Delirious LA

work and writings in urbanism by Alan A Loomis

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Category Archives: Streets & Parks

Glendora Plazas

October 25, 2022by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

PlaceWorks developed landscape plans and selecting permanent street furniture for two temporary pedestrian plazas created by the pandemic-era closure of Meda Avenue in downtown Glendora as well as for the nearby Bus Plaza—a landscaped, midblock passage.

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PlaceWorks, Streets & Parks, Work

Promenade 3.0

October 10, 2018by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

Third Street Promenade 3.0 is an urban design vision for the reinvention of this historic, popular, and influential public space, in the heart of Downtown Santa Monica.

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City of Santa Monica, Public Works, Streets & Parks, Work

Citywide Parks Master Plan

August 29, 2018by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

The goal of the Parks Master Plan is to establish a framework for long-range guidance and planning of parks, open space, beach, and community recreation for the next 20 years.

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City of Santa Monica, Citywide Plans, Streets & Parks, Work

Harvard-Louise Green Streets

May 24, 2016by Alan Loomis 3 Comments

Glendale’s first Green Streets Project is the result of a competitive Proposition 84 Urban Greening Project Grant application. Funding from this grant offers the City its first opportunity to combine multi-modal infrastructure improvements with enhancements to water quality and stormwater management.

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City of Glendale, Glendale Central Park, Maryland Off Broadway, Streets & Parks, Work

MONA and MONA Paseo

January 10, 2016by Alan Loomis 5 Comments

The Museum of Neon Art (MONA), adjacent mid-block pedestrian paseo and the beautification of the parallel alley and parking lot represents the first phase of the Central Park Master Plan.

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Buildings & Structures, City of Glendale, Glendale Central Park, Maryland Off Broadway, Plans for Arts, Streets & Parks, Work

Space 134

August 14, 2013by Alan Loomis 3 Comments

Space 134 is a concept study for a 25-acre “freeway cap park” over and adjacent to the 134 Freeway between Central Avenue and Glendale Avenue. Space 134 will connect the community to the City’s civic, cultural, and business core through public open space and pedestrian and bike friendly trails.

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City of Glendale, District Plans, Space 134, Streets & Parks, Work

Central Park Master Plan

June 23, 2009by Alan Loomis 8 Comments

This Strategic Master Plan guides the phased reconstruction of Glendale’s Downtown Central Park, including built work by Shimoda Design Group, AECOM, and Gruen Associates.

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City of Glendale, Civic & Campus Plans, District Plans, Glendale Central Park, Maryland Off Broadway, Streets & Parks, Work

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

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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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