Lightweight Drawings

Scale is connected with architecture’s political consequence. The imposition of architecture on the public space, its requirement of power and organization of resources is rooted in the scale of architecture. Like buildings, large urban murals also engage in politics of the public sphere.

Whereas architecture often composes the background, the urban mural speaks loudly in the foreground. Each mural, through their affect, imposes a particular urbanity, some politically charged, others less so.

When an architect engages with large-scale image-making, considering this spectrum is essential. Architectural works that are too ephemeral do not have lasting value. (Consider Italian Fascist architecture and the murals and mosaics of socialist bloc countries, which tell of an era which has ended.)

A middleground strategy walks this razor’s edge, responding to the moment’s call to action while still serving the public at large.

You could call it a Lightweight Strategy. At a time where politics, meaning and art are increasingly difficult to separate, architecture’s ethics lies in a Lightweight Strategy.

The large urban drawing can be interpreted as both protest and friendly, or neither. It is a deadpan matter of fact, yet also accepts disagreement.

The proposal is for one such Lightweight Drawing, depicting the LAPD helicopter.

It is a maquette on wheels whose destination is the plaza of the LAPD headquarters in downtown LA. Its origin is in the safety of the private sphere, similar to the women who weave camouflage nets for the Ukrainian frontline.

It is stored in a garage in the Civic Center of DTLA. Sitting between City Hall and MOCA, The Garage acts as a middleperson, an intermediary between Progenitors of the maquette, and its performance in the public sphere.

The Garage is constructed of a moment frame of steel members and joints. It is clad in large murals constructed of aluminium panels printed with a high resolution, pixelated and blurred image. The moment frame is permanent and the image is changeable.

Most of the time it’s closed. At certain events the Lightweight Drawings go into the plaza, when certain subjects need attention.

As it enters a public plaza it acts as a magnet for gathering, be it protest or political discourse.