In late February I was in Los Angeles to teach a weekend workshop and decided to arrive a bit early to shoot some additional locations. Here’s a quick roundup of some of those pre-workshop stops.
The first was the Hollyhock House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. So, lots of architecture fans are gonna hate me for this, but I really don’t care for his designs (with the Guggenheim being the one exception). The interiors feel so dark and kinda claustrophobic. The reason I don’t have any photos from inside the house is because they don’t allow it and even the exterior has quite limited access. Not to be negative, but I was kinda disappointed with this stop and access. On the plus side, the grounds of the house are pretty amazing, as is the location.



The next stop was downtown at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels designed by José Rafael Moneo. The exterior is pretty tough to photograph but the interior is great. The geometry of this space is incredible. This is just one shot from the day but I’ve visited a couple times, so there are more here.
 

From the courtyard of the church you can see the Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au (the same architects that designed the Musée des Confluences in Lyon I shared images from recently). While I didn’t spend much time photographing the school this time, I do have more images, including abstracts, from previous trips here. But, this part of the school looks like a robot, don’t you think?!

The next stop was a complex that includes residential, retail and commercial spaces. This huge area was designed by Michael Maltzan and is located in downtown LA in the Arts District. My focus was on the windows and the great patterns they created, more here, of course 😉



The final stop before the workshop days began was another Michael Matlzan design. This time, the Star Apartments in Skid Row, which provides permanent housing for 100 formerly homeless individuals. The building has a bit of a brutalist feel with its raw concrete facade but the light and the windows made for a couple interesting shots, more here.