Delirious LA

work and writings in urbanism by Alan A Loomis

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Author Archives: Alan Loomis

Azusa Civic Center Master Plan

October 1, 2001by Alan Loomis

The Azusa Civic Center Master Plan outlines a strategy for enhancing and expanding the institutional heart of this East San Gabriel Valley city

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Azusa, Civic & Campus Plans, District Plans, Moule & Polyzoides, Streets & Parks, Work

UCSB West District Plan

July 16, 2001by Alan Loomis

The West District Plan will guide the redevelopment of the western half of the University of California, Santa Barbara, creating a physical framework for transforming a 100-acre area currently dominated by parking fields into a traditional campus.

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Civic & Campus Plans, Moule & Polyzoides, Work

Azusa Station

September 19, 2000by Alan Loomis 1 Comment

Azusa Station establishes the future Gold Line light rail station as a northern anchor to the City’s downtown.

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Azusa, District Plans, Moule & Polyzoides, TOD Plans, Work

Parks and the LA River

September 19, 2000by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A review of “Eden by Design: The 1930s Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region” and the 2000 LA Mayoral Debate at Occidential College

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Books, History, LA River, Los Angeles, Parks, Writings

Urban Utopias

June 15, 2000by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

Fifty Years of New Town Ideology: A comparative analysis of three New Towns outside of Washington DC: Greenbelt, Reston, and Kentlands

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History, New Urbanism, Places, Writings

Urban Conversations

April 1, 2000by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A review of the “Urbanisms: New and Other” conference, held at the College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley, 24-26 February 2000

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New Urbanism, Writings

Locating Victor Gruen

April 1, 2000by Alan Loomis 1 Comment

On March 23, 1959 the Kalamazoo City Commission unanimously adopted an ordinance closing two blocks of Burdick Street from automobile traffic. In August of that year, Burdick Street was reopened […]

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History, Shopping, Writings

Urban Paranoia

January 1, 2000by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A political comparison between grid and non-grid urban forms, as analyzed via Roswell NM and The X-Files episode “Arcadia” | Published in “loudpaper” volume 3, issue 3, 2000

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Places, Writings

The Irvine House

November 25, 1999by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

The Master Suite As the owners of a new $200,000 plus Irvine Home, the happy couple are rewarded with generous personal space.  Occupying nearly a quarter of the house, the […]

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Architecture, Housing, Los Angeles, Places, Writings

Urban Debates

November 22, 1999by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A review of the “Exploring (New) Urbanism” conference, held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, 4-6 March 1999

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New Urbanism, Writings

Urban Collage

June 15, 1999by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A collaged travelogue through the contemporary metropolis

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Writings

Urban Nomenclature

June 15, 1999by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

A collection of terminology currently in use to describe the contemporary metropolitan condition

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Writings

Silverbeach Neighborhood

June 30, 1995by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

This flat, public site is located on the Lake Michigan shore. The owner asked us to create a phased masterplan for 29 houses.

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District Plans, Work

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1/3 Charles Moore’s contribution to the UC Irvine campus, the domestically scaled Extension Education Center, is inspired by the three chapels of San Gregorio in Rome. In fact, as Moore himself admits in the essay “The Qualities of Quality,” the triparte elevation design featuring a scalloped baroque centerpiece flanked by paired arched facades, is a near literal copy of the 17th Century Roman precedent. (As seen in the etching by Giuseppe Vasi). Approached via a set of scalloped steps and sitework, more elaborate than in Rome, the building likely felt more monumental when first built than today now that it is surrounded by the multi-story boxes of the Business School, Law Library and nearby Social Sciences Parking Structure. 2/3 Behind the ochre-colored baroque facades of Moore’s UC Irvine Education Center, are simple gable-roofed buildings containing offices and classrooms. Here the unity of the main facade(s) dissolves into a collection of loosely arranged structures around a loosely defined central courtyard flanked by shed-roof post-and-beam arcades. From this perspective, where the baroque facades read as clear false fronts, the architectural inspiration seems more cowboy western than Roman. As is often the case with Moore’s more experimental work, the quality of the architectural finishes and details is also a little cowboy western. 3/3 The baroque centerpiece of Moore’s UC Irvine Education Center is flanked by a pair of rambling buildings that create a piazza of sorts, delineating a promenade and pathway leading to/from the larger campus. Indeed, one of the structures bridges over the pathway with a low-slung postmodern archway, marking a gateway to this strange quasi-Roman fragment within the UCI campus. Like many of the forgotten corners of Rome, the legibility of this odd little California piazza is now obscured by overgrown landscaping and sycamore trees. One suspects Moore would be pleased. The typology and culture of Parisian cafes is most wonderful.

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