Today’s forecast. 

The frames of the Earthwave by Lebbeus Woods & Christoph a. Kumpusch with Adam Orlinksi. The project is currently being fabricated at SCI-Arc & will be moved to the triangular site at E. 3rd St. & Traction Ave. in L.A.’s Arts District. 

The cover of Steven Holl: Color, Light Time 

Published by Lars Müller Publishers, 2011

Road the “True Lies” elevator up to the 35th floor. 

High School #9 by Coop Himmelb(l)au

Los Angeles, California

Earthwave (2009) by Lebbeus Woods & Christoph a. Kumpusch with Adam Orlinski

Starting May 6th, c.a.k productions will begin construction on the Earthwave in Los Angeles at E. 3rd St. and Traction Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles. The team—Christoph a. Kumpusch, Adam Orlinski, Carlos Rodriguez, William Orlando, Cecil Barnes, Ali Fouladi, and myself—will be joined by students from SCI-Arc, who has provided the site and the use of their shops. Kumpusch will be teaching a seminar in conjunction with the fabrication sessions. 

The Earthwave will be an installation that proves to a new generation that there is a fine line between “unbuilt” and “unbuildable.” Lebbeus and I never designed projects to be unbuilt; there was an urgency and precision to our work that embodied striving towards answering the question he posed to not only the field at large, but himself, “What is architecture for?” This type of thinking must not be lost to the whims and trends of a field constantly trying to define and reinvent itself.

The Earthwave is an inhabitable drawing—much like The Storm, The Fall, and System Wien—which allows one to inhabit the structure’s swarms in 1:1 scale. Being able to inhabit the structure allows one to inhabit a new dimensionality while being able to relate back to the 2D and 3D nature of the project. -Christoph a. Kumpusch

Lovell Beach Residence (1922-1926) by Rudolph M. Schindler

Newport Beach, California

[Photo by Julius Shulman]

Harris Residence (1942) by Rudolph M. Schindler

Los Angeles, California

[Photo by Julius Shulman]

Conciliator (1995) by John Hejduk, sited on the traffic island at 23rd & 5th in New York City. 

[Photo by Larry Qualls]

Aldo Rossi (left) watching his Il Teatro del Mondo (The Theater of the World) being towed to its site for the Venice Biennale in 1979.

Le Corbusier attending a reception in the old library with the Dominican monks that would inhabit La Tourette in 1959.

Eveux-sur-Arbresle, France

[Photo by Rene Burri]

The “canons de lumière” of La Tourette Dominican monastery (1953-1960) by Le Corbusier & Iannis Xeankais

Éveux, Rhône-Alpes, France

[Photo by Rene Burri]

Composition (1922) by El Lissitzky

Oil and tempera on wood