A new exhibit seeks to document the Los Angeles that could have been, had the visionary plans of the past been executed, reports Eric Jaffe.
"Never Built: Los Angeles" is the name of an exhibit that is currently seeking finding on Kickstarter in the hopes of being staged this spring at Los Angeles's A+D Architecture and Design Museum. Curated by Sam Lubell (California editor at The Architect's Newspaper) and Greg Goldin (architecture critic for Los Angeles magazine), the exhibit "will include plans, renderings, and models of major public projects that might have changed the feel of Los Angeles had they ever seen the light of day." That, of course, will only happen if the fundraising plan is successful.
According to the project's Kickstarter page, the curators "have finished the research and we have the exhibition design ready. But we need YOUR help to make the show a reality! We are asking specifically for your (tax deductible!) donations to pay for the floor graphic, the cost of building museum-quality models (as well as an 11-foot-tall tower made of over 67,000 Legos), the expense of rights to borrow and mount original drawings, and the price of installing all this, and so much more, into the museum space."
Among the visionary designs and designers selected for the exhibit are a comprehensive open space plan for city developed in 1930 by Olmsted & Bartholomew, a "futuristic take" on Los Angeles International Airport by Pereira and Luckman, and Lloyd Wright's plan for an art deco Civic Center complex "reminiscent of an acropolis."
Rather than just a catalog of what might have been, "[Lubell] hopes to shift the mindset of city politicians and developers and community leaders who's knee-jerk response to public innovation is often rejection. To give Los Angeles a second chance, the exhibition includes a section of recent never-built projects that might be worth another look."
"For a place that has these amazing architects and ideas, the public spirit is — no we can't really pull this stuff off," he says. "We want to change the culture so that visionary, creative, innovative ideas in the large-scale pubic realm will once again be embraced in the city."
Read the full story: The Hunt for Unbuilt Los Angeles
The Great 'What If': Cities Engage the Unbuilt
A spirit of reflection seems to be in the air across America this summer. Exhibitions in Chicago, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles catalog major projects that were never built and allow visitors to imagine what might have been.
L.A. Surprising History of Transit Innovation
In recent years, Los Angeles has embraced mass transit as a solution to the city's legendary traffic woes. This embrace has historical precedent, however, says Sam Lubell, who examines six of L.A.'s unbuilt proposals for transit systems.
The LA housing policies making developers turn away from the city
Despite LA’s housing shortage, developers say the city’s "mansion-tax" and pandemic-era policies make it an unappealing place to build housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Alabama scores up to $2.5 billion federal loan for largest infrastructure project in state’s history
The Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project aims to ease congestion at Alabama’s worst bottleneck.
Novel study finds extreme state-by-state disparity in housing construction timelines
The first comprehensive working paper on U.S. construction timelines also found that the permitting process for multi-family projects has slowed nationwide.
California may destroy its beaches trying to save homes from El Niño
Boulders and seawalls can protect homes from waves, but ultimately destroy sandy beaches.
California high-speed rail accomplishes only one legislative goal in 2026
The majority of the agency's failed pitches were never developed into written proposals.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello