Design and Architecture

Latest Episodes:

Backyard homes, John Parkinson Jul 03, 2018

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Is the solution to LA's housing crisis in our backyards? DnA visits a Highland Park couple that worked with the city on test-building an ADU, or accessory dwelling unit. Did it pencil out, and can ADUs be a new frontier for design innovation? And do you know the name of the man who built much of downtown Los Angeles? DnA speaks to the director of the first-ever documentary about architect John Parkinson.

New homeless housing complex a sign of things to come Jun 27, 2018

Show notes

A new supportive housing complex opened last week for formerly homeless families, low-income people and seniors. As the city and county of Los Angeles invest in building new affordable housing, Mosaic Gardens at Westlake is a sign of things to come.

Tents offer a model for LA housing Jun 26, 2018

Show notes

How did the invention of the modern-dome tent change the story of homelessness in LA? And are they a form of "home" for their occupants? This is the first episode in a series DnA is calling “This is Home in LA: From the Tent to the Gigamansion (and everything In between).” It’s a look at house and housing archetypes in LA today, and we begin with the smallest, cheapest form of dwelling: the tent.

Morphosis designs OCMA, is childhood overdesigned? Jun 19, 2018

Show notes

Orange County Museum of Art gets new a museum designed by Morphosis Architects, and it tips its hat at Richard Serra’s “Connector.” Will it bring urban life to suburban Costa Mesa? And design critic Alexandra Lange explores “good” toys and playgrounds and wonders if children would be just as free and creative if left to play with a cardboard box.

Orange County Museum of Art gets a Morphosis-designed home Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

The Orange County Museum of Art closes this weekend. But not forever. After 41 years in Newport Beach, it’s moving to its new permanent home in Costa Mesa. And one of LA’s best-known architects, Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis, has designed it.

Big dreams for North Korea, Santa Monica takes on e-scooters Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

A historic summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un raises hopes among Korean-Americans. Could brothers and sisters reconnect? Could technology and infrastructure in the hermit kingdom make a great leap forward? And Santa Monica considers a pilot program for dockless e-scooters, as competition heats up between rival companies. Will it limit a popular, clean, first mile last mile solution -- or contain a public nuisance?

Celebrating LA’s “crazy, weird” design community Jun 06, 2018

Show notes

Starting Thursday, LA’s design community will congregate at the four-day Los Angeles Design Festival (LADF), an annual celebration that celebrates our city’s rich design culture. It includes four days of conversations, studio tours, design shows, and parties all centered at ROW DTLA in downtown LA’s industrial district.

Kate Spade, Santa Monica’s little secret, Ruth E. Carter Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

We remember fashion icon and handbag designer Kate Spade. The arrival of autonomous vehicles and online shopping has Santa Monica considering the way forward in a future disrupted by tech. Ruth E. Carter designed the costumes for "Black Panther" and tells DnA about creating an identity on screen for a community long left out of the picture.

Plastic straw ban takes effect in Malibu May 30, 2018

Show notes

If you’re at a restaurant or cafe in Malibu and ask for a straw, starting June 1 you won’t be given a single-use plastic straw. The same goes for stir sticks or other plastic utensils. The environmentally-oriented beach town is just one of a growing number of cities outlawing single-use plastic implements.

Interview Magazine folds, Soviet Hippies May 29, 2018

Show notes

We bid farewell to Andy Warhol’s Interview, and talk to artist and celebrity photographer Matthew Rolston about working for the magazine, and the creation of the “glamour- industrial complex.” And the hippie movement may have begun in California, but it spread across the globe - even beyond the Iron Curtain. We visit an exhibition of Soviet hippie culture at The Wende Museum.

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