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work and writings in urbanism by Alan A Loomis

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Tag Archives: PlaceWorks

Downtown Artesia

December 2, 2023by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

Just under 100 acres in total area, the Artesia Downtown Specific Plan anticipates the new Southeast Gateway Metro Rail line connecting Artesia with Los Angeles Union Station, and plans for between 1000 and 2000 new residential units in various urban development typologies.

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Codes & Ordinances, District Plans, PlaceWorks, TOD Plans, Work

Long Beach Shoreline Vision Plan

September 19, 2023by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

The Shoreline district serves as the threshold between Downtown Long Beach and the city’s waterfront. The City is undergoing a visioning process to prepare a new plan for the district. The vision plan will embrace the City’s recent growth and look to future opportunities in this area for further housing, hospitality and recreational development.

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District Plans, PlaceWorks, Waterfronts, Work

DTSBSP

December 10, 2022by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

The Downtown San Bernardino Specific Plan imagines and describes the steps to revitalize one of Southern California’s largest downtowns.

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Codes & Ordinances, District Plans, PlaceWorks, TOD Plans, Work

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

Los Alamitos Town Center

April 12, 2022by Alan Loomis Leave a comment

The Los Alamitos Town Center Strategic Plan provides a framework to revitalize, reimagine, and strengthen the heart of Los Alamitos. The Strategic Plan aims to establish a pedestrian-oriented Town Center at the intersection of Katella and Los Alamitos Boulevards, in the physical center of the City.

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District Plans, PlaceWorks, 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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