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Author: Doug Suisman (ORO Editions, 2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n As an urban design instructor, practitioner and bibliophile, it is a rare pleasure to discover lesser known, critical and insightful books on urban structure. More so on Los Angeles, a city well endowed with iconic texts\u2014from Reyner Banham\u2019s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies<\/i><\/a> to Mike Davis\u2019 City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles<\/i><\/a>. This being the case, one can only imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Doug Suisman\u2019s Los Angeles Boulevard: Eight X-Rays of the Body Public<\/i>.<\/p>\n Originally published in 1989 as a \u2018pamphlet\u2019\u2014interestingly, just a year prior to City of Quartz<\/i>\u2014this most recent 2014 edition was produced in celebration of its 25-year-anniversary. As one would expect, the original introduction and eight \u201cx-rays\u201d\u2014chapters\u2014are included. Additionally, however, it comes in a new beautifully-designed hardcover frame with refreshed graphics, opening with an excellent new foreword by L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, who describes the significance of the work in the wake of his incredible year-long series Reading LA<\/i><\/a>. Most significantly, an entire new section\u2014Twenty Five Years Later: Boulevards in Practice<\/i>\u2014is included: effectively doubling the size of the original pamphlet to a charmingly compact 144 pages, and covering 10 interesting projects done by Suisman\u2019s firm, after the initial publication.<\/p>\n The eight \u201cx-rays\u201d themselves\u2014idiosyncratically named, peppered with beautiful diagrams and maps, and roughly ten pages each\u2014are concise, intelligent, analytical pieces that ultimately argue against treating boulevards of Los Angeles as mere embodiments of technical specifications and economic considerations. Instead, to use the eloquent words of Christopher Hawthorne, they are\u00a0 <\/span>\u201ca great reservoir of public space waiting to be redefined and activated.\u201d Such sentiments fall on deaf ears even today\u2014a fact that makes the book all the more relevant now\u2014so one can imagine that, in the late 80s, Suisman was talking to a brick wall.<\/p>\n This being the case, he had to be strategic about how he constructed his narrative, wisely choosing to delve into the rich history, evolution and significance of the boulevards of Los Angeles over time. This journey begins with the Suture<\/i> x-ray, that describes how the broad structure of the boulevards are a consequence of historical circumstances and boundaries of early settlement patterns, such as the original pueblos and common lands. This is followed by two chapters\u2014Umbilical<\/i> and Spine<\/i>\u2014outlining the interesting histories of Sunset and Wilshire Boulevards, respectively.<\/p>\n Girdle<\/i> and Phosphor<\/i> dig into effects of early Hollywood and film culture on the city and boulevards. The first focuses on the complex relationship between early introverted movie studios and the major boulevards, while the second drills into their extroverted counter parts\u2014movie theatres\u2014and the resulting transformation of these corridors between day and night.<\/p>\n Things switch gears, literally and figuratively, in Torrent<\/i> where Suisman focuses on the transformation of the physical structure of the boulevard in response to changes in transportation technologies, from footpath to streetcar to automobile. Building from this, Pathogen<\/i>, looks at new forms of communication in light of the higher speeds of travel. Speaking to signs and symbols in space, Suisman goes beyond focusing on the increase in size and quantity of advertisements in the typical sense, to speak to the evolution of building types towards acting like billboards in the landscape.<\/p>\n The last of the x-rays, Fuselage<\/i>, offers the punchline. In keeping with the title of the chapter, it compares the boulevard to the fuselage of an airplane: an element that requires coordination with its surrounding elements in order to work properly. As such, Suisman highlights the\u00a0importance of boulevards as transitional spaces of arrival and entry for people coming from surrounding areas. In light of this, he calls for an integrated approach to their treatment, moving beyond considerations of its surface rights-of-way to include \u201call underground development, rear and side elevations, alleys, parking areas, and adjacent neighbourhoods\u201d. A wonderful set of annotated diagrams explicitly outlining boulevard design considerations marks the end of the original pamphlet.<\/p>\n This transitions well into the newly added Twenty Five Years Later: Boulevards in Practice<\/i>\u2014consisting of 10 chapters outlining 10 projects from around the world, done between 1991 and 2012, that demonstrate how Suisman\u2019s initial research informed his practice. The projects include completed and unbuilt works, and counter to what one may expect, not all proposal focus the design of\u00a0singular\u00a0boulevards. Instead, they focus how\u00a0of a “boulevard frame of mind” was used towards different urban design problems. This makes them all the more instructive, as the selected works show how the \u2018x-ray\u2019 method used in Los Angeles Boulevards<\/i>\u2014one that biased a \u2018close reading\u2019 and first hand experience of place\u2014is universally applicable to a diversity of urban design issues.<\/p>\n This being the case, the power of this newly packaged, expanded Los Angeles Boulevards<\/i> lies in its ability to emphasize that, beyond simply being a critical book on a singular aspect of LA\u2019s urban environment, it offers a valuable way of thinking about and approaching urban design problems, more generally. To my mind, this rightfully places Suisman\u2019s contributions beside the various great minds, such as Banham and Davis, that have dissected Los Angeles towards speaking to broadly relevant issues. I don\u2019t hesitate to say, then, that Los Angeles Boulevards<\/i>\u00a0is a must-read for architects, planners, designers and urbanists who not only care about improving the urban landscape, but also want to get\u00a0a glimpse into how a forcefully\u00a0analytical mind attacks the problem of the city.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n For more information on the Los Angeles Boulevard: Eight X-Rays of the Body Public<\/i><\/strong>, visit the ORO Editions\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n **<\/p>\n Erick Villagomez<\/strong>\u00a0is one of the Editor-in-Chief\u00a0at Spacing Vancouver. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with personal and professional interests in the urban landscapes. His private practice \u2013\u00a0Metis Design|Build<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places. You can see more of his artwork on his\u00a0Visual Thoughts Tumblr<\/a>\u00a0and follow him on his instagram account: @e_vill1<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"