History of architecture
Dingbat 2.0
The Iconic Los Angeles Apartment as Projection of a Metropolis
by Thurman Grant and Joshua G. Stein (eds)
Description
The first critical study of the most ubiquitous and mundane Los Angeles building type best known for its mid-century decorative facade and parking under a soft second story that was a critical enabler of Los Angeles’ rapid post-war expansion.
Including essays by leading architects, urbanists, and cultural critics; photographic series and speculative designs from architects around the world, Dingbat 2.0 considers how qualities of the inarguably flawed housing type can foreground many crucial issues facing global metropolises today.
Essays by Barbara Bestor, Aaron Betsky, James Black, John Chase, Dana Cuff, Thurman Grant, John Kaliski, John Southern, Joshua G. Stein, Steven A. Treffers, and Wim de Wit. Photographic series by Judy Fiskin, Paul Redmond and Lesley Marlene Siegel.
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World; L
Endorsements
One of the many brilliances of this great book is the telling comparison of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye—raised on its skinny pilotis to create an entirely ornamental void—and the dingbat—likewise lally column-upped in the air but usefully making room for cars beneath. Ever not quite modern, Corb pontificated about “machines for living” while never quite knowing what to do with their true enabler: the machine for leaving. The indelible dingbat is a sandwich of necessity and desire that bespeaks the throwaway (and getaway) modernity uniquely Made in L.A.
-Michael Sorkin, Architect, Urbanist and Author; Principal, Michael Sorkin Studio
Dingbat 2.0 gives an often-maligned Los Angeles building type its long overdue moment in the sun, not only advancing a sophisticated typology of dingbats, but also reimagining the potential of the dingbat for the twenty-first century—at a moment when the imperative to create livable and modest affordable housing is more pressing than ever.
– Ken Bernstein, Principal City Planner, Los Angeles Department of City Planning and Office of Historic Resources
This book is extremely valuable for designers, particularly when one considers that architects generate species of buildings. An in-depth study of this particularly indigenous species to Los Angeles allows architects to not only become familiar with the causes and effects of the dingbat, but also the many possibilities for its future morphologies.
– Jimenez Lai, founder and creator of Bureau Spectacular
Reviews
Successfully leverages the dingbat as a launchpad for surveying multi-family housing in Los Angeles, picking apart the prickly and multivalent nature of its creation myth and subsequent existence through the lenses of prior appreciation, scholarly interest, and post-war art production. [...] The book’s central matter, the field guide to dingbats, will change the way you see L.A.
– The Architects Newspaper
Author Biography
Thurman Grant is a Los Angeles based architect and educator (thurmangrant.com). He is a faculty member of the Interior Architecture Department at the Woodbury University School of Architecture, and through the university has taught in related programs in China and Italy. Grant has contributed to a long list of built residential, commercial, institutional and urban design projects, as well as award-winning design competitions in the U.S. and Asia. In 2011 he partnered with artist Olivia Booth on the installation Schindler Lab, Round One at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. Grant is a former president of the LA Forum Board of Directors and was a project leader for the Dingbat 2.0 competition and exhibition.
Joshua G. Stein is the founder of Radical Craft (radical-craft.com), a Los Angeles-based studio that advances design saturated in history (from archaeology to craft) and inflects the production of contemporary urban spaces and artifacts, evolving newly grounded approaches to the challenges posed by virtuality, velocity, and globalization. He has taught at the California College of the Arts, Cornell University, SCI-Arc, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. He was a 2010-11 Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture, and is currently Professor of Architecture at Woodbury University. He is also a former member of the LA Forum Board of Directors and was a project leader for the Dingbat 2.0 competition and exhibition.
Copyright Information
©2016 DoppelHouse Press
DoppelHouse Press
DOPPELHOUSE PRESS is a character-driven publisher that focuses on memoir, art, architecture, design, and music, often encompassing forces behind migration and diaspora. Our mission is to bring together a plurality of voices to examine the dynamics between sociopolitical forces and aesthetic forms. The support of human rights and self-determination, untangling historical misperceptions, and providing alternate perspectives has been an equally important goal. Our books hinge around art and bravery, conviction and perseverance, defiance, hope, and the personal stories of people who seek to imagine a better world. DoppelHouse Press books are distributed to the trade by Consortium / Ingram. Contact:Publisher@DoppelHousePress.com | T: +1 424-258-4423 | F: +1 323-349-0985
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher DoppelHouse Press
- Publication Date March 2016
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9780983254058
- Publication Country or regionUnited States
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 45 USD
- Pages288
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language TitleDingbat 2.0: The Iconic Los Angeles Apartment as Projection of a Metropolis
- Original Language AuthorsThurman Grant and Joshua G. Stein (eds)
- Copyright Year2016
- Dimensions9.5x7.8 inches
- IllustrationFully illustrated in color
- Biblio Notes9.5x7.8
