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Richard Koshalak
President, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena

		Richard Koshalak. Photo © © Steven A. Heller/Vahe Alaverdian, Art Center College of Design

AR: What kind of place is L.A. today?

RK: The city has changed and continues to evolve from a suburban culture to an urban culture. It’s becoming a much more cosmopolitan place, which has to do with the influx of international populations from Latin America and elsewhere. These new immigrants have a strong belief in democracy and the kind of social mobility that is possible in a democratic situation. Out of this diversity, we’re evolving new kinds of public space, which is extremely important now. That’s why we’re seeing the Great Park in Orange County that Ken Smith will design and the large commitment to open space along the Los Angeles River, on the site known as the Cornfield. There will be a new commitment to public transit.

AR: Does such a privatized city need so much public space?

RK: It can be part of responding to catastrophic earthquakes, as a place of refuge. It has to do with the water-shortage question and the city’s impact on the natural environment, which is massive. That’s an important subject for architects, especially with the explosion of population that we expect to continue here.

AR: Aren’t lots of people still moving to the edge and beyond?

RK: That trend to suburban communities is reversing. The distances are too great, the commutes too difficult.

AR: How is the city responding to such a wave of change?

RK: A lot of leadership is coming from cultural and educational organizations. We have to be civic leaders and catalysts for change. The forces of change are politics and political leaders. It’s also our responsibility to share expertise if we’re going to see higher levels of architecture. Caltech [California Institute of Technology] has commissioned Thom Mayne to do the astrophysics building and Rem Koolhaas to do one for computer science. At the Art Center, we’re using Frank Gehry, Kevin Daly, and Craig Hodgetts. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has commissioned Michael Maltzan for a new administration building. All this is just in Pasadena.

AR: Is this a new way to convene leadership?

		Los Angeles could become the perfect example of how a city should evolve and how it should be sensitive to possibilities. Ethnic communities are becoming more cohesive and developing a stronger cultural impulse while building bridges to other communities. — Richard Koshalak

RK: Educational institutions can create the future, but that future has to be discussed with the public. Architecture could take on a whole range of responsibilities.

The L.A. Now project, in which we crossed disciplinary lines and school lines, involved the University of Southern California, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Arts Center. Just as we did a “wall-less classroom” on that project, we’ll do one to deal with the impact of a major earthquake on Los Angeles. We’ll launch it by creating a new kind of Times Square, a huge signage system in a parking lot downtown. It will be devoted to educational purposes rather than entertainment purposes. It’s a way to get ahead of the curve rather than to wait for “the big one” to happen.

AR: Is Los Angeles a mature place now rather than a trendsetter?

RK: We recently came back from a meeting at USC. The people in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus used to be black. Now they are wholly Latino. Serious demographic change happens almost overnight. Designers will have to cope with greater uncertainty.

AR: The mayor has a vision for more transit while the governor seeks to expand the highway system. Isn’t this a collision of visions for L.A.’s future?

RK: Integrating transit will surely be an issue. We can’t continue to spread as a city, so we’ll be looking at new forms of housing downtown. We’ll evolve to multiple urban centers with greater connectivity between them.

AR: Would you say there is one place that’s emblematic of what L.A. is becoming?

RK: Disney Hall has had a huge impact on downtown L.A. It has really changed the focus of the city from decentralized to centralized.

AR: What else should Los Angeles be doing to define its future?

RK: It could become the perfect example of how a city should evolve and how it should be sensitive to possibilities. Over 100 languages are spoken in the school system. Ethnic communities are becoming more cohesive and developing a stronger cultural impulse while building bridges to other communities.

AR: So people aren’t leaving these ethnic enclaves as they gain in affluence?

RK: There's a Japanese–American cultural center and new housing being built in Little Tokyo with a new emphasis on mass transit. The whole city is focusing on living with greater closeness and connectivity.

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May 2006