Behind the Blueprint

Talk about building on a small idea. What began as a modest tabloid newsletter for the American Institute of Architects’ Los Angeles chapter has grown into a glossy magazine for anyone interested in architecture and design.

This year marks L.A. Architect’s 25th birthday. The Glendale-based bimonthly from Balcony Press boasts subscribers from Europe to Australia and Hong Kong. Circulation is 13,700, a 98% increase since January 2000, when the magazine launched its new format and expanded its staff to three, according to publisher Ann Gray. Writers are all freelance.

Each issue focuses on a theme, such as industrial design, residential design, furnishings, historic preservation and “sacred spaces” where people have “epiphanies,” Gray said, laughing. Topics range from Stonehenge to Staples Center.

Gray credits the magazine’s expanding readership to global interest in Los Angeles design. She noted that when L.A.’s image expanded as an architectural center about 10 years ago, there wasn’t a publication specializing in the region’s architecture.

“We think we filled a void. We don’t consider this a regional magazine. It is a magazine about what is happening in our region, which is different. A lot of the world is looking at L.A. for new architectural trends.”

Danette Riddle, who became editor in 1999, said that in addition to L.A. being home to famous architects and designers--from Frank Gehry and the late Richard Neutra to Charles and Ray Eames--the city’s emerging and young talent is worthy of note. Among the trends of the last two or three years, she observed, is that many architects have gone out on their own. “All of these architects out there are doing their own interesting projects. We love the fact that this magazine has been a way for some of the younger architects doing really good work to get some exposure.”

A self-described Modernist, Riddle said she and Gray get ideas for stories by paying attention to what is around them and talking to people about what they are interested in. That, and walks in the park, usually hit pay dirt.

While driving through Glendale, Riddle passed a huge pea-green structure and said, “Whoa. What is that, and who did that?” Actually, she knew it was a Department of Water and Power project. Later on, Riddle was walking her dog in Elysian Park, started talking to another dog walker who turned out to be the wife of the architect at DWP who ... yes ... was responsible for the pea-green project.

The 2-year-old Pollock Wells Treatment Plant includes four large water tanks and one building--all green and surrounded by a chain-link fence with green posts. The area is bleak and industrial, but architect Scott Fajack and the DWP have made the plant and the landscaping more interesting.

Discovering the project was serendipitous, Riddle said. Fajack wound up as the cover story for the September-October 2000 issue. “He is a young guy who went to school at Sci-ARC [Southern California Institute of Architecture] and is taking this unorthodox position in a big public organization to try to do good architecture within the public realm. Luckily, the DWP is a really good vehicle, because they do have a history of doing great architecture dating back to the WPA” federal arts project.

Riddle says one reason for the magazine’s staying power is that “we are not trying to be critical but just present the work in a way that allows people to form an opinion.” A strength, she says, is that the articles are presented, without obtuse “architect speak.”

“The way you keep building good architecture is to have a public care about it, and in order to do that, they have to understand it,” Riddle explained. “Even though it is a trade magazine, our goal is to make architecture available and accessible to everybody.”