Inhabitat Los Angeles | Inhabitat Local - Los Angeles

Los Angeles: A City Without Cars

Traffic is supposed to be at a standstill today in LA due to the inevitable Carmegedon, so we only thought it appropriate to take into consideration Ross Ching’s video, Running on Empty. The video answers the question, “What if, tomorrow, (in the city

Los Angeles Braces for Carmegedon

Leave it to a city dedicated to its reliance on four-wheeled (primarily) gasoline powered transportation to create a noun for the historic closing of its already infamously slow 405 freeway – CARMEGEDON. Los Angelinos have been prepping for this weekend’s

John Lautner Turns 100

John Lautner’s architecture has become an iconic backdrop to the mid-century architecture movement in the City of Los Angeles. His homes have played starring roles in movies such as Charlie’s Angeles, Diamonds Are Forever, The Big Lebowski, and was more

Hollywood Rolls Out the Green Carpet for the W Hollywood Hotel and Residences

Hollywood became sustainably glamorous following the opening of the LEED Silver W Hollywood Hotel and Residences. The new hotel offers guests and LA dwellers alike the opportunity to live a more sustainable lifestyle in the middle of Hollywood. In 2010,

LABC Takes Home Global Green’s Environmental Leadership Award

The Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) is doing a lot these days to raise awareness and create policy around solar energy, taking advantage of all the sunny days available in Southern California. Their efforts recently earned them Global Green USA’s prestigious

California’s First LEED Certified Children’s Hospital

Rady Children’s Hospital’s new Acute Care Pavilion is California’s first children’s hospital in California to achieve LEED certification by combining sustainability and evidence-based medicine into its design. The hospital’s architects, Stantec,

Little Tokyo Design Week Kicks-Off

Little Tokyo Design Week (LTDW) kicks off this Thursday by taking a four-day look at the “Future City.” Filled to the brim with a number of workshops, home tours, and curated exhibitions, the festival is designed to celebrate the power and energy of cutting

Cucamonga Valley Water District’s Frontier Project Demonstrates Green Building Best Practices

The Cucamonga Valley Water District established the non-profit Frontier Foundation in 2005 as a way to help Southern California deal with environmental challenges. Their mission is to show residents, builders and companies that sustainable design can be economical, efficient, and inviting. In order to demonstrate these ideals, the foundation built the Frontier Project building in Rancho Cucamonga. Designed by HMC Architects, the 14,000 sq ft building shows off a slew of sustainable technologies and strategies like a green roof, photovoltaics, green interiors, a native garden, energy efficient HVAC, daylighting, passive solar design and much more. The Frontier Project also received its LEED Platinum certification in May of 2010.

Lehrer Architects Visualize the Carbon Footprint of an SUV for PARK(ing) Day LA

In celebration of PARK(ing) Day, Lehrer Architects wanted to build their own tribute, calling on their designers to come up with ideas to transform a parking space in front of their office into a temporary park for a day. Working after hours to come up with a unique response, the team voted on the concept entitled “99 Gallons Per Mile,” to visualize the carbon footprint of a modern sport utility vehicle. They built a void of a typical SUV and calculated the emissions that it would emit and visualized this with 99 red helium balloons floating above the installation.

Beverly Hill’s Retro-Chic, Historically Preserved Avalon Hotel

The mid-century modern charm of the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills was not exactly in vogue until more recent years. Architecture firm Koning Eizenberg helped to give the three building complex a much needed update, while preserving historical aspects, from the late 1990s. The resulting hotel is the polished retro-chic hotel that defines an era of Beverly Hills glamour.