BY ZACH MORTICE
AECOM’s plan turns the riverbed into an outdoor activities park. Image courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and AECOM.
The big conundrum of the Los Angeles River?that it is so imposing yet so divorced from the city?shows in the visions for its future proposed in early June by seven architecture, engineering, and landscape architecture firms. The occasion was the Los Angeles River Downtown Design Dialogue, a pro bono charrette that took place on the 10th anniversary of the city?s original master plan for the river. The design firms showed ways that visitors could step down to its shallow waters, although the concrete-lined waterway runs so low at times it can seem more like a quasi-natural splash pad. But the most fascinating plans marginalized the typically modest amounts of water in the river almost entirely. There are no immediate plans to execute any of the projects. Rather, Gary Lee Moore, the city engineer of Los Angeles, described the charrette as an opportunity to ?drill down another level? for ?a much finer-grained look? at the river. Moore and his staff are often asked by developers working in the area about renovations they?d like to see. Now these designs offer ready-made guidance.
The Los Angeles River today. Image courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and Mia Lehrer + Associates.
The charrette covered a five-mile area of the river east of downtown Los Angeles, divided into seven sections, one for e...