Catching up with Christopher Hawthorne, LA’s Chief Design Officer
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Los Angeles, as a sprawling, car-dependent city predominantly made up of suburbs, has long been in need of planning and policies focused on more thoughtful and pedestrian-friendly urban design principles. In 2018, Mayor Garcetti made a splash when he appointed then-LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne as the first-ever Chief Design Officer of a major American City. Hawthorne was charged with fostering a broad public discourse around architecture and urban design in L.A. and overseeing the City’s major civic design efforts for infrastructure and public spaces.
2021 finds Hawthorne using his role to inform larger policy discussions by exploring the ways design can contribute to the evolution of a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable City, from investments in street furniture and infrastructure, to reimagining the future gas stations, and integrating more housing into the fabric of our neighborhoods. One such project, the Low-Rise Design Challenge, is asking architects to submit innovative designs for smaller-scale multifamily housing developments, including duplexes, fourplexes, and transformations of landmark homes - such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollywood house - into multifamily projects, with a focus on reducing a typical home's energy usage and carbon footprint.
Hawthorne originally sat down with WUF back in July of 2018 for a discussion of his initial plans in his new role. Now, nearly three years into his tenure – and in the midst of a pandemic that has potentially forever altered not just Los Angeles, but cities all over the world – how have Hawthorne’s expectations and vision for the City changed? This month Hawthorne joins WUF for an intimate meeting and Q&A session to discuss how recent events have influenced how he sees his role in the City, and to update us on the current initiatives he's spearheading.
Respondent: Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer, City of Los Angeles
Interviewer: Thomas Aujero Small, CEO, Culver City Forward (CCF)