The Public Realm | Los Angeles Conservancy
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

As Los Angeles County's growth exploded after World War II and neighborhoods and cities sprang up where there were none before, architecture became critical in creating a sense of community and meeting the needs of everyday life.

Museums, schools, churches, libraries, civic centers, banks, hospitals, parks, and entertainment venues were important symbols of place and identity. Architects had the rare opportunity to help create the building blocks of life for a booming population.

Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Air and Space Gallery, California Science Center

Frank Gehry
Architect Frank Gehry's first major public work celebrates California's history in the aviation and aerospace industries with an ingenious use of space and light, an allusion to the challenges of aerospace design.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Ambassador College

Garrett Eckbo
DMJM
Peter Holdstock
A wide array of diverse architectural styles dating from 1905 to the 1970s, all the buildings make sense together thanks to a cohesive master plan and strong landscape design.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

ArtCenter College of Design

Craig Ellwood Associates
Often described as designer Craig Ellwood's swansong, the ArtCenter bridge, an economical solution to the school's hilly canyon site, was one of the final commissions for his firm.
Photo by Brendan Ravenhill, copyright 2014

Bethlehem Baptist Church

R. M. Schindler
A community center and worship space, Bethlehem Baptist Church embodied Rudolph Schindler's philosophy that a well-designed building could shape space, light, and accessibility in positive ways, despite a modest budget.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Blaisdell Medical Building

Smith & Williams
With its emphasis on integrated landscaping and large expanses of glass, Blaisdell cemented the architect's signature style of making even commercial properties feel warm and down to earth.
Photo courtesy www.you-are-here.com

Braille Institute of America

William L. Pereira & Associates
To address the unique challenge of designing a building for people who would experience a building without ever seeing it, architects Yohannan and Miranda began their process by wearing blindfolds for two weeks.
Photo by Jessica Hodgdon/L.A. Conservancy

Bunker Hill Steps

Lawrence Halprin
The ties between downtown L.A. and its Bunker Hill origins have been tenuous at best. The Bunker Hill Steps, built in 1989, aimed to remedy that.
Photo by Michael Locke

Burbank City Hall

Allen Lutzi
An icon of the Late Moderne style, Burbank City Hall epitomizes the best of civic architecture in terms of aesthetics as well as function and remains a point of pride for the City of Burbank.
Burbank Water and Power
Photo by Jessica Hodgdon/L.A. Conservancy

Burbank Water and Power

Daniel Elliott
An example of the Late Moderne style, the Burbank Water and Power headquarters recently became the first sustainable utility campus in California by combining the original industrial facilities with sustainable technologies.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Frank Gehry
A testament to Frank Gehry's passion for utilitarian material, The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is dominated by chain link used to create a set of three-dimensional objects extending vertically and obliquely from the center of the complex.
California Institute of the Arts
Photo by Scott Groller, copyright CalArts 2006

California Institute of the Arts

Ladd & Kelsey
A Late Modern-style complex designed to facilitate open communication between all forms of creative arts, nestled into a landscape of rolling hills and mature eucalyptus trees.
Photo courtesy Architectural Resources Group

California State University, Dominguez Hills

A. Quincy Jones
Using the rolling topography and mild outdoor climate as his palette, the architect masterfully integrated broad landscapes of green lawns and concrete walkways, punctuated by an abundance of trees.

Pages

Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. - An Initiative of the Getty

Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A. is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together seventeen cultural institutions from April through July 2013 for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways. Major support for this project has been provided by the Getty Foundation. pacificstandardtimepresents.org.