A Central Park Emerges in Downtown Los Angeles

Authorities in Los Angeles are working on a grand plan to unify the city's core with a new Downtown Civic Park Project.

1 minute read

September 26, 2010, 9:00 AM PDT

By George Haugh


"A $56-million endeavor, Rios Clementi Hale Studios were given the task to bring life into the concept, which construction crews have begun working on the sloping site between the Music Center and City Hall."

"As a design gesture, the new paths turn ideas about Los Angeles and its role as a global city into an organizing principle, at least abstractly, for the park and how visitors will move through it," explains Rios.

"An exciting possibility of the park is in its potential partnership with the Music Center, which would take over management of the park, bringing possibly world-renown musicians to an open downtown forum."

"Naturally it wouldn't be LA without the designers having to juggle different political and economic interests along with the dizzying array of parking garages and concrete ramps."

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 in Design Under Sky

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