PROPOSAL
The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, in partnership with Mia Lehrer & Associates, selected a group of ten landscape architects, designers, and collectives to participate in a competitive reconsideration of the private, domestic landscape in Los Angeles. The competition asked participants to design a future residential landscape for a single-family home, in full consideration of today’s water use and environmental concerns, both in climate and policy.
Using Schindler’s Fitzpatrick-Leland House as a prototype, the invited competitors proposed a method, or thesis, for how they intended to approach the design challenge. From the initial group, four finalists participated in a two-week charrette at the house, generating ideas about the potential for what the site could become and how it might inspire the future of residential landscape design. This work was then judged for inclusion in the resulting exhibition at the Schindler House in West Hollywood during summer 2017.
The aim of this proposal was to gather new ideas and insights that both inspire the MAK Center’s future work at the site and address the cultural and societal debates over water use, native species, lawns, gardens, and access inseparable from the city’s private residences.
Three research themes:
· A vision of the future of residential landscape design, reflecting on the climate considerations of Los Angeles and Southern California today, as well as the predicted concerns of tomorrow.
· The connection between house and the landscape: the proposed analysis should consider issues of water re-use and integration of both controlled and natural climate conditions, inside and outside. As well, the labor and maintenance required for the landscape should be articulated.
· The programming of outdoor space was a consideration in every private house designed by Schindler: How is the landscape used for daily activity and what specific design elements will be reconsidered as part of projections for L.A.’s future?