants

John Greenlee, internationally-recognized horticulturalist, grass and meadow expert, author and lecturer

Lisa Switkin and Sarah Weidner Astheimer, lead park designers with James Corner Field Operations

When:   Saturday, January 29 at 1 pm
Where: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, East Wing (1855 Main Street, Santa Monica 90401)
Questions? Email ccs@smgov.net.

LA's Downtown Civic Park

(Image from LA Times, courtesy of Rios Clementi Hale. All Rights Reserved.)

The Downtown Civic Park project in LA has been both a great hope for the city, and also a paramount example of the problems with retrofitting LA.  However, Rios Clementi Hale continues to strive forward with the project, and their comprehensive design for the site is promising to become a reality very soon.  Not only is groundbreaking on the project starting on Thursday, but Christopher Hawthorne at the LA Times provided a great look at some of the prototypes for the project, courtesy of the project's designers.

As the Civic Park downtown edges closer to a Thursday groundbreaking ceremony, its designers, Rios Clementi Hale Studios, are putting the finishing touches on a number of design elements. Most striking is a series of street furniture including chairs, benches and tables in a shade of hot magenta. Two of the chairs are shown above.

According to Mark Rios, who is leading the design team on the project, the first pieces of architecture planned for the park are a pair of support buildings. Executed in a simple, modern style, the buildings slide small interiors and shaded outdoor areas beneath sloping roofs. One, holding a cafe, will be located at the western end of the park, near Grand Avenue; the other will sit near Spring Street.

Hawthorne also offers a great discussion of what grand future the park might present for the slowly, but steadily, reviving core of Los Angeles. Hopefully some of the aspirations can become reality, but regardless, the park should offer a great showcase of design in LA, and the work of Rios Clementi Hale.  I will be excited to see the final product, and how it partners with other efforts to transform LA. 

(Image from LA Times, courtesy of Rios Clementi Hale. All Rights Reserved.)