Los Angeles occupies a distinctive position in the American cultural imagination. Unsurprisingly, the city’s dramatic hills, canyons and beaches are a  prime location for the projection (and production) of America’s fantasies. The city’s richly varied landscape coupled with its film, art and music industry are just a few reasons why so many eyes around the [...]

Case Study House No. 22, Los Angeles, Calif., Iconic Girls, 1960; Pierre Koenig, Architect. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute
In Built Upon Love: Architectural Longing After Ethics and Aesthetics (MIT Press), architectural historian Alberto Perez-Gomez puts forward the enticing idea that “true [...]

A Tête à Tête with Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck
Indisputably the most famed designer of our time, French born Philippe Starck recently declared, “Design is dead.” Perhaps his era of designing toothbrushes, juicers and thousand-dollar Louis chairs is no longer but Starck design is definitely not extinct. Rather, it is exploding to a higher consciousness. [...]

Kenneth David Lee incorporated sustainable conveniences throughout his own residence, including roof mounted solar panels that provide 50-75% of the home’s usable energy.Los Angelenos live in somewhat of an urban wild, where areas resplendent in nature are coupled with highly developed environments, often under duress. The unstable foundations provided by many hill, canyon and mountain [...]