LABC honors PBy with Design Concept Award

The PBy team was honored to receive an award for outstanding Design Concept from the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) on June 20 at the 42nd Annual Los Angeles Architecture Awards ceremony. Through this awards program, LABC aims to “acknowledge and inspire a community-wide desire to enhance the complex urban fabric of Los Angeles” and honors projects that “demonstrate an extraordinary spirit of innovation and collaboration.”

Emcee Frances Anderton from KCRW and keynote speaker Michael Govan of LACMA both spoke of the connection between architecture, art and the urban fabric while Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked LABC for its many years of design and community support. The room was crowded with talented designers, builders, clients and thought leaders both recognizing and being recognized.  It made the future of Los Angeles seem very bright indeed, and served as another vote of confidence that the Piggyback Yard vision would make it even brighter.

PBy FlyBy

The LA River and Piggyback Yard. photo: Ben Feldmann

Overlooking the PBy to Downtown Los Angeles, photo: Ben Feldmann

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to join hydrologists Mark Hanna and Matt Bardol of Geosyntec on a heli-tour of the L.A. River. With the recent April showers, it was the perfect storm to capture the seasonal flows of the river which further animate the intricacies its course.  Passing overhead, it was inspiring to see all of the opportunities associated with the river, with the greatest of all, of course, being… the Piggyback!   Situated just a stones-throw from Union Station and the rest of downtown, it is no wonder why the PBy project has made it into the future planning vision(s) for the City.

~Ben Feldmann, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C

Piggyback at the River Update Meeting

The Piggyback Yard Group joined a growing number of river-related organizations in hosting an informational table on Thursday, Feburary 23 at the livey Los Angeles River Update Meeting (RUM). 

The RUM is a repeating public forum to discuss progress related to the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan.  Held this time at the LA River School – a pilot school of the Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies – Dr Carol Armstrong from the Bureau of Engineering’s River Office emceed the evening, which prominently featured Councilmember Ed Reyes and Army Corps Planner Dr Josehpine Axt. 

The focus was on projects and policies IN PROGRESS, those which we may all be able to experience in the near future.  While these first efforts may be relatively modest in scale, the sheer number of them is exciting – from pocket parks to pedestrian bridges to educational events – and the energy was palpable. 

A bonus of the PBy group was seeing the Piggyback Yard / Mission Rail Yard publically listed by the Army Corps as a study site for their LA River Ecosystem Restoration Study.  The shortlist of study sites to pursue further is due out later this year, and it would be a windfall is Piggyback was one!

Piggyback Yard Wins 2011 SCDF Award!

Before moving any further into the New Year… A highlight to close 2011! The Piggyback Yard received the 2011 Unbuilt Project / Urban Design Award by Southern California Development Forum. The widely attended breakfast event recognized the contributions, commitment and creative work of Architects, Engineers, Contractors and Developers of our Southern California Community. In addition, a special recognition of Five Charities that makes a difference within the community.

The Jury commended the PBy project for its visionary thinking, ability to bring together communities as never before and setting the course to make Los Angeles a resilient city. On hand to receive the award included: Carl Meyer, AIA (Perkins+Will), Ben Feldmann, ASLA (Mia Lehrer + Associates) and Jim Stafford, AIA ( Perkins+Will).

PBy exemplifies Bioclimatic Design

Over 100 people gathered at Woodbury University in Burbank today for the 2011 Advancing Sustainability Business + Design Symposium, which was organized entirely by cross-disciplinary Woodbury students.  The symposium featured a range of speakers highlighting intersections between design and business at all scales – from material to building to city – grouped into three sessions: Energy and Resource Efficiency, Bioclimatic Design, and Energy Conservation.

PBy’s own Leigh Christy was asked to introduce the topic of Bioclimatic Design, and used the Piggyback Yard as an exemplary case study.  PBy was a perfect introduction to the idea that not only is bioclimatic design a response to natural environmental climate, but it is also a result of human social, economic, political and historic climates.  Hence, any design is really an insertion into existing systems; the design process becomes more like systems engineering with the infusion of humanity and art; the result is necessarily a living organism codependent on it surrounds.

Subsequent speakers supported the idea of systems-based thinking at integrated levels, reminding attendees that adaptive, high-efficiency, multi-valent, long-term solutions are needed today – and tomorrow.

Thanks to the students of Woodbury for putting on such a refreshingly successful program.