LA River: Pop-up Plaza

DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL CAR-FREE DAY IN LA.

My proposal creates an entirely new public pedestrian space: a pop-up plaza on the concrete river bed of the Los Angeles River at the Arroyo Seco confluence site. The plaza engages Los Angeles’ largest and most-conflicted icon—its river—to showcase the grandeur of the industrial infrastructure and to create a new public plaza that wields a capacity to surprise and awe. The plaza is a destination that creates its own itineraries: angelenos can bike to it from the LARiver bike path, or arrive on foot from the 81 bus at Ave 26 and N Figueroa. The plaza makes a great starting point for exploring the Glendale Narrows immediately to the north.

I will use build the plaza using wooden pallets and populate it with moveable chairs and shade umbrellas to create a space elevated mere inches above the quiet, persistent trickle of the summertime Los Angeles River. The plaza is a temporary space: its modular design makes it easy and affordable to assemble and dissasemble.

ZIP CODE

: 90065

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