Downtown Los Angeles is a city that contains multiple cities. There is a vibrant patchwork of overlapping cultures within the relatively small urban geography of DTLA. As a pedestrian, one can noticeably detect the cultural changes by just taking a 20-minute walk. Scale, texture, materiality, color, and other atmospheric factors reflect the high contrast of various subcommunities with a strong sense of independent identities. What makes a neighborhood is not necessarily the ethnicity or history, but the existing subcultures and lifestyles. In this study, we looked at a few ways to create urban boundaries.
The cultural overlaps are sets of programmatic superimpositions. Although there are loose definitions of neighborhoods, we created an urban quilt by flattening the city’s existing zones.
Unlike the rest of Greater Los Angeles, DTLA mixes residential zones with commercial activities. One can enjoy amenities within proximity, even specialty shops such as jewelry stores or jewelry repair shops.
The northern edge of DTLA is a unique area with residential buildings adjacent to major cultural institutions and government buildings. The Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Broad, and MOCA are just some of the architectural highlights near the Department of Water and Power, Caltrans, and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
The commercial zones are the most decentralized and embedded throughout DTLA. However, the shopping experience or office culture varies significantly throughout the city. The shopping culture galvanized how demographics define the spaces around the shops.
As a quilted city of many textures, a simple walk around town offers a vast array of featured attractions.
