Hollywood Central Parks Holds Ideas and Inspirations Celebration

The Next Generation of Architects Offers Up Design Suggestions for Freeway Cap Park

HOLLYWOOD—The next generation of architects was recently asked for ideas about how the community should access Hollywood Central Park, the leading edge of a new wave of parks proposed for Los Angeles.  The results, which were unveiled at an event on Dec. 10, will inspire and guide the ambitious 38-acre park to be built above a 1-mile-long stretch of the Hollywood Freeway.

Earlier this fall, Friends of Hollywood Central Park issued a call to architecture schools across the Southern California region to participate in a student design competition in connection with the development of the cap park.  Specifically, the students were asked to address three aspects of the master plan framework for the park planned above the stretch of the Hollywood Freeway between Bronson Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard: connectivity, placemaking/programming, and technology.

The outpouring of responses—39 entries from 90 students representing six schools (Cal Poly Pomona, Otis Art Institute, SCI-Arc, UCLA, USC, and Woodbury) —floored the competition’s organizers and the blue ribbon jury they tapped to judge the entries.  

“We reached out to tomorrow’s design leaders to take part in a competition to challenge the notion of what a park is today, rethink urban infrastructure, and conceive of new applications for technology in the interest of a bold and sustainable future,” said Paul Danna of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), master planner of Hollywood Central Park.  “The quantity and quality of the submissions we received were both extremely impressive.”

“This proved to be a staggeringly challenging decision,” added AP Diaz, executive officer and chief of staff for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, who served as jury chair.  “Based on the quality of the submissions we received, the future of architecture appears to be in very capable hands.”

The jury—which also included architects Barbara Bestor, Renee Dake Wilson, and Christi Van Cleve; urban designer Amber Hawkes; City of Los Angeles Chief Design Officer Christopher Hawthorne; and artist Nancy Larrew—singled out six entries for prizes.

• Jing Wu, Jingyi Wang, Ziran Ling, and Jing Sun of USC received an honorable mention for the entry “Futuristic Night: Hollywood Walk of Light.”

• Sam Anderson and Raul Menezes of USC received an honorable mention for the entry “A Park for the People.”

• Yuliang Jiang, Yihe Wang, and Runhao Zhu of USC received an honorable mention for the entry “Hollywood Central Parks.”

• Jiawei Ji, Minyue Ge, and Shengton Xie of USC were awarded third place for the entry “Regenerated Urbanity.”

• Paige Davidson of SCI-Arc received second-place honors for the entry “Artificial Arboretum.”

• And Sai Liang and Lingyu Huang of USC won first place for the entry “Over and Across,” which used the sharing economy as a metaphor for a series of hills and tunnels throughout the park.

In addition to earning recognition for their work and having the opportunity to talk with public officials, city planners, architects, engineers, and community stakeholders during the Dec. 10 awards ceremony, the students were awarded cash prizes.  $10,000 went to the first-place entry.

“Hollywood Central Park promises to be major social and environmental infrastructure improvement project that will reinforce transformative positive change to not just the Hollywood community, but the entire Los Angeles region,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who represents the area where the park will be built.  “Giving these young people the chance to put their fingerprints on the park shows an unparalleled level of inclusivity on the part of the park’s leadership team.  And to say that these students rose to the occasion with stellar ideas is an understatement to say the least.”

Hollywood Central Park began as an idea nearly 30 years ago.  In 2006, it progressed from a Hollywood Chamber of Commerce initiative to a Hollywood community coalition and finally to Friends of the Hollywood Central Park, a nonprofit organization.  FHCP is dedicated to raising funds to create the park.  The Hollywood Central Park is a landmark infrastructure project that will reunite communities separated for more than 60 years by the Hollywood Freeway, create 38,000 jobs, provide economic stimulus and long-term economic security, provide healthy communities and offer children open greenspace in which to grow and thrive. 

For more information, please visit www.hollywoodcentralpark.org.

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