L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano I n a u g u r a t e d i n t h e historic West Adams n e i g h b o r h o o d , t h e new headquarters of t h e A m e r i c a n Institute of Architects of L o s A n g e l e s ( A I A L A ) i s located inside a bank build- ing from 1927 that was aban- doned for about forty years. The building wasn't demol- ished but simply renovated to better meet current needs: where there once was a vault, now there is a conference room, and what could be sal- vaged of the floor has been transformed into a tree-like decoration paying homage to Frank Lloyd Wright and his Tree of Life motifs. "This is our philosophy: to maintain a building and improve it, not to demolish it to create a new one." It is Carlo Cac- cavale, Executive Director of AIALA (the US equivalent of the architects' registry), to tell me this. AIALA is the third-largest office in the United States, with about 4,700 members. Among its various missions, we find promoting an archi- tectural concept that is not only aesthetically pleasing b u t a l s o f u n c t i o n a l a n d focused on preserving exist- ing structures. "This is, obvi- ously, for various reasons, first of all, environmental sustainability," Caccavalle — a n a t i v e o f R o m e a n d a n a d o p t i v e C a l i f o r n i a n — explains. "We want to elimi- nate the vanity of constantly b u i l d i n g s o m e t h i n g n e w , which Los Angeles has done for a very long time." When did the philoso- phy of preserving rather than demolishing start gaining traction? After the 1970s, with the revitalization of Downtown. The first project in the Arts District was the conversion of the Biscuit Building, which used to be a biscuit factory. Instead of being demolished, i t w a s r e h a b i l i t a t e d a n d transformed into residential lofts. W h i c h a r e a s c o u l d have been preserved in the past instead of being replaced by new develop- ments? O n e e x a m p l e i s t h e Bunker Hill area, where Dis- n e y H a l l a n d t h e B r o a d Museum now stand. There were once all Victorian villas there, intact until the early 1 9 0 0 s . L a t e r , t h e y w e r e completely destroyed, some salvaged and relocated, but most were demolished to b u i l d a f i n a n c i a l c e n t e r . W h i l e w e i n E u r o p e a r e accustomed to respecting t r a d i t i o n , L o s A n g e l e s i s very new, so this care did not exist. However, organi- zations like LA Conservancy have been instrumental in this regard. How can the preserva- tion of existing buildings be reconciled with the city's growing popula- tion? D a t a f o r L o s A n g e l e s s h o w t h a t t h e n u m b e r o f people moving in each year i s f a r g r e a t e r t h a n t h o s e l e a v i n g . F o r t h i s r e a s o n , there are also construction p r o j e c t s w h e r e n o t h i n g existed before, especially in Downtown, where there are many open spaces used for years as parking lots. I am also very much in favor of a construction process to den- sify the city, which remains a destination for many peo- ple. What other projects are currently underway? There is a major urban rehabilitation project for the LA River, a project by Frank Gehry to revitalize it with the creation of parks, bike paths, as well as restaurants, and residential projects. W h a t o t h e r n e e d s does the city have at the moment? Los Angeles is a very new c i t y i n t h e A m e r i c a n cityscape and also the most complicated. It operates on a somewhat outdated code s y s t e m t h a t n e e d s t o b e streamlined. The system is still fundamentally based on the single-family concept, but Los Angeles now needs to be regulated differently to allow for more multi-family construction in areas where it is currently not possible. What other issues are you addressing? We work extensively on transportation issues, zon- i n g , a n d e v e r y t h i n g t h a t d e t e r m i n e s h o w t h e c i t y g r o w s a n d h o w w e b u i l d . O u r g o a l i s t o e l i m i n a t e many barriers, known as red tapes. We work closely with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is very interested in solving homelessness and the real estate crisis. We try t o g u i d e h e r a n d p r o v i d e advice. Los Angeles is a heavi- ly car-based city, how c a n t h e u s e o f p u b l i c transportation be facili- tated? By creating more residen- tial centers at public transit nodes, such as metro sta- tions, so that people rely much less on cars and can u s e t h e m e t r o , s i m i l a r t o how it works in Europe or New York. These are some of the initiatives we are try- ing to develop. The Olympics will be coming to Los Angeles in 2028. What are your p r i o r i t i e s i n t h i s c o n - text? Ten years ago, we started working with the agencies organizing the Olympics to ensure that infrastructure projects are more equitably distributed within the Los A n g e l e s a r c h i t e c t u r a l ecosystem, so that contracts are not only awarded to one company but are more fairly distributed among medium a n d s m a l l - s i z e d f i r m s , i n c l u d i n g t h o s e l e d b y w o m e n a n d p e o p l e f r o m m i n o r i t y e t h n i c g r o u p s . Since 2018, the number of o u r f e m a l e m e m b e r s h a s i n c r e a s e d b y 1 0 % . I n t h e same period, we have seen a 3 4 % i n c r e a s e i n A f r i c a n American members. This is one of the battles we are still fighting. H o w i s t h e c i t y p r e p a r i n g f r o m a n urban planning perspec- tive? For the 2028 Olympics, the idea is not to build new structures but to use what already exists. There will be a s t r o n g f o c u s o n t r a n s - portation, with architectural e f f o r t s c o n c e n t r a t e d o n L A X , a n d n e w t r a n s p o r t nodes connecting LAX to other parts of the city. There is hope for extending the metro line to Santa Monica and improving existing com- munication networks. There have also been many discus- sions about a gondola sys- tem to connect Downtown to Dodger Stadium. For sports, all existing infrastructures will be used: the Coliseum, t h e n e w S o F i S t a d i u m i n Inglewood, Dodger Stadium, a n d f o r w a t e r s p o r t s , t h e facilities in Long Beach. B e s i d e s A I A L A , y o u also founded Architec- t u r e f o r C o m m u n i t i e s L o s A n g e l e s ( A C L A ) . What is its goal? With ACLA, we wanted to p r o v i d e m o r e s u p p o r t t o architecture students in Los A n g e l e s , w h e r e t h e r e a r e a b o u t 1 2 a r c h i t e c t u r e s c h o o l s . F o r A C L A , w e decided to create a center like this, a space for educa- tion, developing opportuni- t i e s f o r c o m m u n i t i e s t o gather and engage. Addi- tionally, through ACLA, we provide scholarships: this year, we donated $28,000 to architecture students and, with the Diversity by Design program, we gave $10,000 to middle school students. SILVIA NITTOLI Between past and present: Carlo Caccavalle on how architecture is changing the face of LA The building of the AIALA headquarters used to be a bank (Photo: Chris Zipf); bottom left, Carlo Caccavalle, Executive Director of AIALA (Photo: Nico Marques) LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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