Cathedral critic to be feted there

The architect who will receive the 2002 Gold Medal at the AIA/Los Angeles Design Awards Gala on Thursday at downtown’s new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is also one of the cathedral’s most outspoken critics.

Barton Myers, a Westwood architect known for designing the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, has no problem with Jose Rafael Moneo’s striking contemporary design -- he just doesn’t like the location. A proponent of redevelopment over urban sprawl, Myers believes the Los Angeles Archdiocese should have remodeled downtown’s earthquake-damaged St. Vibiana’s instead. The cathedral “doesn’t have the impact it could have had if they had redeveloped,” Myers said in a recent interview. The annual awards by the L.A. chapter of the American Institute of Architects also will honor the late civic leader and downtown developer Ira Yellin with a posthumous Presidential Citation Award for lifetime achievement. Yellin died Sept. 10 after a yearlong battle with cancer.

Other honorees are Bob Timme of the USC School of Architecture, for community service; Tom Gilmore, who will receive the City ReBuilder Award; Ildiko Choy, Educator of the Year; Andrew Adelman of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Good Government Award; Michael Lehrer, Excellence in the Service of Good Design; and Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Twenty-Five Year Award for Gemini G.E.L. The Building Team of the Year Award -- for work on UCLA Westwood Replacement Hospital -- goes to Perkins & Will, Pei Partnership, RBB Architects, ARUP, John A. Martin & Associates, Davis Langdon Adamson, UCMT/URS/Turner Construction Co., Tutor Saliba Corp. and UCLA Medical Center and Capital Programs.