Principal
CK Architecture
SPEAKER INFORMATION
Email: kapeller@usc.edu
Website: www.ck-architecture.com
SESSION DESCRIPTION
LA Grows UP: Dealing with Density
Where most major cities in the US are dense and vertical, LA has been distinctively horizontal - a sprawling county of around 10 million people spread over 4000 square miles in mostly single family houses, with easy access, by car, to the network of freeways and wide surface streets. This urban model has enabled a lifestyle that felt liberating and self-determining, and that prioritized private space over public. It also produced some highly original and influential residential architecture.
But as LA’s population has grown and its affordable, available land has diminished, the region is going increasingly vertical. In the last few years there has been an explosion of construction of low and high-rise multi-family buildings, from non-profit affordable housing, to high-end condo towers in downtown, Century City and Hollywood. Some of these buildings are designed by top Los Angeles architects and are very exciting architecturally.
But the vertical development is also disturbing to many Angelenos, who associate it with traffic congestion, density and loss of the free-spirited LA lifestyle, especially since this ‘manhattanization’ of LA has not yet caused people to get out of their cars and use public transportation.
At Dwell on Design, we’ll discuss the architectural and social opportunities, and the challenges, facing Los Angeles as it Grows UP.
SPEAKER BIO
Christoph Kapeller, AIA is the principal of CK-Architecture, a research oriented design firm in Los Angeles whose goal is to combine advanced, emerging technologies and interdisciplinary approaches to design a better, more sustainable, and more livable environment. Christoph was a founding partner of the Norwegian firm, Snøhetta, after being awarded the First Prize in the international competition for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the new library of Alexandria, Egypt in 1989. During the course of the project, Christoph spent 8 years in Egypt overseeing the design and construction of this world renowned $200 million project.
Since his relocation to Los Angeles, his firm has won numerous prizes and awards in international design competitions. Among others, the Aga Khan Award for architecture in 2004, finalist at the Aomori Northern Housing Complex Competition in 2002, Honorable Mention in the Malama Learning Center competition, Hawaii in 2004 and the Urban Habitats competition in Charlottesville in 2005.
CK Architecture has been reviewed in numerous articles, most recently for a Private Library Addition in Hancock Park, the downtown Pharmaka Gallery and the Robert H. Timme Architectural Research Center at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.
Christoph received his Dipl. Ing. of Architecture in Graz, Austria and his Master of Architecture at the University of Southern California in 1986. In addition to his professional practice, Christoph Kapeller has lectured, written and published a number of critical articles, and is currently a member of the design faculty at the University of Southern California School of Architecture. ia School of Architecture.
